Sailing in style: Aboard the Sea Cloud Spirit, the world's largest sailing ship

Spectators lining the Hamburg docks cheered as the Sea Cloud Spirit sailed down the Elbe River heading for the North Atlantic.

Cruise ships don’t normally get such an enthusiastic send-off – but the Spirit is no ordinary cruise ship. Launched in 2021, it’s a three-masted barque modeled on a yacht built for an American heiress in the 1930s.

The Spirit is the world’s largest sailing ship – and the first one with an elevator. But it’s small for a cruise ship, with room for 136 passengers and 85 crew members.

On Board the Spirit

The Spirit’s 69 staterooms range in size from a cozy 140-sq.ft. (13-sq.m.) single to a 420-sq.ft. (39-sq.m.) suite. 

The Junior Suites on Deck 3 have private balconies – rare for a sailing ship. 

All cabins have polished mahogany woodwork with gleaming brass trim.  Beds are made up with crisp white duvets (folded into creative shapes by the cabin stewards) and with extra-large pillows so fluffy they slowly deflate with a whoosh when you lay your head on them.

Bathrooms feature Villeroy & Boch fixtures and are clad in cream-colored marble accented with tortoise shell and gold mosaic tiles. Larger cabins have full-sized jacuzzi tubs.

The Spirit lacks (or, some would say, is free from) some of the noisy “amenities” found on larger cruise ships. There are no casinos, Broadway-style shows, pickleball courts, wave pools, or go-carts.

Dolphins and rainbows

The main attraction is the ship itself, and the pleasures of being at sea – spotting a double rainbow after a storm or dolphins gamboling in the ship’s wake. The captain maintains an “open bridge” policy, so passengers can visit any time to ask questions and learn how the ship is sailed. 

There’s a lounge (used mostly for board games, lectures, and broadcasts of sporting events like the Euro Cup finals), a Steinway grand piano, a sunny library with a well-curated book collection (including, interestingly, Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and a German Chumash), a gym, spa treatments, and a DJ on the Lido Deck after dinner. 

There’s no pool, but on my cruise, the Spirit anchored in the Bay of Biscay and marked out a swimming area with floating mattresses and an inflatable water slide. The water was chilly, but passengers could warm up afterward in the sauna (with a porthole view of the ocean) or the steam bath.

On another day, passengers were treated to a photo safari around the ship in inflatable Zodiacs, as it cruised under full sail.

Setting Sail

This is no push-button boat. The 28 sails are raised (“set”) and lowered (“doused”) by hand, with crew members scrambling up and down the shrouds (rope ladders). Passengers who pass a physical (and sign a waiver) can also brave the climb.

Guests who are less adventurous can recline on chaises or shaded clam shell loungers on the Sun Deck and watch the crew members go about their work until it’s time for a nap. 

Under sail, the Spirit can reach a speed of about 14 knots (26 kph/16 mph) with ideal weather conditions, although it usually sails at around 8.5 knots (16 kph/10 mph). In contrast, most modern cruise ships motor at about 20 knots (37 kph/23 mph), with maximum speeds of about 30 knots (56 kph/35 mph).

Meals on board

Meals are served on the open-air Lido Deck and in the dining room. There’s no room service, but there are individual coffee makers and stewards keep cabins stocked with fruit, soft drinks, and Valrhona chocolates.

A typical dinner buffet includes watermelon- strawberry-mint shots, assorted salads, bouillabaisse, tuna – carved on deck into steaks (grilled to order), sashimi, and tartare – grilled artichokes, and raspberry tarts. Vegetarian options are available at all meals, and wine and beer are included in the fare. 

Sea Cloud Cruises GmbH is based in Hamburg and has traditionally catered to the German market, so most of the Spirit’s passengers on this trip were German. In fact, only five of us were native English-speakers. All schedules, menus, announcements, and lectures were delivered in both German and English. 

Germans are accustomed to nude, co-ed saunas, so the ship’s sauna is “textile-free” from 8 to 3 and 6 to 9. 

Although, as on most cruises, the average age of the passengers on the Spirit was 55+, it was an active group – not content with air-conditioned bus tours.  The optional bike excursion package offered six rides of up to 36 km. (22 miles). Other shore excursions included cliff hikes described as “demanding” with “many steps, steep climbs, and uneven surfaces.”

Sailing the Atlantic coast

After departing Hamburg, the Spirit made its way down the Atlantic coast of Europe, stopping in Ostend/Bruges, Guernsey, Brest, Belle-île-en-Mer, Pauillac/Bordeaux, San Sebastian, and Bilbao.

A highlight was a private evening reception and wine tasting on the lawn at Bordeaux’s Château Phélan Ségur, founded in 1810 by an Irish wine merchant. Incongruously (but delightfully), a trio entertained the guests with Dixieland jazz. 

Sailing the Atlantic has both pros and cons. For the most part, the weather was delightful, with plenty of sunshine and daytime temperatures ranging from 18-24°C. (64-75°F), while Jerusalem was sweltering at 30-33°C. (86-91°F) and elsewhere in the Mediterranean was even hotter. 

However, there were also some rough seas – which are especially noticeable in a smaller ship like the Spirit. (A large cruise ship generally feels like a gently thrumming hotel.) But only once did I need to take advantage of the free sea-sickness pills offered by the Reception Desk. 

Future cruises

The Spirit will continue to sail the North Atlantic in August and September, with cruises starting at 3,384 euros per person. 

In late September, the ship will shift to the Mediterranean and North Africa, with a chance to watch the America’s Cup regatta off Barcelona in October.

In November, the Spirit will make the transatlantic crossing to the Caribbean. With the ship home ported in Puerto Rico during the winter, the cruise line is hoping to increase its proportion of American passengers to 40%. 

For snowbirds, the Spirit will sail round trip from Miami to the Bahamas in March/April 2025, with best-selling crime novelist and historian Les Standiford on board as a guest speaker.

More information is at Seacloud.com. 

The writer was a guest of Sea Cloud Cruises.