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Muse Maiden From Montreal - Sept 28-Oct 12 - Montreal to FLL


Master Echo
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Back home by noon after an uncomplicated pick up and a 2hour drive almost directly across the state. Silversea does a very good job disembarking passengers. A plus was the enormous Dolce Vita bar for waiting to be called...kind of ironic as the space is waaay too big for it's primary use as a bar/lounge.

 

I was, in general, happy with The Muse. This is mostly because of enjoying spending time with friends. Trivia was such fun. Always a SS highlight, on this cruise it was especially terrific with a really big crowd and Jimmy Kovel as Trivia Master.

 

The biggest drawback for me was the dining situation. I was very uncomfortable with having to make reservations for every night of the cruise. I had intended to sail solo, but chickened out about a month before embarking and asked a friend to join me. Even with the inclusion of a wonderful, easy companion, and great pals at Trivia, I felt hemmed in and anxious by the reservation requirements. I can say, without hesitation, that until there is a Main Dining Room, I would not recommend the Muse...especially for singles. Losing the spontaneity of casually meeting and making new friends, in one of the bars, and having the opportunity to join folks for dinner is a very big drawback. We were told that this problem will be fixed in time for the upcoming South American segment. I can understand how they can enlarge the Atlantide restaurant...but not by all that much. What they will do about the Indochine Asian restaurant is a mystery. I loved it, but it was almost empty every time I went. It is very distinctive both in menu and decor. I can't envision it becoming popular without a major reworking.

 

That said, The Muse is quite beautiful. The service is SS super special. The food was very good and the wines were excellent. Let's see what the management does to address the consistent concerns of even the most devoted SS sailors.

 

I dearly hope that future Muse sailors will take the time to keep up the live posting. With SS now building a new sister ship and planning to stretch the Spirit, we just might be able to positively influence design decisions. How about that?!?

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We arrived home around 5 pm. I echo how wonderful it was to spend time with our trivia group and other cc.com friends. Last night's dinner planned and executed by Maitre d' Eileen and the galley staff was truly the best ever. A full review will follow when I have unpacked.

 

Bon voyage to Spinnaker2

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We arrived home safe and sound. It has been quite an experience of a new ship. There have been obvious changes, and further changes are coming. Whether it is welcomed or not depends of whom you ask.

 

Several restaurant staff told us that cruise critic members are often apprehensive of the changes. The ship owners are decided on making changes to the old system, to what extent remains to be seen. The staff members consider this a problem for the management and not up to them to decide though each staff member can have personal opinion.

 

As for the individual reports passengers sent in at the end of the cruise, they will be read and published for the crew to see, and are important to the crew. The comments we make here on cruise critic seem to be given low priority, not as important.

 

In the next month, we will write our report here, section by section, as usual. We hope you will bear with us .. meow!

.

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It was certainly downhill after being swiped out for the last time.

 

Silver Spectre has already referred to the debacle of the Marriott transfer. We were then coralled in a dreary conference room with the fitful sun and heavy rain precluding an external sojourn.

 

Two vans took eleven of us for a grand tour of Miami airport, because neither driver knew that the British Airways check in area had been moved, some three months earlier.

 

It then took an hour for a business class check in and then came security which was gratefully without hassle. The time taken through this ordeal was less than the check-in. The Executive Lounge displayed why it was just weeks away from refurbishment.

 

It took 90 minutes from take off before any food appeared and on completion of a very below par meal, there was just four hours before lights came on for breakfast service, which was declined apart from a smoothie.

 

The one bright spot after an hour's transit around Heathrow and then immigration and security, is the Executive Lounge in Terminal 5 which serves excellent pastries that bring back memories of those on the Muse.

 

The cruise itself had a number of disappointments with missed ports and an extremely rude passenger. However Captain Alessandro gave us a grandstand view of the Kennedy Space Centre's rocket launch as we hove to, and fortunately being on the port side the rocket flew virtually overhead as part of its launch trajectory. Grateful thanks for Silver Spectre's super pictures posted previously.

 

It was really pleasurable to meet old friends and make new ones, both amongst passengers and crew, and we look forward to renewing acquaintances in the future.

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo

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At least the cookies in the Marriot "room" were nice :-)

 

Out of curiosity ME how come you've flown back to Heathrow? Something else planned or have I completely misjudged your residency?

 

Judging by everyone's comments, it sounds like overall you all had an enjoyable cruise but everyone had a few negatives. I hate missing ports and you accept when it's for weather/safety reasons. I'd not be a happy camper with the reason for yours missed either.

 

Hopefully the complimentary rocket launch was a good compromise.

 

Thanks again to everyone contributing. Always appreciated when guests take the time and trouble to share.

 

Will be interest to hear guests thoughts on future plans and preferences having been on the Muse. As much as I had a great time with no personal negatives, i know that even though I appreciate this build, I'd still prefer to be on one of the smaller ships if I had to choose. I'd still happily travel on the Muse again though.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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We have been told that the Spirit will be cut in half and a new section added. After the addition, it will be the same length (it has always been the same width) as the Muse. As the Spirit's cabins are practically the same width (9'4" versus 9'3"), we do not know how the redesigned Spirit has 20 more cabins than the Muse (likely the Spirit's public areas are more crowded than the Muse's).

 

Moreover, Silversea is going to build the Moon, to be constructed from 2018 to 2020. We hope they will rethink this more carefully. Even now, the cruise market is beginning to have difficulties (how hard it is to fill the last 10-20% of cabins in many voyages). Over expansion is always followed by years of pain.

 

One point we should mention here, even before we write our own report on the Muse, that is the lack of North American type electrical sockets. While the number of sockets may be adequate, just about every one is twinned with the next one side by side with no space in-between. So when you plug something into one (namely an I-phone charger), there is no space to plug in another (namely your camera charger). That design is plain stupid, we dare say, and not easy to change as is.

 

Of course, the Muse also has many design improvements which are praiseworthy, we will discuss those when we write our own report.

.

Edited by meow!
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It was certainly downhill after being swiped out for the last time.

 

Silver Spectre has already referred to the debacle of the Marriott transfer. We were then coralled in a dreary conference room with the fitful sun and heavy rain precluding an external sojourn.

 

Two vans took eleven of us for a grand tour of Miami airport, because neither driver knew that the British Airways check in area had been moved, some three months earlier.

 

It then took an hour for a business class check in and then came security which was gratefully without hassle. The time taken through this ordeal was less than the check-in. The Executive Lounge displayed why it was just weeks away from refurbishment.

 

It took 90 minutes from take off before any food appeared and on completion of a very below par meal, there was just four hours before lights came on for breakfast service, which was declined apart from a smoothie.

 

The one bright spot after an hour's transit around Heathrow and then immigration and security, is the Executive Lounge in Terminal 5 which serves excellent pastries that bring back memories of those on the Muse.

 

The cruise itself had a number of disappointments with missed ports and an extremely rude passenger. However Captain Alessandro gave us a grandstand view of the Kennedy Space Centre's rocket launch as we hove to, and fortunately being on the port side the rocket flew virtually overhead as part of its launch trajectory. Grateful thanks for Silver Spectre's super pictures posted previously.

 

It was really pleasurable to meet old friends and make new ones, both amongst passengers and crew, and we look forward to renewing acquaintances in the future.

 

Kindest regards

 

Master Echo

 

Story time on this extremely rude passenger?

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The Philippine dinner was requested by two members of our wonderful Trivia team and executed by SS. It was, without doubt, the best dinner I have ever had on any SS ship. It was a feast!

 

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the Filipino banquet.It is our favourite special order alongside the Surf and Turf special.Enjoy!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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