Silver Muse Review
Bitter Disappointment: Uninspired food served lukewarm in disorganized fashion
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We have 300 nights on Silversea and usually love the experience they have to offer. We are well known to the staff, whom we love. This time, we sailed for 28 nights from Lisbon to Montreal in September 2017, six months after the launch of the ship (plenty of time to work out the kinks).
Unfortunately, the Silver Muse did not provide any luxury despite the hype in the brochures and the extreme friendliness of the waiters. I had to wear ear plugs at night when the sea was even a bit rough because the ceiling creaked so loudly and the balcony door banged. The sewer-gas smell in our otherwise very nice bathroom was off-putting to say the least. It did get fixed.
There seemed to be no professional chefs on board and no one in charge of the restaurants. We've had better food and better organized service in hospital cafeterias and retirement residences. We quickly memorized the menus that never varied, and we got tired of the meals being served somewhere between room temperature and lukewarm. In the Terrazza buffet, the pasta chef was sullen, his pasta often incompletely cooked (crunchy, not al dente) and covered in stone cold sauce. They never turned on the radiant food warmers in the Terrazza, so that the scrambled eggs, home-fry potatoes, and Asian lunch dishes (clearly made from leftovers) were barely warmer than room temperature. The soup was never hot; even when I sent it back three times, they never got it hot -- I was told the Terrazza kitchen was three decks down, which is why the food got cold on the way up. The service in Terrazza was friendly but disorganized; the restaurant managers were usually in hiding or chuckling in a corner with the head waiters; the chefs never made an appearance to check on the quality of their dishes, so they had no idea of the inferior results sitting on our plates. One head waiter was outstanding; she was the only one to actually supervise and pitch in when necessary; her name is Eileen. The officers rarely ate in any of the restaurants, and now I can see why; they probably got much better fare in their officers' mess.
Cabin Review
Classic Verandah Suite
The ceiling creaked unbelievably loudly in any seas that weren't perfectly calm. I had to wear ear plugs in order to fall asleep. I had to phone the neighbours to turn down their TV, which was blaring through the walls at midnight. Otherwise, the cabin was identical to other Silversea ships, with lots of space and excellent layout.