Sailing in Style: Aboard the Sea Cloud Spirit on a Luxury Cruise Around Sicily

Discovering the Magic of Boutique Travel Experiences

Purveyors of magic. That is how you could describe some of the companies or agencies which make their money by selling you experiences away from home. The holiday industry can be hit-and-miss, but book with the right people and there can be golden moments when you are able to sit back and appreciate that your chosen purveyors of magic are, indeed, waving their wand.

Cruising the Sicilian Coast Aboard a Luxury Sailing Ship

Which is the best way I can describe what’s happening as I write these words. The experience of a lifetime is, indeed, underway as I sit aboard a sailing ship watching the mountainous Sicilian coast pass gently by in hot July sunshine.

We’re passing between Sicily and the Aeolian Isles with a following wind so we’re under full sail, which means all I can hear is the sound of the blue waves slapping against the hull. Some members of the crew are clambering high in the rigging and they’ve invited us to climb up to the crow’s nest, but I’ve got words to write and, to be honest, I’m too scared. Those yardarms are a long way up.

Life on Board the Sea Cloud Spirit: Where Luxury Meets Heritage

Not that my failure to climb the rigging, or anything else come to that, matters - the customer is absolute king aboard the Sea Cloud Spirit. You do what you like, and to help you do that there are outstandingly friendly and attentive teams of waiters, bar-staff, pursers and goodness knows who else.

Iconic Mediterranean Views from Deck

The views are stupendous enough as I tap on my keyboard - I don’t need to go to the crow’s nest to see distant Mount Etna rising into the clouds - and I’m also aware that we’ll be dropping anchor much closer to the volcano that so recently blew its top, once we’ve turned down into the Straits of Messina.

Fine Dining Under Sail: A Taste of Decadence

But if the maritime scene is magnificent, so too are the savoury aromas wafting my way from the open-air lido deck where they’ll be serving lunch under the cool shade of a giant awning. We’ll be along there soon, trying to decide between the lobster and the steak. Maybe we’ll surf-and-turf it and have both. And the lunch will be wonderful because all the meals aboard this vessel are first-class. So too will the selection of house wines. Yesterday there was a classy Chablis, which went superbly with some sushi from a giant fresh (and sustainably) caught yellow fin tuna.

Later, dinner in the air-conditioned restaurant will be a slightly more formal and, perhaps, an even more delicious affair. A four course meal delivered by teams of the most attentive waiters you’ll find anywhere. Men and woman who remember your names from day one, along with all your little idiosyncratic tastes and preferences.

Huge tuna fresh from Palermo market

Step Back in Time on Deck

Life aboard the Sea Cloud Spirit is all so decadent and luxurious. The mahogany decks, the brass fittings, the varnished wooden bulkheads, and a thousand other things combine to give you the impression that you have jumped into a time capsule and are, perhaps, sailing along with the likes of Hercule Poirot in some Agatha Christie period piece. Not Death on the Nile as much as Sumptuous Around Sicily.

Culture at Sea: Concerts, Lectures and Grand Pianos

Yesterday evening, when we were tied alongside in the port of Palermo, four world-class musicians from the ensemble Recondite Armonia (named after the famous aria) came aboard to give us a concert in the ship’s large air-conditioned lounge. It was breathtaking. I had thought they’d be just four jobbing professionals who “do” the cruise ships, but the soprano, baritone, violinist and pianist stunned the small audience of some 60 passengers with their virtuoso performance.

On another evening two of the passengers put on a concert playing four-handed classical pieces on the luxury yacht’s grand piano. They too were faultless, playing to a professional standard despite the fact that they claimed to be amateurs.

In the same lounge, with its leather armchairs and mahogany walls, we were also treated to a series of lectures by the well-known biographer, Flora Fraser, who told us about Admiral Nelson’s flight from Naples with Emma Hamilton and her husband, Sir William Hamilton. Their hurried voyage, in the company of the Neapolitan royal family, followed a similar course to our cruise last week - namely a route past the Isle of Capri, south to Sicily - and the love affair between the admiral and the woman has a legendary status in British history.

Flora’s excellent talks helped to give our cruise an altogether more romantic and more exciting narrative. We were aboard the same sort of boat if you count the fact that we too had masts and sails, but our vessel was very different in just about every other respect to HMS Vanguard which took the lovers across the Tyrrhenian Sea. They would have been astonished by the beautifully-equipped Sea Cloud Spirit’s layers of modern-day luxury - especially the air-conditioning, which can be important in the Mediterranean’s summer heat.

Why Small Ship Cruises Are the Way Forward

Say the word “cruise” and in me you will find someone walking the other way. Those giant cruise ships which loom over just about any port with sufficient water don’t do it for me. The destinations instantly become overcrowded the moment they arrive and who wants to see the world from a floating city?

The three ships operated by Sea Cloud Cruises are a very different kettle of fish. Last week we were aboard the largest, the Sea Cloud Spirit, a luxurious, three-masted, full-rigged sailing ship launched in 2021. It is the newest and largest of the Sea Cloud fleet, combining traditional windjammer design with modern amenities. It carries a maximum of just 136 passengers and offers a unique sailing experience with spacious decks, a wellness and spa area, and a fitness room with sea views.

Rigging crew, Sea Cloud Spirit

The Itinerary: Naples to Valletta by Sail

We joined the ship in Naples and the cruise took us out across the bay so we could stop at Capri, after which we spent 36 hours sailing down to Trapani in north-west Sicily. And I really do mean sailing. The Sea Cloud ships don’t have masts and sails just for the look of things - they really do get the canvas up and sail these vessels. Which has the happy effect of making them far more steady in any kind of choppy seas. The vast acreage of sail seems to “nail” the ship to the sea and not a single seasickness pill did I take during our eight-day voyage.

The beaches at Trapani

Which was basically a clockwise journey around three-quarters of Sicily taking us from Trapani to the island capital of Palermo. From there we traversed the length of the north coast to pass down through the Messina Straits to Giardini Naxos, which is the port for the famously picturesque town of Taormina. After that we sailed south again to lovely old Syracuse, the highly fortified historic port on Sicily’s south east coast. Lastly there was an overnight sail down to Malta where we were to disembark at Valletta.

Messina Straits at dusk

Aboard the Sea Cloud Spirit: Elegant Comfort and Excitement at Sea

The journey down from Naples included two entire days at sea, plus of course visits to the towns and cities mentioned above. Did I get bored during the long days at sea on a smallish cruise ship with hardly any of the glitzy amenities you find aboard their giant cousins? Absolutely not. I wallowed in the luxury of it all, watching the crew high above in the rigging, talking to the captain on the bridge (which is open to passengers most of the time), enjoying superb lengthy meals and also getting away to the privacy of our spacious cabin’s own small private deck.

Sea Swimming, Zodiacs, and Unique Photo Ops

The crew also ensure there’s plenty to do, not only with the lectures and talks but also by hoving-to and opening the James Bond-ish swimming platform. Diving into deep deep sea in the middle of nowhere is a very special thing to do. It could be scary but aboard this ship every - absolutely everything - is carried out with well-rehearsed precision. There were safety ropes and floats and half dozen crew acting as life-guards when we enjoyed our out-at-sea swimming experiences.

Deep sea swimming from the Sea Cloud Spirit

On another occasion we were offered the chance to go on a “sea safari” which basically meant climbing down into one of the zippy Zodiacs to belt around the ship as she careered along under full sail. The ride was bumpy and exhilarating, but those of us with cameras were able to snap the very best shots of a three-masted windjammer doing what she does best - roaring down the waves thanks to a strong following wind.

A Cruise to Remember

All very exciting. Time for a little lie down on the luxury bed between the best quality sheets imaginable. Followed perhaps by a calming cocktail up on the Lido Deck and we watched the odd puff of smoke emerge from the top of Stromboli’s volcano…

All this might sound a little expensive? Well, yes, it is. But you get what you pay for in this life. Purveyors of real magic don’t come cheap - and by ‘magic’ I mean moments that you will remember forever. The first of these happened to me last week as we slipped away from the port in central Naples with a glass of champagne in my hand. The sheer elegance of it all - the fact that I’ve spent a long lifetime occasionally looking with envy at luxury yachts and thinking: “Who can be aboard such a wonderful thing?”

And suddenly it was me.

Fact File: Sea Cloud Spirit Cruise Details

Cruise Operator: Sea Cloud Cruises
Contact: info@seacloud.com | +49 (0)40-30 95 92-50
Cruise Consultant: cruise-consultant@seacloud.com
YouTube Channel: Sea Cloud Cruises GmbH

Fact File: Travel Extras

Airport Parking Provider: HolidayExtras.com
Service: Maple Parking Business Meet & Greet, Heathrow Terminal 5
Sample Cost (9 Days): £203.99 (arrival 05/08/2025)
Booking Contact: 0800 316 5678