Monaco-based Silversea Cruises has revealed plans to move the 16,927gt/1994 built Silver Cloud to its luxury expedition fleet in November 2017. Destined mostly for polar waters, the 296-guest ship will be converted into an ice-class ship during an extensive refurbishment scheduled to start in August 2017.As an expedition ship, the all-suite Silver Cloud will accommodate 260 guests and also sail on itineraries to non-polar regions. When sailing arctic and Antarctic itineraries, the guest complement will be restricted to 200. The line currently has three all-suite expedition ships, the 6,130gt/1989 built Silver Explorer, 5,218gt/1989 built Silver Discoverer and 4,203gt/1990 built Silver Galapagos. Collectively, they explore over 500 far-flung destinations, from Africa, Australia’s Kimberley Coast, and the Russian Far East, to the Galapagos Islands, the British Isles, and the polar realms.

On the subject of expedition ships, Metropolitan Touring has announced the launch of its newest expedition vessel in the Galapagos Islands, the Santa Cruz II. The ship was built in Chile in 2002 as the Mare Australis and the 50-cabin/90 guest capacity vessel made her maiden voyage for the new owner on 10th October.