My husband and I chose this cruise because of the "ultra-luxury" status that Silversea promotes themselves to be. We are not high-maintenance people by any means, but wanted our trip to Antarctica to be truly a once in a lifetime experience. Even before departing the USA, we had difficulty with Silversea. The requirements to enter Chile are extremely strict, and our Silversea agent was unhelpful, gave me incorrect information, and failed to email me the required proof of travel insurance. Had I not done the work myself, we would never have been able to enter the country.

Despite Silversea's written health and safety protocols and strict requirements for passenger vaccination and testing prior to embarkation, they were woefully unprepared for the magnitude of the catastrophe that occurred onboard the Silver Cloud. They seemed to sporadically follow their own protocols for mitigating the spread of Covid-19. Their 10 day testing interval for crew proved to be inadequate, especially with previously diagnosed Covid positive crew members in quarantine on board the ship. Prior to embarkation, passengers were neither informed of the presence of quarantined crew, nor that the remaining active crew had not been tested in the past 9 days. On Day 2 of the voyage, routine testing identified numerous additional crew members as being positive for Covid, many of which had been in direct contact with passengers. The kayak program was immediately cancelled and the "fine dining" was converted to a substandard buffet. The Covid outbreak escalated throughout the voyage, with approximately 78 of the 270 crew members ultimately being removed from service. Our expeditions, which were the highlight of the trip, were abbreviated and eventually cancelled after the 3rd day. The live entertainment ceased, as those crew were quarantined as well. On the 4th scheduled day of expeditions, the captain announced that the ship was heading back to Chile. We then had 5 monotonous days out to sea without even any scenery to occupy our time. The remaining crew did their best, but were stretched so thin that they could not give the level of service they were accustomed to.

On a positive note, I will say that the members of the expedition team that we did get to meet were outstanding. Their knowledge and enthusiasm were the highlight of this cruise. The few excursions we had were wonderful, despite being abbreviated. The waitstaff did everything they could to make sure our needs were met to the best of their ability. Our suite was lovely, but the carpet near the balcony repeatedly got wet and eventually acquired a strange smell. Read more