I used to have an investment in bitvest.io and the return were better than interest on banks, I would recommend doing that. You also should consider betking.io as a good investment site.
As of the word cloud mining, I don't trust them, there might be some legit and trustworthy cloud mining but most of them are a slow HYIP. I might be wrong but I would never suggest anyone to believe them.
There are many more ways to invest bitcoin, direct or indirect with the level of risk you want to go with, you can have variable returns.
Cloud mining you should go straight to hashnest. It provides a safe and honest chance at ROI, there is no guarentee. But with it being part of Bitmain you have the trust there, and you actually have hash out there. It is not fake like so many other sites. I would take hashocean site off your list above (also it has a referral on it not allowed it's the ?rid= and after that needs removed).
Also another valid solution for mining is buying gear and having it hosted somewhere. There are a few choices out there on this. But chances are again the gear will be Bitmain if you want current gen S9. But I like owning gear personally.
Ty the "REF" was removed immediately, I will be more careful. I know exactly what it is and I am looking for. I am going to continue to add member suggestions, though will not get carried away. As "edits" noted in original post say on 6/20 I will scrub the forum for reviews on the 3 primary along with other member suggestions. Then move forward from there.
As I asked the other member, if you have any further details you can give on your experiences. Such information would be greatly appreciated. You do not think any of the given options are of value for someone wanting to just "dabble"/spend a few hundred to a couple thousand a year? There is still unimagined headaches ahead the quicker we can bring informed people aboard and allow them to at least get the feel for it the better, right? I see no better scenario than everyone dropping government currency, obtaining the training/skills needed to mine personally and "securely" then buying mining gear. However, I do not think that is realistic. So I am hoping to offer some alternatives for myself or if desired an updated list I will keep for the community. Thank you.