The small-ship company Sea Cloud Cruises (fleet) celebrated a debut route on Tuesday, February 21st, in US waters with the 2021-built Sea Cloud Spirit - currently the world's largest sailship, with LOA length 138 m (450 ft).
Every February and March, the is deployed in the Caribbean and homeported in Miami (Florida USA) to operate roundtrips to The Bahamas' Eleuthera Island (popular for the Princess Cays resort) and Exuma Islands.
In the future, trips to the cluster of islands will mark the closure of the company's Caribbean and Central American seasons. The flagship/namesake of the company is the legendary Sea Cloud, built in 1931 for Marjorie Merriweather Post.
In a statement, Sea Cloud Cruises said that to add an attractive destination to their winter month portfolio, they had "purposely chosen Miami as a sailing cruise departure and destination as it can be easily reached from all over the world."
Several years ago, Sea Cloud Cruises enjoyed a long run of success after initiating 3 yacht tours to the Lesser Antilles and Central America. With Eleuthera and the Exumas, they are pursuing their concept of visiting destinations that are inaccessible to traditional cruisers and providing tourists with a one-of-a-kind tall sailing experience.
In early-February 2022, The Ritz-Carlton (via the subsidiary The Yacht Portfolio) signed an LoI/letter of intent with the Hamburg-based company Sea Cloud Cruises GmbH (shipowner) for an acquisition in the near future. With an eventual acquisition, the Ritz-Carlton brand's portfolio would be expanded also in the "small-ship luxury cruise" market. The travel brand "Sea Cloud Cruises" would remain, and the company's employees and management team would be kept intact.