Sea Cloud

A Ship with History Behind Every Porthole

The Sea Cloud was launched in Kiel in 1931, commissioned by American heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post as a private sailing yacht of extraordinary ambition. For much of the following decade she was among the largest and most lavishly fitted private vessels afloat, entertaining heads of state and nobility on passages across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean. The original suites below deck – with their Carrara marble, gold-plated fittings, and period antiques – have been maintained with scrupulous care and remain today exactly as their original owner intended.

This is not a replica of an old ship. It is the old ship, still sailing.

Four Masts and 29 Sails

The Sea Cloud is a four-masted barque carrying 29 sails and 3,000 square metres of canvas. Her main mast stands 56 metres above the waterline. When the sails fill on a broad reach and the crew trims the lines aloft, the ship accelerates with a directness that no motor vessel can reproduce. Guests on deck experience this in a visceral way – hull speed under sail, without engine noise, with only the sound of water at the bow.

The crew sets all sails by hand in the traditional manner, and guests willing to climb to the first mast platform may do so with a safety harness. The experience is offered nowhere else on a vessel of this age and character.

Accommodation: Two Worlds on One Ship

The Sea Cloud carries 64 guests across 32 outside cabins arranged across the main, captain’s, lido, and promenade decks. The accommodation divides naturally into two registers. On the main deck, the original A and B category suites retain their period interiors – Carrara marble bathrooms, Louis Philippe chairs, fireplace surrounds, mahogany panelling – and are genuinely unlike anything available on any other cruise vessel in the world. The higher categories represent a piece of living maritime history.

The upper deck cabins are modern in fit and finish, with marble bathrooms throughout, air conditioning, safe, minibar, and WiFi. All are outside cabins; there is nothing interior or windowless on this ship. Category 1 rooms carry panoramic windows; others have portholes to suit the deck position.

On Board

The dining room serves all guests at a single open sitting. There are no assigned tables and no formal dress requirements beyond the ship’s relaxed standard. The lounge carries a library; the lido deck bar is the social heart of afternoons at sea. The “Blue Lagoon” – a semi-circular cushioned area aft – is the preferred spot for reading, conversation, and watching the wake after dinner.

With 64 guests and a crew of approximately 60, the ratio means every guest is known by name within the first day. The atmosphere is that of an extraordinarily well-staffed private ship, because that is essentially what it is.

Destinations

The Sea Cloud sails the Mediterranean in spring and summer – Greek islands, the Adriatic, the Amalfi Coast, the Côte d’Azur – and moves to the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Caribbean in autumn and winter. Her modest draft allows entry to harbours and anchorages closed to all but the smallest vessels, and she often anchors off beaches or historic towns where no larger ship could follow.