I was thrilled and privileged to receive an invitation to experience a pre-launch sailing on Silver Muse, the newest addition to the Silversea fleet. Having enjoyed several Silversea voyages on the Silver Spirit, Silver Whisper and Silver Shadow for my own personal holidays, it was with great anticipation that I boarded with my daughter, Emma, in Marseille for our two day preview of Silver Muse.
With 596 passengers, Silver Muse is a bigger and more contemporary version of its sisters in the Silversea Classic fleet, familiar in many ways, and different in others. In the words of Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovodo, the owner of Silversea who introduced us to the ship, the concept of life on board the Silver Muse is ‘refined elegance, superb service and wonderful dining opportunities’.
It was the dining opportunities which impressed me the most as I was intrigued to discover that The Restaurant main dining room has been replaced on deck 4 by four separate restaurants. Any concerns I might have had were soon alleviated when I saw the diverse choice of dining experiences which catered for all tastes and ambient styles. La Dame is the Relais & Château fine dining restaurant where we ate on our first evening enjoying a five course degustation menu of French classics. Atlantide, where we dined on our second evening offered a wide choice of both seafood and meat dishes, and felt to me a smaller version of The Restaurant with silver service at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Indochine serves Asian inspired cuisine and Kaiseki, during the day offers freshly made sushi and sashimi while after dark teppanyaki style cooking produces sizzling steak and shrimp cooked in front of you. In addition there is the familiar La Terrazza restaurant, poolside Hot Rocks, Spaccanapoli, an all day pizzeria, and the Arts Café where day long snacks can be enjoyed, converting to a cocktail bar in the evening.
The suites, all of which have verandas, are a contemporary version of the suites on the other ships. The Classic, Superior and Deluxe Veranda Suites are all identical and distinguished only by their location on the ship. The pool deck is the place to relax on days at sea and when not exploring the latest port of call. Cooling drinks and light poolside lunches and snacks served throughout the day by attentive waiters which, of course, is all included. All in all, a fabulous cruising experience both Emma and I can highly recommend.
