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Silversea Muse Live #2 Sept. 12-28

onetravelbug

By onetravelbug,
in Silversea

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dusababy

dusababy

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Thank you for the great blog. We board in Montreal. Do you know who will be replacing Paolo?

 

 

Also - do you know if there will be an entire staff turnover, i.e. who will be captain, maitre 'd, hotel director.

Will greatly appreciate update -- thanks in advance.

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onetravelbug

onetravelbug

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I am sitting in the Arts Cafe, and there are two small book shelves with probably no more than 50 books between them. The Observation lounge has many more. I certainly would not consider either a library. Certainly the chairs in eith place do not give it that "library" feel. Never have seen anyone reading one of the ship's books in the Arts Cafe, which are "hidden" behind two columns that separate sitting areas. They do advertise the Observation Lounge as the place for the library, but the Whisper had about the same number of books in the same area.

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Silver Spectre "Live from...." Rare

Silver Spectre

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Whoops, forget my above post. The old brochure showed a library where the Arts Cafe is located on the website deck plan. Wow, no library! Don't like that! Does the Arts Cafe have books?

 

 

 

Sounds like another backward step. Not everyone wishes to read on a tablet.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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jollyjones

jollyjones

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I am sitting in the Arts Cafe, and there are two small book shelves with probably no more than 50 books between them. The Observation lounge has many more. I certainly would not consider either a library. Certainly the chairs in eith place do not give it that "library" feel. Never have seen anyone reading one of the ship's books in the Arts Cafe, which are "hidden" behind two columns that separate sitting areas. They do advertise the Observation Lounge as the place for the library, but the Whisper had about the same number of books in the same area.

 

Sorry, I'm not quite getting this. Do you mean the number of books in the Observation lounge on the Muse is about similar to the number in the Library on the Whisper? Having just disembarked the Whisper, I found the library there quite adequate - don't forget, they usually have extra books in the cupboards under the shelves to replenish if the shelves look bare.

Maybe it's a reversal of the usual set up where the 'reading' books are in the Library, and the 'reference' books are in the Observation lounge.

 

I hope they're going to retain an adequate library - no, one would never expect something as grand as a land-based Library - because so many of us prefer reading an actual book. Of course I have lots of books loaded on my iPad but I use that mostly when traveling between places that have proper books (like on the plane).

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onetravelbug

onetravelbug

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Day 6-At Sea

The seas continue to be calm so we were rocked to sleep last night with no sudden turns or drops from a rough sea. If you read my earlier post on Indochine, you might remember I praised the Ginger & lime brûlée for desert. While eating last night in the Atlantide we struck up a conversation with the couple next to us. They were having difficulties trying to pick out a desert when I mentioned the brûlée. I thought I had read that the two adjoining restaurants would order from each other if necessary, so they made the request to order the brûlée from Indochine. Several minutes later they were told it was "impossible" to order this brûlée. Strange, I thought Silversea would always say "yes" if it was possible. To add insult to injury, it was suggested that they would reserve a table for them in Indochine right away so they could order the brûlée. Of course they didn't accept. I think I was more upset than this couple, who were first timers to Silversea. I will visit the new Hotel Director today, and mention this issue and the sporadic La Terrazza service in the morning.

Update: I just got through talking with the replacement Hotel Director about the above mentioned service issues. He had just come over from the Cloud on an emergency basis, and said he would check on the issue I had brought up. As I had thought, he said ordering a desert from an adjacent restaurant would not have been an issue on the Shadow. He mentioned that the current captain and Hotel Director (Paolo) were scheduled to be back on the late December cruises after taking off for two months when they arrive at Ft. Lauderdale. Of course Paolo's situation might be different since he had to leave earlier than scheduled.

Kaiseki dinner:

 

We ate at Kaiseki tonight so I wanted to add a few comments on this restaurant. I thought the food and experience were very good. I had the lobster, followed by the cod, and finally the beef. I thought all three were excellent, but my DW felt that the beef was the best of all three, and didn't care as much for the lobster and cod. Certainly more food than we would normally eat at one of the other restaurants. We finished off with some green tea ice cream which was very tasty. A couple next to us was discussing that the additional charge of $60 per person seemed high. After eating here, we agreed that the additional charge did seem out of line with a luxury cruise line format. I would suggest that Silversea re-evaluate the extra charge being the same as La Dame. At least from my perspective La Dame is in a different league from the Kaiseki restaurant, and the same up charge for Kaiseki is not justified. One minor note here is that I didn't personally like the idea that we had to sign a tab for the dinner before leaving. It just took away from an all inclusive experience (even if it wasn't all inclusive).

Yes, the number of books in the Muse Observation lounge was close to the Whisper's Observation lounge. I just like the chairs to be more inclined to entice one to spend an hour or two reading there. There were no chairs that gave that comfort feeling to make you not want to leave.

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TLCOhio "Live from...." Rare

TLCOhio

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Hi onetravelbug, do you have any idea of the number of crew that the Muse has?

 

Per the Silversea website, here is what they show for the KEY FACTS on the Silver Muse:

GUESTS: 596

CREW: 411

BUILT: 2017

TONNAGE: 40,700 TONS

 

Does this help a little? THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Lisbon, NWSpain, Bordeaux/Brittany: Just finished June 2017 sailing from Portugal to France along the scenic Atlantic Coast, plus great pre- and post-cruise experiences. Many interesting pictures and details on history, food, culture, etc., from my live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2511358

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onetravelbug

onetravelbug

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Day 7- Another Sea day:

I thought I would summarize our experience so far on this cruise. Silversea gets high marks for the ship in general, suites size and comfort, the open spaces to relax in, and the food (of course subjective). Staff service was excellent despite the one or two issues I had posted on earlier. Service was excellent this morning at La Terrazza, which had been one of the few areas where I thought they could improve. I don't know if my discussion with the HD had anything to do with the improvement, but it was welcomed no matter what caused the service to be better. Entertainment at the various lounges were very pleasant. I can't comment on the evening stage shows as we haven't attended any. 10 PM shows are later than we care to attend. Just changing the time to 9:30 probably would have enticed us to attend one or two. I know that earlier shows would then conflict with later eating reservations so I am not for sure there is anything Silversea can do in this area. The lecturers are very enjoyable and informative, and Trivia is well attended. There is a calming environment on this ship which should lead to a rejuvenated mind and body after disembarking.

 

There are two events that are not on the Muse, but are on the other Silversea ships. First, there is no formal tea in the afternoon. I was surprised by this as it is the first ship I have been on that has done away with this event. Second, the traditional bullion service at 11 AM is also discontinued. According to the reception desk, they are still being offered on the other Silversea ships. I had looked forward to the tea. The explanation I received was that the Arts Cafe was taking the place of the tea. I for one liked the formal tea, but "somewhat" understand the reasoning. On the good side, it will be easier to stay in the same size pants for a little longer. Until tomorrow.

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Observer

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There are two events that are not on the Muse, but are on the other Silversea ships. First, there is no formal tea in the afternoon. I was surprised by this as it is the first ship I have been on that has done away with this event. Second, the traditional bullion service at 11 AM is also discontinued. According to the reception desk, they are still being offered on the other Silversea ships. I had looked forward to the tea. The explanation I received was that the Arts Cafe was taking the place of the tea. I for one liked the formal tea, but "somewhat" understand the reasoning. On the good side, it will be easier to stay in the same size pants for a little longer. Until tomorrow.

 

This is interesting.

 

I too "somewhat" understand. The uptake for the bouillon -- there was never a service distributing gold bars at 11 am :) -- has been very, very modest IMHE. Attendance at the formal tea seemed to vary greatly, and I thought it was a shame that so many linens and so much food and so much staff effort was wasted when attendance was very modest. Arts seems to be a good alternative. I wonder if they might consider restoring tea on sea days on Muse.

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eastwoodboy

eastwoodboy

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Oh dear, I have now to think of a way to break the news of no afternoon tea as we know it to be to Mrs E. It may be a small thing to many but to her it is the highlight of the day. There is a rival cruise line she will not use just because their afternoon tea is not up to standard.

 

Is there still proper service or do you have to go and queue up at a buffet table?

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Observer

Observer

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I think that management is still feeling its way on many issues relating to Muse, and they have shown flexibility and responsiveness in matters like dress code and access to dinner venues. I imagine they will also be open to reconsidering the tea matter if demand is really there. It would be interesting to know what the current demand for afternoon tea is on, say, Spirit -- the ship closest in size to Muse.

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Tothesunset "Live from...." Rare

Tothesunset

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There are two events that are not on the Muse, but are on the other Silversea ships. First, there is no formal tea in the afternoon...

Oh dear. Particularly on a succession of sea days we find the afternoon tea service an important highlight of the afternoon. During port days the tea is lightly attended but seems to be popular with many travellers on sea days - after all, surely the whole point is to pile on as many pounds as possible, is it not?;p

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wripro

wripro

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I think that management is still feeling its way on many issues relating to Muse, and they have shown flexibility and responsiveness in matters like dress code and access to dinner venues. I imagine they will also be open to reconsidering the tea matter if demand is really there. It would be interesting to know what the current demand for afternoon tea is on, say, Spirit -- the ship closest in size to Muse.

 

So basically the Muse will be taking a very circuitous route to becoming a regular SS ship and not some floating experiment.

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