Comparison between veranda suite and medallion suite on Silver Wind

[RachelG]

A comparison—veranda suite vs medallion suite on Silver Wind

 

I thought I would write up a little side to side comparison of these two, since we had opportunity to experience both on the same cruise.  Some things may surprise you.

 

Background: we booked a veranda suite as usual-616.  Unfortunately, every night at about 4 am, we would be assaulted by a strong cigarette smoke smell.  The GM and staff did their best to figure it out and fix it, but it kept occurring, so after 4 nights, we were moved to a medallion suite—803, which features no smoke smell.

 

Size—obviously medallion wins here as there are completely separate bedroom and sitting/dining areas.  The balcony is much larger with 2 loungers, table and 3 chairs vs 2 chairs and a table.  Unfortunately it was too cold most of the time on our cruise to use it other than to pop outside for a quick picture.  Bathroom is considerably larger as well.  Closet is configured differently but about the same size.  More hanging space in the medallion.

 

Bathroom—medallion is the clear winner here as the bathroom has been totally redone with double sinks that are inset into the counter.  The veranda suites have a larger single sink which is above the counter and just not practical at all as, if you are brushing your teeth and don’t hold the toothbrush just right under the water, water goes every where.  In the medallion, there is a proper shower with a shower door that closes completely.  In the veranda, they have converted the TU to a shower, and there is no door, just glass half way across, so there is potential for water to go everywhere there as well.  Veranda bathroom sometimes a sort of sour sewage smell.  There is no smell other than that of soap in the medallion bathroom.  However, the lighting is better in the veranda.

 

Sitting/dining area—medallion has a sofa, coffee table and chair plus a dining table and 2 dining chairs.  Veranda has sofa, coffee table and chair only, BUT the sofa in the veranda is a proper sofa length, while the one in medallion is very short, just large enough to seat myself and George side by side.  Not long enough to stretch out on at all.  The chair in the medallion is quite upright and uncomfortable as well.  There is another chair at the desk which is the same type.  These could be placed at the table too, if you had guests come in to dine. If you were a person who liked dining in the suite a lot, medallion would be better, but for us, I actually preferred the veranda sitting area.  Veranda wins on this one.

 

Bedroom area—basically the same, though the medallion one can be completely closed off which is nice if one person likes to sleep late and the other is an early riser.  We liked this.  So slight edge to medallion.

 

Noise—medallion is the clear winner as it is almost too quiet.  It is hard to hear announcements, particularly if you are in the bedroom, and there is no traffic at all in the hallway.

 

Storage—surprising, but there is more usable storage area in the veranda suite.  The drawers are deeper and larger in the veranda suite. I was barely able to put 2 sweaters in one of the drawers in the medallion suite whereas 4 easily fit in the veranda drawers.  And there are more drawers in veranda.

 

Windows—again, veranda wins here as there is a larger window and door to the balcony.  In the medallion there are two, one in the sitting area and one in the bedroom, but they are smaller.  The other issue is that, in the far north in summer, it doesn’t really get dark.  In the veranda suite, there is a curtain between the sitting and sleeping areas which you can pull to make it very dark.  That is not possible in the medallion suites.

 

Accessibility—not an issue for us, but if a person has any issues with going up or down stairs, the medallion suites on 8 forward would not be for them.  There is no forward elevator, and if the pool deck is closed off for cleaning or bad weather, you have to use the stairs as you can’t get to the elevators.  

 

So—bottom line is we enjoyed the medallion suite, but we would not pay extra for it.

[Fletcher]

We were on the Cloud recently and while in some areas it was definitely showing its age (the corridors looked especially dowdy) we were happy with the contemporary interior of our veranda suite.  The bathroom looked old but it worked beautifully.  We are seriously considering a cruise on the Wind and have recently been shocked to learn that the veranda suites have never been renovated or refitted, so this ship will seem even older than its sibling, the Cloud.  Is the Wind now the runt of Silversea's litter?

[RachelG]

12 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

We were on the Cloud recently and while in some areas it was definitely showing its age (the corridors looked especially dowdy) we were happy with the contemporary interior of our veranda suite.  The bathroom looked old but it worked beautifully.  We are seriously considering a cruise on the Wind and have recently been shocked to learn that the veranda suites have never been renovated or refitted, so this ship will seem even older than its sibling, the Cloud.  Is the Wind now the runt of Silversea's litter?

I agree as far as the veranda suites.  They have not been updated at all.  The upper level suite have been.  The restaurants and lounges look updated but there were missing pieces of wood upstairs on the deck railing 

Edited June 17, 2023 by RachelG

[dawntrdr]

I heard this rumor twice from a fellow passenger on the Wind last month:  he had been told that SS had sold the Wind as well as the Explorer.  I did not discuss where he heard that, but I thought "hmm, that would explain the lack of updates."  

[DTtravelers]

6 hours ago, dawntrdr said:

I heard this rumor twice from a fellow passenger on the Wind last month:  he had been told that SS had sold the Wind as well as the Explorer.  I did not discuss where he heard that, but I thought "hmm, that would explain the lack of updates."  

Couldn't find anything about Wind, but found this on Explorer:

 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2022/01/silver-explorer-to-sail-for-new-cruise-line-exploris-from-2023/

[RachelG]

3 minutes ago, DTtravelers said:

Couldn't find anything about Wind, but found this on Explorer:

 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2022/01/silver-explorer-to-sail-for-new-cruise-line-exploris-from-2023/

Yes, it has been known that Explorer has been sold for quite a while.  Cloud will be doing the Kimberley cruises next year.

[Tothesunset]

A also heard a rumour that Elvis is buying it. 

Edited June 17, 2023 by Tothesunset