Silver Cloud Maiden Voyage Canceled Due to Mechanical Problems

[Stumblefoot]

Oooooh, I don't like hearing about a leaky ship... especially since I booked a Vista Suite on Deck 4. Perhaps I should have spent more for a Veranda Suite on Deck 7. I still could... but is it worth $3000?

Unless your itinerary is in a very warm climate, I personally don't believe any veranda is worth an incremental $3,000.

 

The Cloud and Wind are both so intimate that it takes no time at all to bound up the stairs to the outside to see anything you like. Therefore, I'd keep that $3K in your pocket and use it to book another voyage.

[lbkjj]

I believe the leaks were due to internal plumbing issues, not the integrity of the hull.

[Silver Spectre]

Unless your itinerary is in a very warm climate, I personally don't believe any veranda is worth an incremental $3,000.

 

 

 

The Cloud and Wind are both so intimate that it takes no time at all to bound up the stairs to the outside to see anything you like. Therefore, I'd keep that $3K in your pocket and use it to book another voyage.

 

 

 

Well said, good advice.

 

 

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[Bill B]

I didn't book a Veranda because it's a 'cold' cruise - 'Cape to Cape' from Ushuaia (Falklands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha etc.) to Cape Town, and I figured I would hardly ever use the balcony.

 

What had me worried were tgh's comments the water was coming in through doors & windows.

 

I'll keep my room (and the $3000).

 

Thanks.

 

EDIT: If I thought the integrity of the hull was in question, I'd cancel the cruise!... LOL.

Edited November 26, 2017 by Bill B

[cflutist]

I guess we are the oddball here. There is currently a $4680pp difference between Vista and Veranda on the 15-day Antarctica. Although we would liked to have saved the money, dear hubby is an avid photographer and didn't want glass between him and the subject.

So we booked 720 on Deck 7.

 

Our last cruise on a different line but in an Owner's Suite, hubby was constantly running out on the balcony to take photos. It was an 18-night Norway where we spent 9 days above the Arctic Circle (practice for Antarctica lol). He even got up numerous times to take photos from the balcony while we were eating dinner in the suite and were sailing out of Geirangerfjord.

 

Hopefully all of the kinks will be worked out by December 2018 as SS would have completed an entire season down there.

[Bill B]

For Antarctica, a Veranda Suite makes sense (to me)... and I think especially for an avid photographer. I've been to Antarctica and if the weather co-operates, it's 'surreal'. I looked at your itinerary and there are few 'at sea' days, and no long (3 & 4-day) stretches as with my 'Cape to Cape' cruise.

I'll keep my Vista Suite for several reasons:

- $3000

- can't smoke on a veranda

- good 'position' (#443 - if it was on decks 5, 6 or 7, it would be Deluxe Veranda... and the difference is $4500).

- as Stumblefoot said - "The Cloud and Wind are both so intimate that it takes no time at all to bound up the stairs to the outside to see anything you like."

[lbkjj]

The Cloud just set sail from Puerto Madryn ( 1300 EST Nov 28) so it should be OK for the Dec 1 trip, barring any new issues.

[chengkp75]

While I don't dispute what the earlier poster was told regarding having only one fuel pump, I will dispute that this is actually the case. No classification society around would allow a ship to be built with only one pump for a critical system. Now, whether or not the ship was sailing with one pump out of service for maintenance or repair, and the other subsequently broke down is a different thing. I would also be surprised that the propulsion engines and the generators utilized the same fuel system, let alone the same, and reportedly single, pump.

[Stumblefoot]

The Cloud just set sail from Puerto Madryn ( 1300 EST Nov 28) so it should be OK for the Dec 1 trip, barring any new issues.

I agree. Seems like they should be able to make Ushuaia by the evening of Nov 30.

[RachelG]

Hope they get the issues fixed. Sounds like the ship was not ready for action, and I also would not book a cruise immediately before or after dry dock on any ship.

 

Wes, we are looking at that Iceland circumnavigation as well. Trying to decide between it or Norway on Regent Explorer. Can't do both.

[lbkjj]

While I don't dispute what the earlier poster was told regarding having only one fuel pump, I will dispute that this is actually the case. No classification society around would allow a ship to be built with only one pump for a critical system. Now, whether or not the ship was sailing with one pump out of service for maintenance or repair, and the other subsequently broke down is a different thing. I would also be surprised that the propulsion engines and the generators utilized the same fuel system, let alone the same, and reportedly single, pump.

I totally agree with you , it makes no sense to me either. I am quite sure I understood the Captain correctly however. Also, the VP of expeditions told the general assembly a fuel pump was being flown from Europe with mechanics to repair the ship. In any event, let's hope for smooth sailing from here.

[WesW]

Wonderful Rachel, know all of us sailing with Jpalbny would be tons of fun. Tho, we have been to Reykjavik, Heimaey, and Akureyri on the Cloud in summer 2013, the other Icelandic ports would be new.

 

Would love to get Ida to agree to book the follow on cruise (Greenland, incl Artic air if booked by end of month). Asked our TA to put a hold on a suite for Iceland but hoping to book the b2b.

 

Rachel have just done a spectacular Silver Wind Norway itinerary in July--as visually stunning as it was..in our view Iceland is even more explosively visually stunning.

 

Why the cruise magnet is pulling us back (the Cloud Iceland voyage back in 2013 was our fav of near 24 cruises--not only due to scenery, SS had the best enrichment lecturer we have heard (ala Terry Breen on Regent).

 

Good luck with your choice but hope it is Iceland :)

[jpalbny]

At the risk of dragging this further OT, Iceland is truly incredible.

 

I think I will start a roll call for our next two cruises. Come join the roll call and we can chat more there. Hopefully you'll join the cruise. Fingers crossed.

[Nitemare]

Continuing off-topic, Iceland is amazing and really easy to do by car in the summer (June to mid-September) on your own. 10 days will get you down 60% of all the roads in the country. More, if you don't want to hike to every lighthouse and waterfall, less if you do want to take lengthy hikes.

 

Come to the Northern Europe "Ports of Call" board here for more.

[LauraS]

If there's one thing I've learned from over 17 years of being reading CruiseCritic'.

 

 

 

Thanks Bill and everyone for your loyalty to Cruise Critic!

 

 

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[Erica@cruisecritic]

Just wanted to pop in to say that at no time did I withhold information from this board. When I first asked Silversea about delays and potential problems at the start of the cruise, I was told definitively the issues were weather-related, from both the PR and our writer onboard.

 

I cannot say whether or not the engineers onboard had a suspicion or even knowledge of engine problems at this time, and if they did, I don't know whether they made that information public before the ship had to turn back toward Puerto Madryn. In any event, the weather was truly awful, and hardy cruise journalists were feeling the motion of the ocean (even nowhere near the Drake Passage).

 

I've been told that the ship is now repaired and its December 1 sailing is a go. If I learn that has changed, I'll let you all know.

[lbkjj]

I agree with Erica there was no indication on board of earlier " technical" problems with the Cloud during its Transatlantic crossing. The first time I heard about them was from passengers post cruise who had talked to some crew members.

The Cloud is in Ushuaia today to board passengers for the 10 day cruise. Let's hope all goes well.

I am still waiting to hear from Silversea about my flight and cruise reimbursement. I e mailed them yesterday but no response yet. I did get a credit from the equipment rental company that Silversea arranged.

[Jacqueline]

Erica, is the failed pump a weather related issue, or an independent event? That was why I made my initial comment on this thread.

There is no doubt that the weather was terrible and responsible many delays. It’s indisputable and was a complication from the get go.

 

The report I saw said that the ship needed to return to port because the single pump for the engine and generators failed, so it was unsafe or impossible to continue the voyage due to these mechanical problems. At that time, when the voyage was cancelled, this was what I understood the single cause to be, not the weather. If I am wrong, I stand corrected.

 

I have not read on any other ships cancelling the crossing to Antartica due to weather and sending clients home,which reinforced the reporting that I have read. Being as I am sailing to Antartica shortly, I am trying to keep up with all relevant news,

 

Bad luck can happen on any cruise ship, I recall the many pod issues that Celebrity has years ago when that technology was introduced to their then new design. What is unclear here is that the weather seems to be conflated with the mechanical problem, shifting the source of the cancellation to one that was out of the control of the cruise line (weather) to one that should have been solid as a result of the refitting.

[lbkjj]

Silversea explicitly said the failed pump caused the cancellation and that is why they refunded the full cruise price, airfare, rental costs, etc.

The weather vs mechanical question only pertains to the transatlantic crossing prior to the inaugural cruise. Silversea blamed weather for the ship's delay enroute. Other crew represented the ship had mechanical problems during the crossing.

[sunsetsand]

Does anyone know if the ship is ready for the scheduled sailing today?

[Tony & Trevor]

According to 'ship tracker' it has left port. Good news.

[Nitemare]

This site shows it still in port? https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-68.294/centery:-54.810/zoom:14

[les37b]

According to 'ship tracker' it has left port. Good news.

 

This site shows it still in port? https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-68.294/centery:-54.810/zoom:14

 

Ominous! Its raining and a bit windy at 33mph, but that doesn't sound like any reason to turn back.

 

Hope this isn't more bad news.

[Stumblefoot]

According to 'ship tracker' it has left port. Good news.

What port? It looks like she’s still moored to the pier at Ushuaia @ noon on Dec 2. Wasn’t she supposed to be underway to Antarctica yesterday evening?

 

 

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[Jacqueline]

Silversea doesnt seem to have an online webcam or ships positioning on its own website, so its hard to know for certain. According to the other third party websites that I have seen, the ship is moored.