I reach the spot at the port where Sea Cloud Spirit is waiting for her voyage and find a crowd gathered. It’s understandable; the gleaming white windjammer, with her three huge masted sails, looks nothing like any of the other ships docked. At 450 feet long, tailing off into a gold-accented bow, with 4,951 square feet of sail curled and ready for release, watching the ship come into view is a wow-factor moment. I feel like I’ve taken a step back in time, unsure whether I feel more like a pirate or some sort of royal of yore. Either way, I’ve never set foot on a ship as impressive as this.
Sea Cloud Spirit is the newest in Sea Cloud Cruises’ fleet—a name that made an appearance on our Reader Choice Awards last year. With its trio of windjammers, setting sail on one of its handsome ships is a novel experience of the most sophisticated kind. It’s basically the floating version of taking a steam train through the countryside, evoking a romanticized bygone era where everyone sets off, bravely, to find adventure on unexplored lands.
That’s essentially what the original Sea Cloud, a now 90-year-old four-masted beauty, did. Once the largest private sailing yacht in the world, it was first commissioned under the name Hussar by Wall Street broker Edward Francis in 1931, who gave his glamorous cereal heiress wife, Marjorie Merriweather Post, a limitless budget to decorate its interior. She took on this role with gusto, furnishing it with a wealth of distinctive antiques and a characterful design, much of which you’ll still find inside today. Together they remained at sea for at least nine months a year, heading from one exotic destination to the next.
But all good things come to an end and the couple divorced in 1935. Marjorie became the sole owner, renamed it Sea Cloud and married a man who’d go on to become the US ambassador in Moscow. The ship thus went on to fulfill a number of political roles, including a stint in Leningrad as a floating diplomatic palace and use as a floating weather station during World War II, when its majestic masts were sadly demounted. After the war ended, a four-year refurbishment saw it restored to former glory and it now serves as the flagship for Sea Cloud Cruises alongside two newer ships, each honoring the traditional seamanship and style of the original.
You won’t find any of Majorie’s antiques on Sea Cloud Spirit. But what the boat lacks in wartime stories to tell, it makes up for in luxuriousness. It’s much larger than the original, with a shining mahogany body and whitewashed exterior, space for 136 guests and 90 crew, glorious double bedrooms with balconies, a large sun deck, indoor and outdoor dining spaces, and a spa with gym.
