Silversea has opened its first hotel, and it is about as far south as a hotel gets. The Cormorant at 55 South, a 150-room lodge in Puerto Williams on Chile’s Beagle Channel, welcomes its first guests this week. It is not a standalone resort. It is the overnight base for Silversea’s Antarctica Fly Cruise, which flies guests over the Drake Passage instead of sailing across it.
The opening has been a long time coming. Silversea first announced a January 2026 debut, then pushed it to October. The result is a cruise line running its own shore base at the gateway to Antarctica, so the night before you fly to the ice, and the night after you come back, are in Silversea’s hands rather than a third-party hotel’s.
The Cormorant at 55 South: Key Facts
- Opens: October 2026, for the 2026–27 Antarctic season
- Location: Puerto Williams, Chile, on the Beagle Channel
- Rooms: 150, all the same size, with forest or Beagle Channel views
- Design: warm wood interiors and pieces by Chilean artisans
- Dining and drinks: Latitude 55, a Chilean-inspired restaurant with family-style evenings; Bar Sur, with wine tastings and a Pisco cocktail masterclass; the Fireplace Lounge
- Activities: nature walks, hiking, kayaking and wildlife watching
- Season: open seasonally, October to March
- Role: the overnight stop on Silversea’s Antarctica Fly Cruise, before and after the flight to King George Island
How the Fly Cruise Works
Guests spend a night in Santiago, fly by charter to Puerto Williams and stay a night at The Cormorant. The next day they fly to King George Island in the South Shetlands and board the ship. On the way home the pattern reverses: a night at the hotel, then the charter back to Santiago. The Drake Passage is skipped in both directions. Silversea runs fly cruises of six, eight and nine days, plus a 13-day Ultimate Antarctic Adventure, on Silver Endeavour, Silver Cloud and Silver Wind, with Zodiacs and kayaks for landings. There is no scuba diving.
Inside the Hotel
All 150 rooms are the same size, which tells you what the hotel is for: a comfortable, consistent night either side of the flight, not a suite-led resort. Latitude 55 serves Chilean-inspired food, with family-style evenings that suit a group about to share a ship. Bar Sur does wine tastings and a Pisco masterclass, and the Fireplace Lounge is the obvious place to wait out the weather window for the flight south. Silversea’s press images are all renderings for now; no photographs of the finished hotel have been released.
Why It Matters
The weak point of every fly cruise has always been the gateway. Flights to King George Island depend on the weather, and when they are delayed, guests wait in whatever accommodation the operator can find. By building its own hotel, Silversea controls that waiting time, and turns it into part of the trip. For travellers who want Antarctica without two days each way on the Drake, The Cormorant at 55 South makes the fly cruise a more predictable product. It is part of a wider shift: Atlas is doubling its Drake Fly & Sail departures, and Lindblad now owns White Desert’s fly-in camps.
The Lens I’m Reading This Through
I did Antarctica the other way: nine nights on Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Voyager, which I rated 5/5, sailing the Drake in both directions. One of those Drake crossings came with 140 km/h winds. I would not trade the trip, but I understand exactly who a fly cruise is for. A hotel built to make the flight easier is a sensible answer to the one part of Antarctica nobody enjoys.
Prices and How to Book
Silversea does not publish fares for the Antarctica Fly Cruise on the pages I checked on 19 October 2026. It says transfers, charter flights and shore excursions are included, along with expedition team lectures. The hotel nights are part of the fly-cruise package rather than sold separately. For a sense of what Antarctica costs by ship, my Antarctica cruise price breakdown covers the sail-both-ways alternative. The fly cruises are bookable through Silversea and polar specialists.
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This preview is based on official announcements — I haven’t stayed at The Cormorant at 55 South yet. Read more about how I review or visit my Work With Me page.
