Silversea Muse Fort Lauderdale 16 Day Round Trip December 2017
December 18, 2018We decided to spend our Holidays this year on the new Silversea Muse, a 600 passenger cruise ship. The previous 7 years we were on Seabourn ships over the Holidays, but the ambiance and passenger make up changed over the past few years to where Seabourn no longer has a dress code that it enforces,
The Muse exceeded our expectations and I once again was joined by the majority of the male passengers who wore a Tux on formal nights. Our room attendants were the most efficient we have ever had on a cruise. We can not praise the crew members highly enough and enjoyed having a butler in addition to the room attendant. The reliability of the wifi was excellent. We also enjoyed having a slider door to our veranda instead of the outward opening doors on the Seabourn vessels. The main dining room had extremely comfortable chairs with tables set far enough apart to allow servers to do their work without bumping into the passengers. The theater lacks the poles that block the view of the stage on the Seabourn vessels. I could go on, but enough said. We booked the Silversea Spirit which, is being renovated this year, for the 2019 Holidays.
For us the itinerary of this cruise was not particularly exciting. We had previously visited or stayed on most of the Islands we visited. Our goal was to have a relaxing Holiday cruise and our expectations were exceeded.
Following are a list of ports we stopped at along with a link to photos I took:
ARUBA PHOTOS We were in Aruba several times so stayed on board. Aruba is one of the nicer islands in the Caribbean
BARBADOS PHOTOS (2012) Another island we had been to. Port area is horrible, but Island itself interesting and clean.
BEQUIA PHOTOS Quaint island. Like stepping back in time to what Caribbean used to be like. Minimal infrastructure. We enjoyed, but most passengers were disappointed.
BONAIRE PHOTOS This is an Island we previously stayed on many times when we enjoyed snorkeling. That was before I went digital with my photography. We did stop and take a tour when we were on the Seabourn Quest in 2012, but for some reason I did not post any photos other than this ONE OF AN OSPREY. The frontage along the dock area has been much improved and updated. Very clean. Many shop owners and employees are white Dutch folks. The natives are all well educated and bilingual. This is an island we can recommend without hesitation.
CURACAO PHOTOS One of the so called ABC Islands, like Bonaire it is Dutch and very clean and colorful. A delight for a photographer. On a previous visit we went on a tour. This time we just walked across the Queen Emma Bridge and through Willemstad.
GRENADA PHOTOS This was another new port for us. It is beautiful from the sea, put up close it is getting pretty worn with peeling paint and graffiti. People seemed friendly. Unfortunately the day was very rainy, so we probably were affected by the weather in our reaction. They did have a wonderful mall to walk through after leaving the dock area before reaching the city area.
ST BARTS PHOTOS We first stayed in St Barts over 25 years ago. We increased the time we stayed on the Island to 6 weeks by 2000. In 2014 we started taking extended cruises and have not stayed in St Barts since the fall of 2013. We will be in St Barts for 2 weeks in February and will then be there 2 more time while on a three week cruise on with Windstar. We made a short visit on this trip to say hello to a few of the merchants we have gotten to know over the years.
ST JOHNS PHOTOS (Antigua) We enjoyed a walk about the port area, especially when we found a small area of the old town which was very quaint. We stayed for a week on the Island in the early 1970's which we still remember.
ST KITTS PHOTOS Stayed aboard ship. We vacationed here many years ago.
As mentioned above the Silver Muse exceeded our expectations and is the most comfortable ship we have cruised on. We miss the "old" Seabourn, but have learned that many places and things are no longer the same as they were years ago. We just need to accept change and move on. Silversea has definitely become our choice for luxury cruising.
Here is a link to some general photos I took that are not port specific: PHOTOS