Silver Wind Rome to Malaga last week

This is my first cruise review ever but it was such an unusual trip for me and showed the sheer brilliance of the crew so well that I thought I would share our experience.

Some of you will have seen the effect that Cyclone Cleopatra had on Sardinia last Monday week and the subsequent weather system that swirled around the Med all the following week. We sailed out of Civitavecchia on the back of it into the stormiest seas that I have ever experienced on the Med - and indeed many other oceans. It was so stormy that we were unable to put into Sorrento and the following morning seven couples left the ship in Naples never to return. Nevertheless by the time we docked in Naples (instead of Sorrento) all the trips were reorganised and ran like clockwork. We had a wonderful morning in Pompeii. Unfortunately the violent seas continued and so sick bags lined the corridors. One storm surge was so violent that it literally threw my friend completely off the lavatory! Cabin staff who were sleeping right at the prow of the ship said they could not really sleep because they we propelled off their bunks up into the air for several hours.

Despite this the service was as perfect as ever and staff showed no sign of their weariness. Chef d'Ecole David still put on his cooking demos including knife skills although the equipment trolleys had to be lashed down and kitchen crew seconded in to hold down the cookers and pans. How the team managed I really don't know but the food was delicious.

In fact all the food was delicious. On our previous cruise we had experienced very poor vegetarian provision but on this cruise executive chef Grant excelled in his management and provision. There was loads of choice for each lunch and dinner and the quality was a delight. He chatted with diners in the restaurant and around the ship and it was good to be able to tell him just what an extra dimension good and varied vegetarian food brings to vegetarian cruisers. Thank you Grant.

We were unable to dock at Cartagena as the Captain had to slow the ship so much to prevent damage to the ship and for the physical safety of the passengers that we ran out of time. Instead we had an extra sea day and happily it was a day of calm seas and sunshine so Grant organised an impromptu deck barbecue which was a great success. I particularly enjoyed the paella and banana fritters.

Every SS excursion we went on was exceptionally good with truly outstanding local guides.

The passenger mix seemed much wider than usual with virtually every European/Scandinavian nation represented as well as the US, Canada, Australia and Japan. As usual we met lots of delightful people and our shared dinner tables quickly had us losing track of the time.

Neither my friend nor I suffer from seasickness so we found the cruise more of an adventure than a problem but we truly were lost in admiration of all the staff that their service continued without a hitch and that everything possible was done to replace lost opportunities with something else.

Having said all that I am hoping for calmer seas and more warmth and sunshine on our next venture.

Thank you for your review.

I'm a very poor sailor and dread that this may ever happen during a cruise that I'm on, because I fear such weather would put me off taking another cruise. The storm was covered here on the news and I did wonder about how cruise ships were faring.

It sounds as if officers and crew handled the situation as well as they could.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write and to share your review.

Sorry that you had such bad weather and this is a reminder of the strength of "Mother Nature".

Keith

Thank you for sharing your well done Wind review.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The weather sounds terrible. Glad you were able to have a good cruise despite. Maybe that is why they named the ship the "Wind".

So glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for review. It seems that of all the Silversea ships, the Wind is the one which receives the least notoriety. How did she look after her recent refurbishment at Fincantieri in Palermo? Is The Bar redone in the style of Silver Spirit and Silver Cloud? We will be aboard on the 21st and are keenly looking forward to our holiday cruise. Do you know if Colin will still be on board for the Africa cruises? We know him from the Cloud and really enjoyed traveling with him.

Sorry if my review put anyone off. We have been cruising for ten years and never had that sort of sustained stormy weather before so it must be pretty rare and not worth worrying about. We will be off again twice next year.

Regarding the refurb; so far as I could tell it was not as comprehensive as that on the Cloud which we were on last January soon after its up-date. The suite bathrooms seemed untouched and the only evidence of change that I noticed were new carpets in the main restaurant. I have not been on the Wind before and I didn't notice whether the bar has been updated or not. If it has been, no-one remarked upon it when we were there but then I was more interested in the quiz, the drinks and the chat than the furnishings. I am actually pretty unobservant and don't care much about decor so someone else may well correct me! However the Wind has quite definitely not been updated to the level that the Cloud has, as even I noticed (and appreciated) the new style Cloud.

The carpets on deck 4 were actually in a bad state of repair and staff were for ever scrubbing them and standing dehumidifiers there. The pillars in the main dining room were in need of attention as they had chunks missing from the paint in several places.(Someone we dined with remarked upon that!)

As for the lovely Colin, he told us that he was on right through to Africa so you should be lucky. We had not cruised with him before but we really enjoyed his company. He runs a tight quiz and has the same excellent recall of names and faces that all the staff seem to have.