How the Silver Muse Is Taking Luxury Cruising to a Whole New Level

Silver Muse’s suites—and they are all suites—start at a generous 387-square feet for a Classic Veranda and spike from there. (The largest two-bedroom Grand Suite approaches 2,000 square feet and includes two teak verandas and a separate dining room.) Bathrooms are swathed in marble, beds are kitted out in Pratesi linens, and a butler is on call 24-7. Even your cabin’s flashiest feature is elegant: a chic mirrored wall transforms into two television screens (one for the sitting room and one in the bedroom) where you can scroll through restaurant menus, on-demand movies, and television channels at the click of your remote.  

Like the design, the ship’s service is quiet but impeccable.  Though you’ll never feel hovered over, the crew and wait staff all seem to intuit when you need something. I sat down on a lounge chair on an empty deck above the pool to read, and within a minute an attendant had swooped in to take my drink order. I remained the only person sitting in the area, but my glass never went empty.

In contrast to many cruise vessels its size, Silver Muse has a pool long and wide enough to do more than just cool off in. When you’re not swimming, you can soak up the sun from your sleek taupe lounge chair, sip bubbly in one of two adjacent hot tubs, or head back to a third hot tub that sits on the aft of the ship—the sea views are amazing.

When it’s too chilly to hang by the pool, many passengers head to Arts Café, a snug little art-filled lounge where you can while away an afternoon nibbling on sandwiches and pastries or alternating between tea and lemongrass-and-ginger-infused water. Bibliophiles ascend to the top of the ship to Tor’s Observation Library to borrow a new release from the shelf then settle into a window seat and read as the world floats by.

New on Silver Muse is Spaccanopoli, an outdoor pizza spot that’s open for lunch and dinner. Set on a deck overlooking the pool, the restaurant is named after the famed Naples street and is a nod to Silversea’s Italian roots. But this is no ordinary cruise-ship pizza joint: tables are covered in red-checked tablecloths,  and the pies and calzones are slathered with high-end ingredients — think fresh buffalo mozzarella and basil — making even a quick après-pool snack feel like a highlight. Indoor-outdoor restaurant La Terrazza transforms into another Italian place for dinner. (For breakfast and lunch, it’s a buffet restaurant.) Don’t miss the pappardelle with duck ragu. Also outdoors is The Grill, a pool lunch spot that becomes Hot Rocks at night—a casual Silversea staple where you can grill your own meat or veg over a volcanic rock at the table.

This Japanese restaurant is one of just two places onboard that charges a fee for dinner, which is a multi-course, teppanyaki affair that’s as much performance as feast. If you’d rather not splurge, you can hit the sushi bar for lunch, when the vibe is much quieter and the intimate room almost empty, giving the chef plenty of time to make all the spicy-tuna and surf-and-turf rolls you can eat.

Inspired by Marco Polo’s travels through Asia, the menu of this new-to-Silversea restaurant, open only for dinner, spans a continent. Standout dishes include lamb rogan josh and the naam tok nua (lemongrass beef with lime leaves).  Arrive early to throw back a couple of Singapore Slings at Entoca, the restaurant’s bar, before dinner.

Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Atlantide is Silversea’s new upscale seafood restaurant. Dishes like Mediterranean seafood chowder and Greenland cod cater to fish-lovers, while the steak obsessed can choose from generous cuts of filet mignon or New York strip. La Dame, Silversea’s partnership with Relais & Chateaux, is wood-paneled and intimate, making reservations incredibly hard to get—be sure to book your night when you book your cruise. You’ll be charged a fee for dinner, but it will all be worth it when you sit down to a refined French feast of crispy frog legs, glazed duck breast, and Grand Marnier soufflé.

Room service is practically a given on high-end ships these days, but Silversea takes it to another level, allowing passengers to order their late-night snacks like to any public area of the ship when restaurants are closed. 

The first thing you seen as you embark is Dolce Vita, a chic lounge with a baby grand that transforms the expanse adjacent to reception into the social hub of the ship. You’ll see passengers here all day (and into the evening), but there are plenty of other after-dark haunts to keep you busy during your voyage. Check out a show at the cabaret-style Venetian Lounge, sink into the leather couches at the Connoisseur’s Corner with a cigar and cognac, or make a reservation at the snug Silver Note, where you can linger over Peruvian-fusion small plates dishes like sea bass ceviche and marinated octopus with caramelized pumpkin purée while a jazz singer works her magic just a few feet away. Late night, the real action is at the Panorama Lounge where a DJ keeps the dance floor packed late into the night.