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"That 19th century
sea chantey that
begins, "The
anchor heaves,
the ship swings
free, the sails swell
full. To sea, to sea!"
could have been
composed for the
1931 launching of
Sea Cloud..."
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 hoy all you sailors out there! See to your flying jibs and royals and skysails and spankers and mizzens and all the rest. Better yet, let the 60-man (and -woman) crew of the legendary Sea Cloud do it for you on a once-in-a-lifetime weeklong cruise in the Caribbean. And she is a legendary ship with a fascinating history.
That 19th century sea chantey that begins, "The anchor heaves, the ship swings free, the sails swell full. To sea, to sea!" could have been composed for the 1931 launching of Sea Cloud from the Germania boat yard in Kiel, Germany for its proud new owners, Wall Street tycoon E. F. Hutton and his wife, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post Hutton. Even more interesting, you yourself could be sitting on Sea Cloud's Lido deck listening to her crew of young men and women sing that rousing homage to ancient sailing traditions as this grand lady of the seas glides gracefully through warm Caribbean waters.
 amed Hussar V at its launching, this spectacular, 356-foot-long (counting the bowsprit), four-masted barque was unique even for a time when such American aristocrats as the Astors and Vanderbilts also were building palatial yachts. Displaying 32,000 square feet of canvas when under full sail and more than 10-1/2 miles of rope in her rigging, the Huttons furnished her with museum-quality antiques and the best of everything, making sure that she was equipped with 4 eight cylinder state-of-the-art engines with an output of 6,000 H.P. and a compartmentalized hull found only on the most advanced ships-of-war of the time.
E. F. Hutton was a high-tech businessman for his day. Among his innovations was the first trans-continental telegraph outside the public domain (outside Western Union.) It included a private line from his offices in San Francisco and Oakland to his office in New York--which gave him a life-saving advantage when the stock market crashed. Another unprecedented installation on Sea Cloud was an enormous food freezer below deck, evolved from the innovative new concept of frozen foods pioneered by the Birdseye division of Marjorie's General Foods. It enabled the ship to sail for many months without reprovisioning, and, to this day, makes possible the impressively varied haute cuisine served on board concocted from rare ingredients free of seasonal constraints.
Some years later the Huttons divorced. One theory puts the cause of the split on the fact that E.F. was a staunch Republican and Marjorie supported Franklin D. Roosevelt. Be that as it may, Marjorie Merriweather Post rechristened the ship Sea Cloud, and for a time, spent six months out of every year sailing the seven seas with daughter, Nedina Hutton (better known as actress Dina Merrill). At the time, this was a very private ship. With a crew of 72 to serve them, Marjorie and Dina and, at most six guests, sailed from the Galapagos to Alaska to Montecarlo to any place their fancies took them
By 1935, Marjorie had found a new husband in Joseph Davies, an advisor to FDR and, in 1937, the new U.S. ambassador to the Stalinist Soviet Union. Spaso House, the official residence of the embassy, was stuffed with hidden listening devices, so the Davies solved this annoying spying by declaring Sea Cloud as the United States' floating embassy to the Soviets. Loaded with delicacies in her freezers and often resupplied on trips to New York, Sea Cloud was a popular embassy with the proletariat officials. Later, when the U.S. entered World War II, Sea Cloud was rented (for $1 per year) to the Coast Guard and saw service in the North Atlantic as a U-Boat spotter and weather ship. This was followed over a couple of decades by ownership in 1953 by Dominican Republic dictator and international playboy Rafael Trujillo, a time as a hands-on oceanic classroom, and a 1975 attempt to purchase her by Ross Perot. Now, Sea Cloud has a brilliant new life she can share with you.
 oday, many lives later after her stormy history, totally refurbished and refitted in 1979 after nearly 50 years of service, Sea Cloud is now the proud flagship of the Hansa Cruise Company, an entity of the German investment company, Hansa Treuhand. She has been restored to her former grandeur with the addition of handsome new cabins on the Captain's and Promenade decks for a total of 34 cabins, completely new rigging and sails, the latest technical equipment, including radar, satellite navigational aids and satellite communications, international phone and telex communication systems, and restoration of the original owner's and guest's cabins and public spaces to the exquisite condition demanded by Marjorie Merriweather Post.
 ea Cloud's officers are, in large part, veterans of the German Merchant Marine, and she is crewed by an international assortment of about sixty bright, young men and women (close to a 60-40 mix), including highly experienced sailors and qualified trainees. When the young crew races up the masts to unfurl acres of canvas, this daily ritual is comparable in every way to watching an aerial ballet, a sort of nautical Cirque du Soleil.
Rounding out the staff in the galley are a master chef with eight sub-chefs turning out three haute cuisine meals a day plus high tea and freshly baked snacks
For several years, Sea Cloud has been extremely active in the flourishing German cruise market, and, in fact, is better known in Europe than she is in the U.S., rated for several years running by German travel publication, "Holiday Magazine" as the number one cruise ship of its kind afloat. This exclusivity to the European market has changed. An important aspect of Sea Cloud's activities has been and continues to be with special interest charters for such non-profit clients as the Smithsonian, New York's American Museum of Natural History, and alumni associations from major eastern and western American universities. However, for the major part of each season, with a crew of 60 and a capacity for 69 passengers, she now is available to the North American market for weekly cruises in the Caribbean.
s an example, a recent fall cruise to the Caribbean began with Sea Cloud's Atlantic crossing under full sail from the Canary Islands with vacationers escaping Europe's approaching winter. In Antigua, B.V.I., she was boarded by passengers who had come in the day before from JFK on American Airline's two direct daily flights via San Juan with an overnight stay at Antigua's colorful and hospitable Pineapple Beach Club resort. For the next seven days, Sea Cloud explored the Leeward Islands of the eastern Caribbean with stops at Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, Anguilla, St. Barts, St. Kitts, and back to Antigua. Highlights included three outstanding meals each day plus four o'clock high tea and an eleven pm snack; an elegant formal Captain's Dinner; magnificent demonstrations of seamanship every time the crew climbed the rigging--the Main mast extends 178 feet above the main deck--to set sails; skeet shooting off the stern; numerous land excursions at each port of call; informal socializing every evening with international fellow passengers to the piano accompaniment of outstanding cruise director, Tom Hook (his real name) and, of course, those sea chantey serenades by the crew.
As for the food, on that same cruise, the Calptain's welcome dinner began with: Variation of salmon and caviar served with a potato pancake and cucumber salad, followed by Boletus consomme, then palates cleansed with lemon sherbet, a main course of medallions of veal garnished with foie gras, madeira sauce and vegetable spaghetti, capped by a dessert of strawberries in an almondbasket and vanilla ice-cream, all topped off with petits fours and coffee.
 hat is it like on board this empress of the seas? Well, it's amazingly relaxed and friendly. You are surrounded by true "class" in every sense, most particularly in the kind of service provided, and yet you sense that any passenger showing unwelcome signs of snobbery will be invited politely but firmly to walk the plank. Dress is generally informal, though you are requested to "dress up" (cocktail dresses for the ladies and coat and tie for the gents) for the Captain's Gala Dinner. Nevertheless, you will find it difficult to hold back a feeling of superiority when Sea Cloud glides majestically, pennants flying from the yardarms, into a Caribbean port and docks near one of those humongous floating hotels with thousands of passengers and multiple meal sittings.
However, be prepared to pay very well indeed for your taste of aristocratic privileges. If you decide to occupy the owners' suites, it will cost you $1,190 per day to hang your clothes in Marjorie's armoire or read the latest stock market reports while lounging by E. F. Hutton's working fireplace. At the other end of the scale, a really small though excellently well appointed cabin (category 6) for two will cost you $486 per day. Air, land accommodations and land excursions are not included. It is worth noting that Sea Cloud does not dock in U.S. ports because her hardwood decks and the exotic woods used in her interior furnishings do not meet stringent U.S. fire standards, so you will have to fly to Antigua, British Virgin Islands to catch up with her.
 s it worth it? YES--even if it's as a once-in-a-lifetime splurge.
Also, note that Sea Cloud also cruises the Mediterranean and that she has a sister ship, the River Cloud which cruises European rivers.
Sea Cloud Cruises USA,
Fax 201-227-9424;
E-mail seacloud@att.net
Fielding's Cruise Finder:
http://www.fieldingtravel.com.cf/ships/cs14100/index.htm
Pineapple Beach Club, Antigua, 800-345-0271
PHOTO CREDITS: Sea Cloud Cruises USA, Rod Lopez-Fabrega, Mary Ashcraft
© 1999 ROMAR TRAVEL GUIDES
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Central America and the Carribean
