SilverSea Muse or Whisper for Japan round-trip

[Lars997]

We are considering SS Muse or Whisper for our Japan tour in 2023. We never been on a SS ship, but had around 40 cruises on NCL The Haeven, MSC YachtClub and Suites at RCL and Disney. As the SS are typically smaller ships, we are wondering if those who have experienced SS would tend to the rather smallest SS (Whisper) or to a larger one (Muse). Iteneraries are equally well, so the dividing factor are really the ships. Also - I read that the Whisper was refurbished, but all pictures I find, that ship is still looking old. Furnitures in the rooms seem never been updated (beside a wall-isolation) - can you confirm that?

Thank you for your help!!! Lars

[forgap]

Just off Whisper.  Underwhelmed.  I would go with a larger, newer ship for more restaurant choices and updated decor.  Cabins were fine.  

[Gourmet Gal]

My first SS cruise was on Whisper.  It did not handle heavy seas well at all and my husband was so seasick despite our low mid-ship cabin.  Go with the newer ship.  You’ll have more dining options, the ship is larger and will hopefully handle rough seas better.

[hamasgirl]

Pre-Covid we took our first Silversea cruise during the inaugural season of the Muse.  We took this cruise for the itinerary (Hong Kong to Tokyo) which was amazing and to experience the Muse. Since we had never cruised with Silversea before we thought that this would be an excellent first experience. 

 

We found Muse to be kind of odd.  The ship was beautiful, cabins well designed and spacious and common rooms well laid out.  However,  the crew were extremely stand-offish.  And the food was sub-par at best.  I have a sensitivity to dairy and usually meet with someone from the kitchen to see what options I may have when their menu is dairy rich.  On both Regent and Seabourn I have found their kitchens to be very accommodating.  On embarkation day on Muse I received a note from the Head Chef to meet him in the dining room to discuss.  I was impressed!  In my meeting with him, he told me directly that they would not/could not make any changes in their recipes!  Not a great way to start.  We found lots of other problems too numerous to describe here.  After that first and only Silversea cruise we decided to not cruise with Silversea again since what they offered was less that what we had experienced on Seabourn and Regent..

 

And Covid 19 hit.  We stayed home for 2 years.  Deciding we wanted to step into cruising again we looked at Silversea, Regent and Seabourn for our first return cruise.  I saw Silversea Whisper only had 300 or so guests and decided to start our return to cruising on that very small ship because of its size which we felt would be the least risky.  What an absolute delight!  The crew couldn't have been more lovely, the food was both delicious and very accommodating to my needs.  While the ship is older, it is in beautiful shape.  And we found that she is very sea-worthy for her size, riding some pretty rough seas very well.

 

What we experienced on the Whisper could have reflected the fact that we took the cruise immediately following the end of the World Cruise on Whisper.  So I would expect that we experienced a very experienced and highly skilled crew.  But we still felt totally welcomed and valued by the crew even though we were not World Cruise cruisers!

 

So Silversea is back in the mix for us for future cruises.  We have booked two upcoming cruises in 2024 and 2025 on the still-to-be-built Silver Nova thinking that the Nova design may be more to our liking than the Muse-type ships.  We'll see!

[Stumblefoot]

5 hours ago, hamasgirl said:

We have booked two upcoming cruises in 2024 and 2025 on the still-to-be-built Silver Nova thinking that the Nova design may be more to our liking than the Muse-type ships.

Appreciate your perspective.
 

Quick question… recognizing your disappointment with the Muse class ships (Muse, Moon, Dawn) and the fact that Nova is merely larger than Muse but has the same # of restaurants, all being the same except the substitution of SALT for Indochine, why do you feel Nova is going to suit your needs better than Shadow / Whisper class?

[CruiserFromMaine]

We’ve been in the Muse and Whisper (and Spirit) and found the Whisper lacking in dining options and entertainment quality. We missed Silver Note, Arts Cafe and Kaiseki. Our suite on Whisper was nice but lacked enough outlets. It was a good cruise on the Whisper but I’ll stick with the larger SS ships. 

[drron29]

We really enjoyed the smaller ships but did find the Shadow and Whisper very enjoyable. We felt the Muse would be too big for us but our last precovid cruise was on the Muse and we absolutely loved it.

So we have just finished a cruise on the Dawn and again loved it. So this is a list of our bookings.

March 23 - 54 days around the Med. Moon.

October 23- 46 days Japan to Cairns. Muse 

March 24- 36 days Bali to Japan plus around Japan. Muse.

Almost certainly will be back on the Muse in 2025 through the Suez Canal.

 

So people whose first few cruises were on the Explorer now love the bigger ships. Definitely what we have chosen for Japan.

[Stumblefoot]

3 hours ago, drron29 said:

March 23 - 54 days around the Med. Moon.

October 23- 46 days Japan to Cairns. Muse 

March 24- 36 days Bali to Japan plus around Japan. Muse.

Almost certainly will be back on the Muse in 2025 through the Suez Canal.

The Aussies are back to traveling!

[hypercafe]

20 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Appreciate your perspective.
 

Quick question… recognizing your disappointment with the Muse class ships (Muse, Moon, Dawn) and the fact that Nova is merely larger than Muse but has the same # of restaurants, all being the same except the substitution of SALT for Indochine, why do you feel Nova is going to suit your needs better than Shadow / Whisper class?

We have sailed the Muse and have a trip booked on Nova. The Muse class has all cabins forward and public space aft. The Nova has complete decks of cabins and complete decks of public space and a very unique design of the pool deck. A completely different design. 

[Lars997]

Thank you for all your comments. 

As always - no clear answers but I receive input which hits our taste and favors quiet well. We still didn’t make our mind up, from ship we absolutely would be the "Muse" folks, but the itinerary on the Whisper is more to our liking. We will make up our minds! Thanks again!

 

[Mr Luxury]

2 hours ago, Lars997 said:

Thank you for all your comments. 

As always - no clear answers but I receive input which hits our taste and favors quiet well. We still didn’t make our mind up, from ship we absolutely would be the "Muse" folks, but the itinerary on the Whisper is more to our liking. We will make up our minds! Thanks again!

 

I can't understand why you would come to Cruise Critic for clear answers. 

Having ten or twenty different answers is much more fun 😀

Edited September 15, 2022 by Mr Luxury

[Lois R]

5 hours ago, Lars997 said:

Thank you for all your comments. 

As always - no clear answers but I receive input which hits our taste and favors quiet well. We still didn’t make our mind up, from ship we absolutely would be the "Muse" folks, but the itinerary on the Whisper is more to our liking. We will make up our minds! Thanks again!

 

This is probably not going to help either but I have sailed both ships.  Although  I really do prefer the larger ones, I am going on the Whisper again next month and it came down to the itinerary as well.  Sailing from Quebec to NYC....it is a New England itinerary and I love this region. I will struggle through just fine I am sure LOL....I was on the same cruise as "CruiserFromMaine" (HI Carl😃) and I know we did have a good time together!  Hope you are doing well!

[CruiserFromMaine]

4 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hope you are doing well!

Doing just fine here! And yes, we did have fun!

 

Enjoy your cruise--looks like it skips Portland. We took the Spirit up to Montreal a few years ago; got to board right here in Portland! That was fun. SS hasn't done that since. About 30 of us got on here.