We are home after an interesting two weeks on the Muse from Montreal to Ft. Lauderdale. Several important ports were cancelled due to the ports needing space for cargo ships. I hope that those ships were taking cargo to the islands so badly damaged by the hurricanes and not the fact that the Silversea ships are smaller and probably pay a lower fee. Charleston was changed to Wilmington, NC several months ago and subsequently changed to Morehead City. Savannah was cancelled only several days before arrival and they added an extra day and overnight in Cocoa Beach (not a thrill). These changes did not please a number of foreign guests who had planned this cruise in order to see those ports. There was not sufficient time when Savannah was cancelled to book any alternative plans ashore. We reserved the cruise more for the ship than the ports, so the changes didn't decrease our enjoyment of the trip. The day we were in Morehead City, there was a southern seafood festival which, while not as exciting as Charleston, was an interesting cultural experience for those not used to southern cuisine.

The ship

I immediately liked the décor of the ship, but it took a while for me to warm up to the differences between this ship and the classic ships. We were in a Silver Suite on deck 11 that was lovely. The issues we had had with Silver Suites on the Spirit have been largely corrected, and we loved the colors of the marble. While they have improved the bathrooms greatly (no vessel sinks) and increased the size of the shower, the closet now only has one door and less usable space. Additionally, there are no drawers in the closet for your “unmentionables”. There are many more plugs and USB plugs on the desk, but it would be nice if there were a few more in the bedroom. The sliding doors between the bedroom and living room did rattle so we put pillows against them at night. At least we didn’t have to tie them closed as needed on the Spirit to keep them from banging open during rough weather. Since we were in 1102, and the new unisex bathroom was next door, we felt we had a two-bathroom suite! The Observation Bar was also close by, and on this voyage it was a popular place unlike on the other ships where it is generally empty. We never had drinks anywhere else on the ship, and we never even sat down in the Panorama Lounge. The ship has massive amounts of public space and many of the public rooms are underutilized while others have a nice vibe. Read more