Our First "Muse-ings" from Monte Carlo Roundtrip

[editor@cruisecritic]

Great first night report, Master Echo. Glad to see that Silversea's chairman, Manfredi, is still onboard. Says a lot about how much he cares about the product and his passengers.

 

 

Carolyn

 

Dining on First night on the Muse

 

As there is so much to describe and we only have a limited time to write up the day's events, reports will of necessity be brief at this stage. More comprehensive comments will have to await the end of the cruise.

 

La Terrazza has 260 covers and we were told that they served 235 last night, which allowing for tables for two, shows that it was packed. The hustle and bustle was plainly visible and extra staff were drafted in, as obviously La Terrazza was flavour of the day!! Gilbert (overall RM) was much in evidence as indeed was Manfredi who apparently had been seen in various restaurants, came into La Terrazza and talked to diners to enquire their opinions, like a father fussing after his new child!!

 

As we said on our original post, we had booked all the restaurants before leaving home, eight day cruise, eight restaurants, as we wanted to experience each dining venue

 

Shown to a table for four, the waitress Abigail, who we had seen on shore for embarkation duties, gave us a menu, and we ordered some red wine. Unlike on other classic ships the menu doesn't change at dinner, but is more extensive. Wes and others will be pleased to know that duck papadelle is on the menu. However there is no ravioli.

 

With service in full flow by 9.30 and the restaurant packed the lack of any carpet throughout, made the venue very noisy. Indeed we feel that the lack of any carpet, whilst one can appreciate the cleanliness aspect, it now resembles a cafeteria.

 

We were fortunate in being seated in an alcove off the main area which seated about forty people, because this was quieter. We had a starter and a main both of which were good.

 

To absolutely clear I will repeat what Paolo told me on embarkation, and Gilbert told me later, the first and last nights are casual dining ship wide in the evening.

 

Breakfast in La Terrazza

 

This is the time when the improvements to the buffet arrangements can be seen and appreciated. The design is vastly improved with much more space for passenger flow. The usual regime applies, where waiters will bring juices, coffee and will fake egg orders, other items are self service.

[WesW]

Thank you Master Echo for the very reasonably detailed Muse-ing posts on your on board experiences--with special focus on the restaurants (hardware & service). We especially enjoy the attention you give to Muse crew members in your well written posts--good example for Silversea cruise critics.

 

Wellseasoned, Emtbsam, Silver Spectre, Stumblefoot, RachelG, and a host of others (besides Ida and I) are so very glad to hear Duck pappardelle remains a tasty option in La Terraza.

 

 

 

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[Master Echo]

Many thanks for continued interest, we welcome information from other cruisers about particular voyages/ships, and we are happy to try and give you as much info as we can. Given that it is now nearing the witching hour, and Madame turns into a pumpkin -- !! Two very quick closing points for tonight.

 

Tonight was Captains welcome part held in the Venetian Lounge. We were dining in Atlantide, and therefore dressed formally. We then went to the new show which was brilliant - Argento (which is Silver in Italian).

 

The guy sitting next to Sir in the theatre, was so casually dressed, he wasn't even wearing socks!! If this sort of contrast in attire bothers you, then don't choose the Muse.

 

BTW - Jimmy K spoke to us privately and explained that in Monte Carlo deck 3 was being used to load supplies, not least passengers' luggage, however people who need to board at this level will be catered for. Today in Marseilles, the gangway was on Deck 3.

 

Nite nite people, info on cabins to follow - MainsD

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo

[Stumblefoot]

You mean they don't use fresh eggs?:(

I think it was a typo and Master Echo meant to say "make" egg orders ;)

Totally agree with mainsd.

[Stumblefoot]

I did see people being turned away from the MDR on the wind - or more to the point, "Loaned" a jacked to enter.

I saw the same thing on a Spirit voyage this year whereby a gentleman tried to enter the MDR in shorts and a bow tie. After much fussing, he left, and upon return in proper slacks was given a jacket by the Maître D' to complete his ensemble.

 

I always take too much clobber (I came home with as many unworn as worn clothes last time out - but I do intend to cull and be more disciplined next time.)

I hope I can figure out the "disciplined" part myself before our next voyage.

[Stumblefoot]

Wellseasoned, Emtbsam, Silver Spectre, Stumblefoot, RachelG, and a host of others (besides Ida and I) are so very glad to hear Duck pappardelle remains a tasty option in La Terraza.

Amen, brother!

[Silver Spectre]

Amen, brother!

 

 

+1

 

 

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[jollyjones]

The guy sitting next to Sir in the theatre, was so casually dressed, he wasn't even wearing socks!! If this sort of contrast in attire bothers you, then don't choose the Muse.

 

I guess that partly answers my wondering about what the dress code might be for non-dining events such as the Venetian or the Captain's party. If I am planning to eat in one of the casual eateries - which I will mostly do since I'm not a fan of formal dressing - I certainly wouldn't want to get all dolled up for half an hour only to change again in to something more casual for dinner. How great to maybe just bring one outfit that could pass in a formal setting, that'll make packing easier and suit my informal preference.

 

I see Master Echo that you made reservations for dining every night so maybe you can't answer this, but do you have any sense of what happens to pax who haven't pre-reserved? Can they get dinner without too much hassle, assuming a reasonable amount of flexibility of time and, possibly, location?

 

I am interested because I like to keep my dining plans flexible - i.e., as a solo I don't usually make any dining plans ahead of time - and I have three cruises booked on the Muse so I'm interested in how hard it is going to be to get fed of an evening. Although I have a strong suspicion that if this dining plan causes grumbling, it'll be tweaked in a few months.

[beaujolais]

Hi Master Echo

 

A strange little question but have they changer Salt and Pepper Cruets in L V?

 

We are long time Silversea cruisers and in the past they never correctly worked, always had to get a waiter to help

[Master Echo]

With regards to the covers in La Terrazza, whilst there are 260 for breakfast and lunch, there is a restriction to 140 for evening dining, by virtue of galley capacity.

 

Yesterday we lunched in Atlantide. The menu changes daily for lunch, unlike on the Spirit when it changes every three days. There are more vegetarian options both at lunch and dinner in Atlantide. Eating here again in the evening, all gentlemen were jacketed.

 

JJ - the answer depends - we booked all restaurants in advance as it is an eight day cruise, giving us the opportunity to sample each one. It will depend on whether or not the ship is full, and how many passengers make advance reservations, and how many people turn up on the night. The other point regarding the percentage of bookings allowed in advance, has been dealt with by us earlier in this post, together with what happens if you just turn up on the night.

 

This morning we had a "light" breakfast in Arts Cafe - Deck 8 aft. This replaces the light fare which is available in the Bar on the Spirit. However the selection is far more extensive. With the accent on healthy options, one can have a variety of thick smoothies, oatmeal and fruit compotes, four different paninis, ranging from scrambled egg to smoked salmon, all of which can be toasted, and a muffin selection which are served in oversized egg cups. There are also water with various flavours, the lemongrass with ginger was lovely. One can also have any coffee or tea.

 

No menus are available you go to the counter, make your choices, choose a table and the food is brought to you.

 

Ship wide there is a wide variety of crockery, some of which is quite quirky. For example Sir had a starter in Atlantide last night entitled " a little vegetable plot" which was served on a plate that had a ridge across half the diameter, making it appear to be cracked in the middle. Our steaks were served on slates.

 

Unlike on the other ships, there can be no cross ordering off the menu of any of the other restaurants, and there is no "always available". However there is "all around dining" available 24 hours from the menu in your suite. "All around dining is also available in other public areas when dining venues are not open for service".

 

The cruise itinerary

 

Leaving Monte Carlo at 22.30 on a beautiful moonlit night, it was a short sail to Marseilles and we docked in the cruise terminal at 8.00 am This unfortunately is not as near to town as where we docked at La Joliette last year on the Wind. The Muse's ship shuttle takes you into the nearest location to the old city that they are allowed, but this still leaves you a ten to fifteen minute walk. Whether this is due to Muse's extra size, or berth facilities at the former, is not known.

 

It was a beautiful sunny day but with a cool breeze eddying around pool deck. A fast overnight sail brought us into Silversea's usual berth under the cable car in Barcelona. With another cloudless sky but with no perceptible wind, more passengers availed themselves of the lovely long pool, as did Sir and Madame.

 

The pool is 4ft In the shallow end and 7ft in the deep end and by Madame's swimming strokes, twice as long as the Spirit's pool. In view of the lovely weather, by mid afternoon, after the shorexes had returned, the pool area filled up. The sun loungers' cushion pads are about three inches thick and are extremely comfortable. The towels are both white or cream coloured and extremely fluffy.

 

With regards to pool volleyball, this is still a "work in progress" in view not only of the length but also the depth, and the CD joked that lifebelts would be needed. As poor Madame is particularly vertically challenged, she would definitely be in need of some sort of assistance!

 

Time for some numbers.

 

The ship was waitlisted in every cabin category prior to departure anjd its normal capacity is 596. Depending on which person with access to the numbers you ask, there are between 486 and 516. The difference maybe perhaps because Silversea and other personnel are occupying passenger cabins, but there are no technicians still in attendance as far as we know. There are 296 Venetians, and a roughly equal split of Americans and British, just under one hundred each, with 24 Germans, and the rest made up of other nationalities. There are 411 crew. So on these figures Manfredi can be very happy at the number of first timers who have been attracted to the Muse.

 

Time has got the better of us, once again, dinner in Silver Note, and a cabaret from one of the Silversea Voices, who was brilliant, and now it is beyond the witching hour so info on the Silver Note will follow.

 

Tomorrow is Palma and we are all up early so enough for now.

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo

[TLCOhio]

Jimmy Kovel (with whom we’ve never sailed) will be the first CD. Master Echo

 

Appreciate your great postings and many details on this new Silversea ship. Glad to see Jimmy Kovel's name as the first CD. Jimmy was on our first SS adventure when we did 15-days from Copenhagen up to the top of Europe along the Norway coast, etc. Really got to interact lots with Jimmy and liked his style, class and friendliness. Excellent experiences and nice many memories. For those who do not know Jimmy, here is one of my pictures of him. Tell Jimmy that we said "HI!". Does Jimmy still look this young or has he aged gently after our sailing in July 2010?

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

AFRICA?!!?: Lots of interesting and dramatic pictures can be seen from this live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

Now at 31,162 views for this visual sharing that includes Cape Town, along South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta area.

 

Above the Arctic Circle along the scenic Norway coast, this is the “Land of the Midnight Sun”. This picture was taken at 11:47 pm on the upper deck of the Silver Cloud showing wonderful Cruise Director Jimmy Kovel checking out the views. The sun is going down, but it never sets at this time of the summer. It’s 24/7 light.:

[Silver Spectre]

Hi ME, thanks for the further update.

 

If I understand this correctly evening covers are as follows:

 

Indochine seats 180

Atlantide seats 140

La Terrazza seats 140

 

Say we have a nearly full ship, 560 or so, it's a cold/windy evening and there's not much uptake on the charged restaurants. That leaves somewhere like 100 guests stuck with pizza, room service or the Silver Note, or maybe in a queue waiting for a table clear in one of the restaurants.

 

That really would be a first on SS.

 

 

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[Stumblefoot]

The pool is 4ft In the shallow end and 7ft in the deep end and by Madame's swimming strokes, twice as long as the Spirit's pool.

ME,

 

Absolutely love your writing and cannot thank you enough for the tremendous effort.

 

I look forward to seeing the new pool. Clearly, the pics I've seen don't do it justice as I figured it was about the size of the Spirit's.

 

Enjoy the rest of your voyage!

 

 

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[Mayflower1]

Good morning Beaujolais & madame Beaujolais - I am so pleased that you have quickly drilled down to the nub of the new Ship and are concerned about the Condiment Holders !!!!!! - as you know we too have wondered how a Luxury Line could have bought such rubbish - as you say they never work and require a Degree in Engineering by Staff Members to achieve any success.

 

The early information coming out from Guests is interesting ( I am still confused as to what constitutes ' Formal ' i.e. Dinner Jacket or just a Jacket/Tie but no doubt Duct tape will respond once she is on board ). The Decor looks very ' Cool ' but without any Carpeting in Terazza it is likely to be even noisier than on current ships.

 

We are looking forward to our trip in Aug/Sept - are you hooked yet ???

 

Best wishes to you both.

[beaujolais]

Hi Mayflower

Have held off from Silversea bookings. not keen on itineraries on offer at the moment and certainly not keen on the Muse but as you know I an known to change my mind

In the meantime have booked a few cruises on Regent

Look forward to your views on The Muse

[Master Echo]

The first comment to make concerning condiment holders is that in La Terrazza there are insufficient for each table, and currently the waiters are going on "a hunt the salt and pepper" containers!!

 

Now where these have manifested themselves, they have been of the combined vessel type, which we had on the Spirit in February 2017. These involve a twist to right or left for your condiment selection. In all honesty, we feel that these are more fiddly than the old ones to which you refer. We never had a problem utilising these unless the peppercorns were stuck. They also have another sort, which is housed in a chrome coloured cylindrical vessel. These are individual - one for salt and another for pepper.

 

Jimmy is reading this thread so he will have seen your comments TLC Ohio, and in answer to your question - no the intervening years have not taken their toll and he is as your photo.

 

I am disappointed that Mayflower finds my reporting on dress codes insufficiently reliable that he feels he must wait for Duct Tape to opine. This is something of a slap in the face frankly, as I have taken the trouble to speak directly to both the Hotel Director and Gilbert the overall Restaurant Manager, who are as authoritative as it is possible to be.

 

Those accustomed to sailing on Silversea will be sufficiently versed, in what constitutes formal, informal and casual attire for evening. The Muse is no different. I thought I had made the issue of evening attire crystal clear in my previous postings, even stating dress codes for all eight restaurants. Once and for all, many passengers do not possess tuxedos, therefore on formal nights on the other ships, wear just a jacket. The only difference on the Muse, it is not a dress code ship wide, merely dependent on the restaurant, EXCEPT first and last night when all restaurants are CASUAL dress.

 

I was told that senior SS personnel felt that this would suit more passengers who do not like "dressing up".

 

What will add to the confusion is the travel journal sent in the Silver box pre-cruise. For our current voyage I was informed that there would be one formal, three casual, and four informal night, as per usual for an eight night cruise. This was utter rubbish, so be warned when you receive your travel journal for a Muse cruise, if it continues to quote a certain number of nights for each dress code.

 

Silver Spectre has raised an issue which has already been discussed onboard. Both Hot Rocks and Spaccanapoli are open air venues, one above the other. We are currently in Palma and sail at 22.30. The ship's position means there is a cold wind blowing directly onto both dining venues, and evening entertainment is scheduled for pool deck. It will be interesting to see how many brave the elements to dine, Sir and Madame included, and whether the evening entertainment is moved indoors. This obviously could present a big problem going forward and each eventuality will have to be sorted out at the time. Unfortunately this will become a headache for the hotel staff.

 

Trivia calls so more later

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo

[UKCruiseJeff]

ME,

 

thanks for the continued writings which are really appreciated.

 

Have been puzzling about how it is possible to not be able to work out how many salt and pepper pots was needed, presumably with someone somewhere knowing how many tables they have ordered etc etc

 

I read your post to wifey who was musing about how she would feel if having been told against her personal preferences that we needed formal stuff, which she and I doesn't have (clean jeans are the extent of her formal wear) and so would have went out to buy it all. And then there's all that extra luggage many moan about and have to pay extra to rupture themselves to the ship. To find find out after boarding that it wasn't needed and SS doesn't evidently employ anyone that feels it within their remit to ensure that the travel journal on such an important once only event wasn't even adjusted to reflect a fundamental change to policy would have well and truly flabber her ghasted. She would have been very cloudy mooded. You just sort of think that someone somewhere might have thought it their job and chipped up "with this change of dress code we must make sure all the customers are briefed ..... "

[Silver Spectre]

I am disappointed that Mayflower finds my reporting on dress codes insufficiently reliable that he feels he must wait for Duct Tape to opine. This is something of a slap in the face frankly, as I have taken the trouble to speak directly to both the Hotel Director and Gilbert the overall Restaurant Manager, who are as authoritative as it is possible to be.

 

 

 

Master Echo

 

 

That's Brits for you, always need things explained more than twice!

 

However, we thought you were crystal clear[emoji479]

 

 

 

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[Master Echo]

Dear Duct Tape,

 

I would appreciate if Duct Tape would please email privately on echo721@btinternet,com

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo

[WesW]

Very helpful & entertaining Muse posts, Master Echo--Thanks again for taking your cruise time to help keep us Muse informed.

 

 

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[RachelG]

Amen, brother!

 

I am hungry for some right now!

[carefreecruise]

I am disappointed that Mayflower finds my reporting on dress codes insufficiently reliable that he feels he must wait for Duct Tape to opine. This is something of a slap in the face frankly,Master Echo

 

Don't take in personal, Some people just get all wrapped-up and like things put together with Duct-tape...

[les37b]

Keep the info coming Master E

 

The big talking point previously on the lack of MDR has now been overtaken with a formal only wear restaurant debacle. As I'd mentioned earlier in the thread, if that excluded people from attending because they didn't bring black tie wear, then that certainly would have been a negative, but given you can use them first and last night, it does negate that "complaint" mostly. SS are just trying to cater in a different way. Its not a biggie to me personally as if you want you can use Atlantide and La Dame so it actually shouldnt be that big an issue. (Unless you wanted to eat in there every night - in which case, just bring formal wear.

 

If dress codes are an issue, then look at alternatives. You cant please all the people all the time.

[Master Echo]

Duct Tape,

 

Mea culpae, that should have read echo721@btinternet.com

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo

[carefreecruise]

 

You cant please all the people all the time.

 

Very international for a Brit to use an Abraham Lincoln quote.... but it still work and will into the distant future....