Day Eight: Cruise Log | At Sea
We’re on our penultimate day and it’s the ideal time to relax and reflect, to enjoy the ship’s glittering array of amenities and look back on seven superb days so far.
Having a full day to luxuriate in the delights of our peripatetic home, we have been able to take a step back and consider what we have most enjoyed and what we have found to be essence of cruising with Silversea in 2018.
In two words they are Food and Service. And, on a sea day, they are the two elements that really stand out as essential components of a totally memorable voyage. If you don’t have these two, you don’t have a fully rounded experience, and ours has been well and truly 360 degrees in every sense as we head back towards Fort Lauderdale.
Both of those features were well to the fore as we enjoyed an extremely leisurely Day Eight of Silver Muse Live, starting with a hearty breakfast at the chic buffet offering of La Terrazza and concluding late in the evening with drinks and more music in the Panorama Lounge.
In between, we enjoyed pretty much the full range of activities and programmes that the ship has to offer, notably the day’s Enrichment Lecture from guest historian Philip Martin, who was focusing on the topic of Managing Migration – Canadian & America Dilemmas today, a subject that couldn’t be much more topical in international terms.
From there we headed to check out the Shuffleboard Tournament, aft on Deck Nine, but we could equally have taken in the Line Dance class with effervescent Cruise Director Vicki, a complementary Footprint Analysis with personal trainer Mariya, a game of Name That Tune with DJ Bart, or just kicked back on the Pool Deck to the sounds of the Silver Muse Contemporary Trio.
For lunch, we are rapidly becoming fans of La Terrazza for one very good reason – their Oriental dishes. After yesterday’s Aloo Baigan, today’s delectation included an Indian Dingani Mutter (mushroom and tomato curry) and a Middle Eastern Lamb Shawarma, both of which were beautifully spiced and hugely more-ish. A cinnamon bread pudding also caught our eye – and appetites – and, once again, we were hugely impressed at how much sheer culinary creation they can pack into something as relatively simple as a buffet.
The afternoon’s entertainments included a Blackjack tournament, a MediSpa presentation and a cocktail demonstration from the bar staff in the Dolce Vita lounge, followed by the now-daily ritual of the Trivia contest, with our team again insisting that the enjoyment of it was more important than the actual winning!
Dinner involved a second trip to alternative main restaurant Indochine, and another great journey into Asain-fusion cuisine. We were fortunate to join four of our Trivia team buddies at a table for six and we have to admit we were the last ones to leave as our dinner stretched into the most wonderful conversation piece. Sharing stories with well-travelled fellow passengers has always been one the great joys of cruising for us, and Silver Muse has not disappointed us on that score either.
Finally, we made our way up to the Pool Deck just in time to catch some of the Death By Chocolate Latin Dance Party (yes, really), which involved lots of line dancing and other DJ-inspired fun, as well as a huge chocolate buffet that we admired but simply couldn’t contemplate after such a well-enjoyed dinner.
But it still set the seal on another truly memorable day of diversity, delight and delectation, all with that lovely, languid pace that comes from a sea day, especially aboard a vessel of such classic refinement as this.
As we said at the start, it’s been a while since Simon last sampled the Silversea style, but he has been impressed at absolutely every turn with the advancement of their elegant signature panache that borders upon bravura, and there’s no doubt the new vessel has really enabled them to deliver even more of that polished flair.
We have also compared notes with passengers who have sailed with other cruise lines in the past, and who will definitely be coming back for more of the Muse munificence in future. And that, for us, is the ultimate seal of approval.
Tomorrow will be our last day and night aboard this remarkable vessel, as we have a chance to experience the unique Key West vibe as our final port of call. It should sign things off in style, but we are already thinking about more Silversea experiences in future!
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