sea bright

Their appearance seems to vary. They appeared maybe 4 weeks before our fall cruise on the Dawn, maybe 6 weeks before our January cruise on the Nova and have yet to appear for our May 1 cruise on the Muse.

They were visible in multiple ports the day before or after we were there. We just had bad weather.

When is your cruise? We did a Copenhagen round trip on the Dawn last year, mid-September to early October. We did not see the Northern Lights (too many clouds at night). We still had a great time. The leaves were pretty much peaking and it is a beautiful part of the world!

Definitely! I got the feeling it's all evolving as they see how it sells (and what the new budget allows). It was more than 3/4 full the night we were there, but I heard other nights on our cruise it was less than half full.

I asked whether the menu changed. Our Chef said the same menu was being used for the entire South American GV. He thought a similar menu had been used prior to the GV, but wasn't completely sure. He said he had suggested changing the menu periodically, but had not gotten approval.

In early January we were looking at a September cruise on the Endeavour in a Silver Suite. It was $29,100 DtD (the only option for a Silver Suite at the time). After the recent price increase it is $30,600 DtD, but there is now a PtP option (which we often prefer) at $28,600. Not sure I can get airfare and airport transfers for $500 per person so the price has increased, but only slightly. It looks like the amount of the price increase varies by itinerary and possibly even cabin class.

I got it today and answered similarly to Desperate to Sail!

This is the menu from our dinner at the Chef's Table. The menu was the same for the entire cruise. I'm fairly certain the Nova LaDame menu was posted on Cruise Critic previously.

Food is subjective. We did both the Chef's Table and LaDame. While we thought both were overpriced, we enjoyed LaDame more. The Chef's Table is a nice concept, but needs work. Many of the small plate courses were just not good - tough duck, over or undercooked vegetables and several uninteresting dishes. The food was far better at Atlantide or SALT kitchen. It is more about the "experience". If you've never been to a Chef's Table before, it would be fun, but if you have access to restaurants on land that offer them your $180 will go further (although not cover the whole dinner if you live in NY like we do). The food in LaDame on Nova was better than what we had elsewhere on the ship. Much better quality caviar, Dover sole, seafood soup etc. The service was also excellent and the included wines were better than we got elsewhere. That said, I still think the upcharge was too high. However, if you're looking to splurge check out the menus and see which appeals to you.

Thanks for your info about the pool noise. Does the balcony fit a lounge chair? Is the shower bigger than a regular Veranda shower?

We have been sailing Silversea since 2006 and will hit our 350 day milestone on our May 1 Muse cruise. Some of our best Silversea cruises have been post-covid and after RCI took over - the Moon and Dawn inaugural cruises in particular. However, there were less than 250 people aboard and the service was stellar, as was the F&B. Since those cruises we have done several on the Moon and Dawn (including one in October on the Dawn) and noticed some cost-cutting, but still enjoyed them immensely and felt Silversea was delivering a quality product. However, our January/February cruise on the Nova was a huge disappointment. We had worse service and occasionally worse food than we have experienced in the past on mass market lines. In addition to the F & B cost cutting mentioned above, the restaurants and bars were seriously understaffed. For example, while the SALT Bar on the Dawn/Moon had 1 bartender and 1 server, the Salt Bar on the Nova, which was serving at least 4 times the number of guests, had only 2 bartenders and 2 servers. They did their utmost, but it routinely took 20 to 30 minutes to get a drink. We found similarly slow service due to understaffing in Atlantide, Salt Kitchen and Dolce Vita. We hoped that these issues were limited to the Nova (which we will not sail again) but complaints on CC have us worried that the issues are more widespread. We have decided to use our upcoming cruise on the Muse as a test. If it goes well we keep the cruises we have booked in 24 and early 25 and book our "free" cruise. If our experience is as disappointing as the Nova was, we will probably still book the "free" cruise, but cancel the others. I am, for the first time in years, researching other cruise lines to replace at least some of the cruises we may have to cancel (Explora and Regent currently, but perhaps others as well). Additionally, I am looking into expanding the land portion of our trip to French Polynesia in case we have to cancel our cruise there on the Shadow. We will be very disappointed if our Muse cruise is not a good experience!

We felt the food on the Nova in Jan/Feb was a HUGE step down from our Sept/Oct cruise on the Dawn. We were hoping the obvious cost cutting was limited to the Nova, which we will not sail again. Machotspur, your experience and similar posts are very concerning. We're boarding the Muse May 1 for a back to back. I really hope the food will better than what we had on the Nova!

On the Nova in Jan/Feb in addition to the above they had Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve in the Panorama. We didn't ask for it in the room.

On the Nova in Jan/Feb the Panorama did not open until 11 on sea days or about 2 pm port days. The ability to get coffee there was sorely missed as the Arts Cafe was a zoo pretty much all day every day before noon (and the outdoor bars, which were open early, were freezing for much of our cruise). We ate at the Chef's Table. Arranged it at reception a day or two into the cruise. At that point it was available most nights. It's a great concept and the chef/host was great, but the menu and food need some work. I went to reception the morning after sail away and was able to get reservations for Salt Lab. Dinner at Silver Note before 9 pm was the only reservation we found difficult to get onboard.

Caviar was definitely much better in La Dame. The caviar available elsewhere on the Nova was a big step down from what we had on the Dawn in October. The Dover sole was excellent in La Dame and not available elsewhere on our Nova cruise. The lamb was also better than what was available elsewhere on the Nova. The service in La Dame on the Nova was much better than our dinners in La Dame on the Moon and Dawn. That said, I'm still not sure it's worth the upcharge. I wish they would go back to the wine region menus they hadoin Le Champagne around 2006/7. The upcharge then was 120 per person, but it was well worth it. Additionally, the menu changed to show case different wine regions so we would usually go more than once per cruise.

We dined in La Dame once on our recent Nova cruise. We enjoyed it. The wines were better than most of what was on offer in the other restaurants and the ingredients and service were better. We also did the Chef's Table and much preferred La Dame. I'm not sure the up charge was fully justified, but it is a much better experience than La Dame on the other ships (which is only $60 per person, but no better wines, ingredients or service).

We had the same abbreviated Atlantide menu on the Nova in January /February as well as a much more abbreviated La Terrazza menu, (which we really hated). We were told the menus were specific to the Nova, but I guess they are rolling them out on the other ships. Is the La Terrazza menu on the Muse similarly reduced?

In the past (even as recently as this fall) on formal nights in Atlantide we saw higher end daily specials - e.g., dover sole, steak rossini, etc. This was not the case our Jan-Feb Nova cruise - the formal night menus were no different than on other nights and some higher end items never appeared at all (outside La Dame). Some posters on other threads have reported that on other ships - Spirit and perhaps Muse- the formal night offerings have also been dumbed down since the start of this year. In any event, you will be fine with a blazer and tie on formal nights in Atlantide.

We used their BA hotel at the end of our Nova cruise in February - had to use it as it was part of a land package. It was Hotel Casa Lucia - a total disaster. It had only opened a week or so before. There was no hot water, horrible water pressure, no handles on the inside of the bathroom door (so the door could not be closed) and truly horrible service. I know that many people complained to the tour company and to their TAs. Perhaps SS will change hotels. In the past, they have offered the Alvear Palace, which was 1000% better. My TA was told they had a lot of trouble getting contracts at hotels in BA this year.

We are also booked on a repositioning cruise on the Shadow in January - LA to Tahiti. No cancellation notice to date. I see no evidence that Silversea has decided not to do repositioning cruises.

Where and when was the decision not to do repositioning cruises announced? We are on a Muse Cruise May 1st. First leg is Tokyo to Vancouver and we have heard nothing about a cancellation.

Sorry - mistyped- 15+ years on Silversea.

Formal optional on the Nova. However, in our experience, the no shorts after 6 pm dress code was strictly enforced. On the first night of our 20 day Lima to BA trip in January we still did not have all of our luggage by the 7pm sailaway (a first in our 25+ years with Silversea). All of my husband's long pants were in the missing luggage, but as no one could tell us when the luggage would arrive, we headed out for a drink. In the Panorama (the third bar we tried, but the first we could get a seat in) my husband was told he needed long pants in order to be served. We explained about the lack of luggage and after a fair amount of discussion with multiple waitstaff we were eventually served. Throughout the cruise we saw people in shorts turned away at multiple bars.

We were on the Nova for 20 days Lima to BA ( mid Jan to early Feb). After 10 pm many nights there was a DJ in the Panorama. Lots of dancing. Other nights it was karaoke and we left - not our thing. The Nova band played before and after dinner. They were great and if people were dancing they were very accomodating.

Silversea doesn't usually have any tap beer. In our 20 day segment i didn't see any tap beer on Nova - just canned and bottled and very little local beer.