A muse on the Muse.

[drron29]

Our next adventure begins early on Friday.Fares were expensive on the QF MCY-SYD flight so we are on an AA J award.Staying at the Rydges Ultimo-Chinatown.
The next day a taxi to the White Bay Cruise terminal.Next to us will be the Silver Whisper with Turtlemichael onboard.Sadly we will not meet.We are on the Silver Muse.It will be the largest ship we have cruised on so we will see how we go.596 guests if full and the cruise has been waitlisted for some time.

Visiting Eden,Melbourne,Milord Sound,DoubtfulSound,Stewart Island,Dunedin,Christchurch,Picton,Gisborne,Tauranga and finishing in Auckland.

 

 

[Silver Spectre]

4 hours ago, drron29 said:

Our next adventure begins early on Friday.Fares were expensive on the QF MCY-SYD flight so we are on an AA J award.Staying at the Rydges Ultimo-Chinatown.
The next day a taxi to the White Bay Cruise terminal.Next to us will be the Silver Whisper with Turtlemichael onboard.Sadly we will not meet.We are on the Silver Muse.It will be the largest ship we have cruised on so we will see how we go.596 guests if full and the cruise has been waitlisted for some time.

Visiting Eden,Melbourne,Milord Sound,DoubtfulSound,Stewart Island,Dunedin,Christchurch,Picton,Gisborne,Tauranga and finishing in Auckland.

 

 

Hope you have a great time DrRon

[Emtbsam]

That is a wonderful itinerary.  Have a great trip.

[Stumblefoot]

Have a great time good Doctor and give our best to Ann!

As you know, we tried to book this voyage when on board the Muse last June to no avail.  So, your itinerary is very, very popular indeed.  And, while the Muse will be full of passengers, I think you'll find she accommodates them all quite nicely.  Lastly, I hope you're lucky enough to have Anne-Mari Cornelius as your Executive Chef.  She's the best!

Have fun!

[Stumblefoot]

Oh, and one more thing... can you change the title of this topic to, "An Amusement Across the Ditch"?  Quite catchy I believe.  😄

[jpalbny]

Have a great trip, Ron and Ann! Looking forward to your report, as they are always so fun to read.

 

We did a similar itinerary on Oceania, now 11 years ago. Very enjoyable, and we have always wanted to return. So we'll live vicariously through your report for now.

 

Hope to see you in Reykjavik in August!

[Stumblefoot]

34 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

Have a great trip, Ron and Ann! Looking forward to your report, as they are always so fun to read.

 

We did a similar itinerary on Oceania, now 11 years ago. Very enjoyable, and we have always wanted to return. So we'll live vicariously through your report for now.

 

Hope to see you in Reykjavik in August!

 

JP, we may have to book New Zealand for 2021 or 2022 while on board the Cloud with you in Antarctica next year.  🙂

[spinnaker2]

Have a wonderful cruise! Hope you brought the infamous pink blazer!

[Bluebelle14]

Have heard the Muse is going to change  to an MDR rather than the three restaurants it has now...can you post any updates on that, please? 

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, Bluebelle14 said:

Have heard the Muse is going to change  to an MDR rather than the three restaurants it has now...can you post any updates on that, please? 

What?  This would be a shocking development.  Considering there are four restaurants on the same floor, I wonder which three would be combined to make a massive MDR?  I for one hope you were given bad intel and this doesn't happen as I'd hate to lose all the choice we have today on the Muse.

[rosepark]

On the SS webpages for the Silver Moon, neither Indochine nor La Dame are mentioned so I’d guess those  spaces are being combined with Altantide. 

Rp

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, rosepark said:

On the SS webpages for the Silver Moon, neither Indochine nor La Dame are mentioned so I’d guess those  spaces are being combined with Altantide. 

Rp

Well I'll be.  I'm floored.  Here is a link to all of the Silversea dining venues and you're right.

[jollyjones]

I wouldn’t get too excited until the deckplans are out; actually I’d think you’d need to wait till she’s afloat to find out the restaurant configuration for sure. 

 

However, I do wonder if they’re rethinking Indochine because of it’s persistent underutilization and the difficulty of pitching it right - too spicy for some, too bland for others. 

 

I eagerly await my first cruise on her however she is configured!

[Stumblefoot]

6 hours ago, jollyjones said:

I eagerly await my first cruise on her however she is configured!

 

Amen to that!

[turtlemichael]

We can tell you that your ship is safely at White Bay Terminal waiting for you.  Whisper and Muse sailed in this morning together.  The weather is very dreary but sailing into Sydney Harbour remains one of the great thrills of cruising whatever the weather. We were even filmed by a drone. Enjoy your cruise which I'll follow with interest.

[Jacko]

Ron and Ann, we join the Muse on 17 Feb in Auckland to Singapore and then on to Nepal.  So miss seeing you guys.

Look forward to following this thread

Jack and Ann O'Boyle 

[boccenana]

Dr. Ron, I see you are going on the Eclipse in September, we had it booked for April 5, 2019 and got cancelled.  Thank God plan B is the Silver Muse Feb. 17th Auckland to Bali.  

If you would be so kind to let me know when you get aboard whether the 110V are 2 or 3 prong outlets. I would assume 3 but have learned to " Assume Nothing".

We have only been on the Cloud so this will be a big ship for us also.

Elaine and John

 

Edited February 4, 2019 by boccenana
Made a mistake.

[boccenana]

On 2/1/2019 at 5:23 PM, Jacko said:

Ron and Ann, we join the Muse on 17 Feb in Auckland to Singapore and then on to Nepal.  So miss seeing you guys.

Look forward to following this thread

Jack and Ann O'Boyle 

It's nice to have another thread to follow. Have been on roll call and not much communication there.

John and I will be on the same Auckland cruise but we disembark in Bali.

Hope to meet you.

Elaine

[drron29]

Time to get underway.Sorry you are not on board Brian but hopefully will meet again soon.

Also bad timing on our part not continuing on so missing Jack,Ann,Elaine and John.

 

To the question about the restaurants we had dinner with the Finance Officer who said there is no plan to unite Atlantide and Indochine.The wall is staying.

So now to our trip.We flew to Sydney the day before the cruise.The only Qantas flight from the Sunshine Coast leaves at 0645 so an early start for us as well as an early arrival into Sydney.We then got a taxi to our hotel.Fortunately he took the slowest possible route.However it was just after 1030 when we arrived at the Ultimo hotel just opposite the old Paddy's Markets.It is a Rydges hotel but Rydges is nowhere to be seen in the hotel.However being on a shareholder rate a room was ready for us but others were being told checkin was at 1500.

So to the room.We booked a superior king room but got a larger family room.

...

Only a shower.Also note the wardrobes in the little area for the third person.

You didn't see them?Well here is the one for the main bedroom.

.

The view.

.

How about sitting on the lounge and watching TV?

.

.

It's also another bed.

Several reasons for not staying here again.First each floor is on 3 levels so 2 lots of narrow and steep stairs between each level-awful forgetting your bags to the room.
Second-no power points in the bathroom,the mirror in the room or besides the bed.
But if no luggage and you love Asian food the position is fantastic.

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by drron29

[drron29]

After checking in we went to lunch with my sister who is over from the UK.Went to the old Grace Bros and the Bondi Pizza company.Reasonable.

.

But we were served by a young woman on her first day who probably didn't have English as even her second language-she got no help from the other staff so we ended up having 4 pizzas for the price of 3 as our order was very wrong.
That evening mrsdrron had a surprise for me.She had arranged dinner at the Golden Century Chinese reastaurant in Sussex street with an old friend of mine from Uni days.He was also one of my groomsmen at our wedding.The food was good and we kept talking for at least 4 hours before leaving.
Although Sydney had put on a cold and wet day we all decided to walk down Dixon street as it was approaching the Chinese New Year-though the City Council in all their wisdom was calling it the Lunar New Year to be more inclusive.

.

 

Pretty much deserted unfortunately.But only a very short walk to the hotel and a good nights sleep.

[drron29]

Saturday and it began visiting our family and having brekkie with the family.Returned to the Ultimo around midday and checked out at 1230 as arranged on checkin.Lucky as we stepped outside a vacant taxi pulled up so soon at the White Bay Cruise Terminal.The cabbie was also lucky as he pulled in there a couple came out looking for a taxi.

So boarded the Muse and went straight to lunch in Atlantide.Mrsdrron started with a prawn and avocado salad and I a scallop cerviche.

 

Mrsdrron enjoyed the salad though too much lettuce.The cerviche was quite bland.
For mains mrsdrron had the steamed salmon and I the vegetable biryani.Both were good.

 

For dessert we both had the pavlova.

 

It was nice.

[drron29]

I have now christened the Cruise Critic method of posting photos the Qantas method.

QF are known for their consistent inconsistency.

So in the first of the last 3 posts I posted how I always have-no problems.Didn't allow that for the second and third posts so had to import from my computer directly.Then had to downsize the photos.Finally worked it out in the third post.But in the preview where there were 2 photos they appeared side by side but when posted the second is below the first.

So I am probably going to take a long time with this report as I do like to put in photos.

[jpalbny]

Glad to see your photos and posts. The process can be pesky but usually works ok. I find that it's less reliable with slow internet connections. 

 

Hope the cruise is going well!

[boccenana]

Thank you for taking so much time to make your trip on the Muse come alive for we who are waiting to board very soon. Photos are great. Looking forward to more.

Elaine

[Stumblefoot]

Looks like you are off to a nice start good Doctor!  If you ever need help with better hotel arrangements in the future, don't hesitate to call.  I promise my recommendations will be as satisfactory as RojAnn's jewelry recos.