Cruise Ship Drops Madeira Due to Weather, Adds Alternative
Key Aspects:
Silver Ray will be unable to visit Madeira as planned due to poor weather expected during her overnight visit.
Instead, the ship is adding a visit to Leixoes, Portugal at the end of her transatlantic itinerary that left Florida on March 10.
True to the luxury line’s customer service, every notification letter was hand-signed by the ship’s captain.
With poor weather on the horizon as Silversea’s Silver Ray makes her way toward Europe to begin her summer season in the Mediterranean, guests onboard have been informed of a dropped port of call and an alternative added on the last day of the sailing.
Guests received the news during their transatlantic cruise both via onboard announcements and a letter delivered to staterooms once the change was confirmed.
“As I mentioned earlier, we have been monitoring some inclement weather developing in the region,” the letter explained. “In the interest of your safety and comfort, we will no longer call at Funchal, Madeira.”
Silver Ray departed Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, March 10, for the 14-night crossing. The ship has already called overnight in Bermuda and is now on her way to Portugal.
The visit to Funchal was to have been an overnight visit from 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 21, through 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 22. Just at that time, however, the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere is forecasting a 98% chance of rain. This can make for a very unpleasant visit experience, and higher winds might make docking unsafe.
Instead, Silver Ray will spend that time at sea but will now visit Leixoes on Monday, March 23 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Originally, Monday was to have been a final day at sea before the ship arrives in Lisbon on Tuesday, March 25 for debarkation.
While Madeira is on the island of Funchal, roughly 600 miles southwest of Lisbon, Leixoes is on the continent, roughly 175 miles north of Lisbon.
Silver Ray‘s Shore Concierge Team is working to schedule tour options for guests to explore Leixoes. Guests will have access to those details well ahead of Monday’s visit so they can plan their time ashore.
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Cruise Hive has previously reported on different port of call cancellations for a variety of reasons. Poor weather, swells that make tendering impossible, berth availability, pier maintenance, and other factors might all cancel a port visit.
Islands like Madeira are especially vulnerable to such cancellations when poor weather approaches. Cruise ships often require very specific approaches to dock safely, and winds or waves from the wrong direction could make it unsafe to dock.
A Personal Touch Despite the Disappointment
While guests will naturally be disappointed at missing a planned port of call, there is a special personal touch to the cancellation that illustrates Silversea’s commitment to luxury.
“We just received a formal letter from Captain Giovanni outlining the new itinerary and summarizing the details from this morning’s briefing,” one guest described. “Here is the most amazing part: In true Captain Giovanni style, he hand-signed all 344 letters for every suite on the ship!”
When guests typically receive a letter as an onboard notification, whether for a port change, mechanical situation, or operational update, it may be signed by the ship’s captain or other officer. Usually, those signatures are just printed from a file, and sometimes there is no printed signature at all.
Of course, larger ships may have thousands of staterooms. It could be impossible for a captain to personally sign a letter for every stateroom before the ship might actually arrive at its next port!
Guests onboard Silver Ray have noted that the change to a new port has been arranged seamlessly and the onboard team has really worked hard to ensure a positive experience. Despite the change, everyone aboard is sure to have a fantastic time as they arrive in Portugal.
After debarking in Lisbon, the 55,051-gross ton Silver Ray, the newest ship in Silversea’s fleet, will offer two departures from Lisbon before moving to Barcelona and beginning her Mediterranean season in earnest.
Through November 2026, Silver Ray will offer sailings from Barcelona, Monte Carlo, and Rome before she returns to Florida for winter in the Caribbean. The luxury ship can welcome 728 guests aboard for each sailing.