Field Notes · From the houses · Silversea
Silversea starts its 2026/2027 Antarctica season and previews The Cormorant at 55 South
Forty voyages on three expedition ships, twenty-nine of them fly cruises, and a new hotel in Puerto Williams that turns the southern tip of Chile into the first night of an Antarctic trip.
The Antarctic season has a start date, and for Silversea it has now passed. The expedition line has sent its first ships south for 2026/2027: Silver Endeavour left from King George Island, Silver Wind from Puerto Williams in Chile. Between now and March 2027 these two and Silver Cloud will run 40 voyages of six to 21 nights, and some of them reach well beyond the Antarctic Peninsula, to South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.
The number worth remembering is not the 40. It is the 29: that is how many of the season’s voyages are Antarctica Fly Cruises, and every one of them now includes a stay at The Cormorant at 55 South, the hotel Silversea has built in Puerto Williams.
Three answers to the Drake Passage
Anyone who has read our Antarctic Peninsula page knows the classic shape of the trip: two days across the Drake Passage, a week of landings, two days back. The Drake is the price of admission, and on a bad day it is a steep one. This season offers three ways to pay it.
The first avoids it twice. Fourteen sailings aboard Silver Endeavour fly guests over the Drake in both directions and cruise from the Antarctic Sound to the Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. The second avoids it once: fifteen one-way sailings on Silver Wind, Silver Cloud and Silver Endeavour pair a flight with a crossing by ship, southbound on some departures and northbound on others. On these fly cruises, charter flights, expedition experiences and Zodiac outings are part of every sailing. The third answer is the traditional one, chosen on purpose: eleven voyages cross the Drake by sea in both directions from Puerto Williams.
“Antarctica is central to Silversea’s expedition program, and this season gives guests even greater choice in how they reach it.”
Bert Hernandez, president, Silversea
The long way round
The sea voyages are where the season gets ambitious. Silver Wind’s 18-night roundtrip from Puerto Williams, departing on 7 November, calls at West Point Island, Saunders Island and Port Stanley in the Falklands, continues to South Georgia, passes Elephant Island and only then reaches the Peninsula. Silver Cloud runs four 15-night voyages that combine South Georgia, Elephant Island and the Peninsula, the first leaving on 9 November. Her 12-night roundtrip departing on 9 December includes a day south of the Antarctic Circle, and Silver Wind spends the holidays in the south on a 15-night voyage from 22 December to the Peninsula and South Georgia.
The longest sailing closes the season. Silver Endeavour leaves Puerto Williams on 4 March 2027 for 21 nights: the Peninsula and South Georgia, then Carcass Island, West Point Island and Port Stanley in the Falklands, Puerto Madryn in Argentina and finally Buenos Aires, the only voyage of the season to end there.
A hotel at 55 degrees south
The Cormorant at 55 South is the piece that makes the fly cruise work. Every fly cruise includes a stay in Puerto Williams, reached on Silversea-branded charter flights from Santiago with a three-course meal on board. According to Silversea, this private charter is the only direct flight between the Chilean capital and Puerto Williams.
The hotel is meant to be more than a waiting room. Silversea’s Expedition Experts, the same specialists who guide the Antarctic voyages, will be on permanent rotation there. The programme includes kayaking on the Beagle Channel, guided hikes on Navarino Island with naturalists and birding specialists, and horseback excursions led by a Patagonian baqueano, a local wilderness guide. The main restaurant, Latitude 55, serves family-style dining built around Patagonian flavours, and Bar Sur pours Chilean wines and cocktails made with local ingredients. The official grand opening is on 5 November 2026; guests on earlier voyages get a preview.
What the simulators add
Fifty-five degrees south is a long way from the equator, and in high summer it shows. Our Daylight Simulator gives Puerto Williams a little over seventeen hours of daylight in mid-December, a generous evening for a kayak on the Beagle Channel, and further south on the Peninsula the days are longer still. Whichever way you cross, a remote itinerary depends on the weather, and A Thousand Trips shows what a single spare day does to the odds.
