Will The Muse have specialty restaurants only,and no MDR?

The website for Silver Muse shows all dining to be specialty locations such as Seafood,French,Italian,Chinese,Japanese,Pizza,Hotrocks or tapas.

Quite a good selection,but I would miss the standard option of a main dining room. Anyone else?

This is my guess, not anything official. I expect the two large half-MDR rooms to be only lightly themed, served from the same galley/kitchen, and offering the other half-MDR's menu items if you don't like the menu for the room you are in (or could not get a seat in the other room when you showed up). Just my $0.10-worth.

This is my guess, not anything official. I expect the two large half-MDR rooms to be only lightly themed, served from the same galley/kitchen, and offering the other half-MDR's menu items if you don't like the menu for the room you are in (or could not get a seat in the other room when you showed up). Just my $0.10-worth.

Yes I agree, but will the menus change daily as they do in the main dining rooms on the other ships, or will they be set menus like all the speciality restaurants? I think La Terrazzo has only two rotating menus and the others are never changing. I guess it remains to be seen.

I certainly hope one or two of the specialty restaurants are fairly large or at least adjacent to each other because I predict that in the Muse's first dry dock there will be a conversion at a MDR. jmo. To me it's a deal breaker to have to decide way in advance where I will want to dine every night of my cruise.

This is my guess, not anything official. I expect the two large half-MDR rooms to be only lightly themed, served from the same galley/kitchen, and offering the other half-MDR's menu items if you don't like the menu for the room you are in (or could not get a seat in the other room when you showed up). Just my $0.10-worth.

This is exactly what it is going to be, according to the Cruise Consultant on board my recent cruise. It sounds like Indochine and Atlantide are, in practice, going to the the MDR for the ship; they will definitely be served by the same galley and one can order from either menu in either room. If you imagine the dividing wall between them gone, and the names of the smaller restaurants being different, suddenly the Muse starts to look very similar to the Spirit ...

Interesting to see more discussion on the Muse lately. Will the seating in the dining rooms be more spacious than on the Spirit? The seating in the Spirit's theatre is really substandard compared to the Shadow, this is the kind of thing not to be repeated.

Also, the width of the Spirit's regular cabins is just a few inches too narrow, the food trolley cannot be pushed all the way from the cabin door to the balcony door. We hope that the Muse's cabins, being a few inches wider (from previous estimates) and wiser arrangement of the bed/furnishings will solve this problem. The Spirit represents the results of a general economic downturn at he time of its construction, and we hope the Muse will reflect the overall economic recovery of the last few years.

Being poor cats, anything is too nice for us, but we are discussing technical observation as ship design enthusiasts.

There seems to be a lack of specific information from Silversea regarding ' Bookings ' for Dining on The Muse, especially relating to The Atlantide.

I imagine that those lucky enough to be sailing in early May will by now be able to make Reservations On Line ? - would it be possible for anyone involved to provide an update. There seems to be a suggestion from speaking to an Officer on board an existing ship that Atlantide & Indochine will share a Menu but no mention of if they will be ' Open Sitting '.

Any Information will be of interest to those of us who are sailing later in the Year. Many thanks in anticipation.

There seems to be a lack of specific information from Silversea regarding ' Bookings ' for Dining on The Muse, especially relating to The Atlantide.

 

I imagine that those lucky enough to be sailing in early May will by now be able to make Reservations On Line ? - would it be possible for anyone involved to provide an update. There seems to be a suggestion from speaking to an Officer on board an existing ship that Atlantide & Indochine will share a Menu but no mention of if they will be ' Open Sitting '.

 

Any Information will be of interest to those of us who are sailing later in the Year. Many thanks in anticipation.

This is exactly my problem with the concept of all specialty restaurants. Imo it is not a luxury experience to have to decide months in advance where I will want to eat on any given night.

We're booked on the third Muse voyage. We board in Civitavecchia May 6. Others board in Nice on the 3rd. (We decided we'd rather skip the days in Portofino and Liverno in favor of three pre-cruise days in Rome.)

Booked the trip last August. At the time, Silversea was unable to supply any info on air, pre or post cruise hotels or transfers, dining specifics or excursion costs.

This largely remains true although we're now past the "120 Day" window when they said all info will be available. On "My Silversea" both excursions and dining are still greyed out and unclickable. Dining message is to the effect that all reservations are now closed, but no reservations are necessary for the "Main Restaurant.":confused:

About two weeks ago, for maybe five days, the dining reservation option appeared to be live. We, unenthusiastically, chose what we wanted to eat seven of the 10 evenings five months hence. Did this three times. Each time, site successfully blocked out the 7-11 time slot with the correct option in red. But when going to "My Reservations," learned that we had none. By the following day, all was again greyed out.

Did learn, during that false start, that in addition to La Dame (Champagne equivalent), their new seeming performance art a la Benihana offering Kabuki will also command an upcharge.

Both I and my travel agent have made numerous calls to Silversea for any available clarification, and have only learned that all others are having the same difficulties, which they ascribe to "software" problems. Only hope that the "hardware" work (like building and furnishing the ship) is progressing at a better pace. Was actually told by one Silversea Service Representative a couple weeks ago that on January 6 I'll be able to log on to make dining plans and "have the same chance as all the other passengers." Is this a 20 thou luxury cruising experience or a lottery ticket to see if we get dinner?;)

This will be our fifth Silversea experience. Enjoyed all previous especially the ability to eat where, when and with whom one chose. However, last summer, on a Norwegian Fjords trip on Whisper, went online a month before sailing date to book an excursion that seemed to have limited capacity and while there decided to book Champagne for the evening that one of our traveling companions was celebrating a birthday, only to be be informed that all dining venues other than MDR and Hot Rocks were fully booked for every night of the cruise. Did manage to get in Champagne through waiting list, but unable to secure a single meal at Terrezza.

In MHO, Silversea is really screwing up, especially compared with the improvements made by Crystal, Regent, and now Viking Ocean.

To quote someone I truly hate to quote: "Sad."

Straightupwithatwist - Good morning and thank you for the update, which frankly does not surprise me. Yet another example of the shocking way in which the various Shoreside Offices treat ' Valued ' Guests expecting the 5 Star Service so elaborately advertised and paid for.

Please be good enough to keep us posted of the ongoing saga.

I pity the poor maitre d's on the first day of the cruises when a horde of angry passengers with unconfirmed reservations descends on them.

We're booked on the third Muse voyage. We board in Civitavecchia May 6. Others board in Nice on the 3rd. (We decided we'd rather skip the days in Portofino and Liverno in favor of three pre-cruise days in Rome.)

Booked the trip last August. At the time, Silversea was unable to supply any info on air, pre or post cruise hotels or transfers, dining specifics or excursion costs.

This largely remains true although we're now past the "120 Day" window when they said all info will be available. On "My Silversea" both excursions and dining are still greyed out and unclickable. Dining message is to the effect that all reservations are now closed, but no reservations are necessary for the "Main Restaurant.":confused:

About two weeks ago, for maybe five days, the dining reservation option appeared to be live. We, unenthusiastically, chose what we wanted to eat seven of the 10 evenings five months hence. Did this three times. Each time, site successfully blocked out the 7-11 time slot with the correct option in red. But when going to "My Reservations," learned that we had none. By the following day, all was again greyed out.

Did learn, during that false start, that in addition to La Dame (Champagne equivalent), their new seeming performance art a la Benihana offering Kabuki will also command an upcharge.

Both I and my travel agent have made numerous calls to Silversea for any available clarification, and have only learned that all others are having the same difficulties, which they ascribe to "software" problems. Only hope that the "hardware" work (like building and furnishing the ship) is progressing at a better pace. Was actually told by one Silversea Service Representative a couple weeks ago that on January 6 I'll be able to log on to make dining plans and "have the same chance as all the other passengers." Is this a 20 thou luxury cruising experience or a lottery ticket to see if we get dinner?;)

This will be our fifth Silversea experience. Enjoyed all previous especially the ability to eat where, when and with whom one chose. However, last summer, on a Norwegian Fjords trip on Whisper, went online a month before sailing date to book an excursion that seemed to have limited capacity and while there decided to book Champagne for the evening that one of our traveling companions was celebrating a birthday, only to be be informed that all dining venues other than MDR and Hot Rocks were fully booked for every night of the cruise. Did manage to get in Champagne through waiting list, but unable to secure a single meal at Terrezza.

In MHO, Silversea is really screwing up, especially compared with the improvements made by Crystal, Regent, and now Viking Ocean.

To quote someone I truly hate to quote: "Sad."

I also tried to book our dining reservations for our May 28th to June 21st and they are not available yet.

Am I to understand that I will Not be able to reserve ANY of these restaurants on line, even though we paid up front in October?

We are leaving on Feb.2nd for a B2B Crystal cruise to down under and I am worried about this news re: the reservations. Our agent is hosting the second leg of our cruise.

I can see an up charge for the French La Dame, but not for Benihana, it's just a Japenese Steak house where we eat quite frequently in Toronto.

I plan to get in touch with our agent after she returns from the christening of the new Seabourn Encore.

Well since there is nothing I can do about it, I'll just relax and tell myself that it will all work out in the end and we will have a great time on the new Silver Muse.

Pat and Ray

Now that is the right attitude![emoji4][emoji106]🏻. How bad could it be? [emoji6]

I also tried to book our dining reservations for our May 28th to June 21st and they are not available yet.

 

Am I to understand that I will Not be able to reserve ANY of these restaurants on line, even though we paid up front in October?

We are leaving on Feb.2nd for a B2B Crystal cruise to down under and I am worried about this news re: the reservations. Our agent is hosting the second leg of our cruise.

I can see an up charge for the French La Dame, but not for Benihana, it's just a Japenese Steak house where we eat quite frequently in Toronto.

 

I plan to get in touch with our agent after she returns from the christening of the new Seabourn Encore.

 

Well since there is nothing I can do about it, I'll just relax and tell myself that it will all work out in the end and we will have a great time on the new Silver Muse.

Pat and Ray

You and I must have the same TA. Are you doing the Crystal Antarctica cruise out of Valparaiso?

Yes, We both use the same T Agency, have been since the early 90's. But we are on the Barcelona to Rome segment with our mutual safari friend.

This winter has been a tad cool so we have no desire to cruise the Antarctica

area again.

Cheers, Pat

Good morning Duct tape - ' How bad could it be' ? - In my opinion quite bad and frustrating if every Restaurant is Pre-Bookable as it shows on the ' My Silversea ' Part of the Website.

Such a policy will be both very irritating for the Guests and mighty problematical for the various Restaurant Managers on board. My only hope is that you will be travelling ahead of me and hopefully will get it sorted when you are on board - if you cant do it no-one can !!!!

Seriously I echo previous thoughts that part of the Silversea experience is that one has the possibility to dine with ' New ' Friends when required - to have every Restaurant potentially ' Booked ' will then necessitate running around the ship to find somewhere which is not fully booked - not a very luxurious experience ?

Now it appears that 2 Restaurants will carry a surcharge of $60 per person - again somewhat of a lessening of the ' Inclusive ' approach.

I hope that Silversea are better organised than it so far appears.

Received email from Silversea this morning (PT) announcing that dining reservations for May 6 cruise now available, and thanking for our patience.

Process did indeed work. Booked nine of the ten nights (embarkation evening only offers the pizza joint as an option, curious what they actually plan to do with us that evening).

Again, not really happy about having to decide today if I'll be hankering for Asian or Italian cuisine on May 10, and one now has to choose between an early or late sitting for every venue, a real throwback to the bad old days. Agree with Mayflower that the wonderful option of having a spontaneous meal with new acquaintances met on an excursion or over cocktails seems to now be very problematic.

Booked something for every night just as a safety, in case the new operation is less than a smooth one. I'm sure we'll release a number of them once we learn how the system actually works, and if it proves more flexible in practice than it currently appears. We've always done room service for at least one dinner per cruise, usually one of the formal nights if there are more than one or two, so some lucky couple will likely get our places one evening at La Dame if they've been shut out. ;) And booked Kabuki rather late in the voyage to allow reviews to come in before plunking down 120 bucks for a theatrical presentation of grilled prawns.

Promise to inform about my impressions of this experiment, and the Muse experience in general, if not from the ship than promptly upon my return.

Happy cruising all!

We are booked on the pre-inaugural Muse cruise, sail date April 10 - not May!

We have just received an email from SS advising us that dinner reservations for our cruise are now open.

We have looked at the itinerary and planned our dinner reservations around what we think will work best for us. So, for example we do not sail from Palma until 23.00, and have therefore booked the Grill (Hot Rocks) because we will still be in port and not potentially windblown at sea.

The reason we have adopted this early booking is because it is an eight night cruise and there are eight evening dining venues, so this will give us the opportunity to try all of them. We have booked the Regina Margherita for Portofino - the last night because this is the venue in which we are least interested, (it is packing night - when we sometimes dine in the cabin) and because we may choose one of the other venues in preference should there be availability; this cruise is already full and waitlisted.

There are two pay-for restaurants - La Dame and Kabuki with a per capita cover charge of $60, which is of course more than the current rate for Le Champagne. The Muse is not unique in having two paid for restaurants, because the last time we sailed on the Spirit, both the Seishin and Le Champagne incurred a cover charge.

In common with all the speciality restaurants on the other SS ships, there is open seating, and when booking on "My Silversea" for any of the restaurants on any of the ships, there has always been time slots for you to choose, early or late.

Reading many of the comments posted on the Muse dining, reminds me of why a very senior SS executive once told us that they don't bother reading these boards, because they are seen as just providing a forum for ill-informed complaint.

I have no information concerning the total number of covers across all restaurants that will be available for dinner. I am pretty sure however, that SS will have made due allowance for spare capacity so that no one will go hungry, and dining venue choices will be available.

I recall one cruise when Le Champagne was booked solid every night because a number of passengers were spending OBC. This precluded anyone with a whim on a particular evening to go to that restaurant, and so disappointment at dinner has happened before.

If anyone doesn't fancy the concept of no MDR, the answer is simple - don't book on the Muse, nobody's forcing you so to do.

Kind regards

Master Echo

Thank you for your 'Contribution ' Master Echo and I agree entirely that no one is forcing anyone to book on The Muse.

Your comment regarding ' Ill-Informed ' complaint is I feel rather harsh as I would suggest that you have completely missed the main point - Uniquely for Silversea, The Muse will be the first ship to appear not to offer a Reservation Free Restaurant. This may not be an issue for you but there are many who will find this a feature that will take some getting used to - maybe not a gamechanger but initially a very different concept.

Like you I agree we are not being forced to accept this concept but surely a topic that warrants debate. Maybe the Silversea Officials would do well to monitor such comments ?

Following discussion with the Cruise Consultant on my recent cruise (Barrie, seemed to know whereof he spoke), I was very much given the impression that Indochine and Atlantide will function as a non-reservation MDR just like the MDR on the other ships; the main difference being the wall down the middle to make the larger space into two more interesting smaller dining areas. Pax will be able to effectively ignore the wall and dine in either space and order from the menu of either space - they are served by the same galley.

Terrazza and the other much smaller restaurants will function just how they do now.

I was so convinced about this that I booked three Muse cruises and I certainly don't intend to make any dining reservations in advance - time will tell if I have made a dreadful mistake!

Altho' I gotta say it'll be an industry first if it turns out that it's difficult to get fed on a cruise ship ...

Following discussion with the Cruise Consultant on my recent cruise (Barrie, seemed to know whereof he spoke), I was very much given the impression that Indochine and Atlantide will function as a non-reservation MDR just like the MDR on the other ships; the main difference being the wall down the middle to make the larger space into two more interesting smaller dining areas. Pax will be able to effectively ignore the wall and dine in either space and order from the menu of either space - they are served by the same galley.

Terrazza and the other much smaller restaurants will function just how they do now.

I was so convinced about this that I booked three Muse cruises and I certainly don't intend to make any dining reservations in advance - time will tell if I have made a dreadful mistake!

Altho' I gotta say it'll be an industry first if it turns out that it's difficult to get fed on a cruise ship ...

That's fine if they are planning on using these two dining rooms as "non-reservation MDR" as on the other ships. But the MDR on other ships do not take reservations in advance and do not have the same set menu every night.

Since you are not making reservations in advance, will you be happy eating every night in these two "MDRs' with an unchanging menu?

We too are on the Muse in May, Athens to Venice. We are making no reservations as usual. We have never had a problem dining where we wish in all our years with SS. Time will tell if we are right.

Jane

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We too are on the Muse in May, Athens to Venice. We are making no reservations as usual. We have never had a problem dining where we wish in all our years with SS. Time will tell if we are right.

Jane

 

 

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Yes, but the Muse is a completely different situation. If it's all pre reserved seating and most people have reserved months in advance it will be harder to just walk up and get a table. Unless, of course, you are willing to dine at 6Pm or 9:30.

I may be wrong about this. But what we were told, some months ago, was that the two half-MDR restaurants would be available without reservations. If you showed up and there was no space in your chosen half-MDR, then you could eat in the other half-MDR off the chosen half-MDR's menu. That would be acceptable to me.

Aren't they saying one MDR is Chinese and the other is seafood?

The others are all specialty in other categories.