Will I ever have another year when my butler wishes me “Happy Birthday”? Unlikely in this lifetime, mate. But in another life, on a Silversea cruise, such niceties are graciously offered and gratefully accepted.
Silver Muse is a beautiful, perfectly-sized ship for 600 guests - from Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia, the US, the UK and elsewhere on this trip - and it’s hard to fault anything about it. But it is the service provided which is the real hallmark of the Silversea experience. Guests are put at ease so that friendly interactions are initiated effortlessly. Doing your own thing is just as easy, but for me, and for many others onboard, this is the magic of cruising, where camaraderie is sought and confidences freely shared.
So it feels right to tell the tale of this voyage from Auckland to Cairns with a procession through the ship’s wonderful spaces, highlighting the warm hospitality and friendly encounters enjoyed within them.
A uniformed officer warmly welcomes us onboard in the midship lobby and directs us to our suite, while the crew member beside her offers us both a cool towelette.
Suite steward Mac greets us at stateroom 614 and tells us our butler will soon be along to introduce himself. Terrence, dressed in tails, explains his role: he is our first contact for anything we need. His first task: cracking the chilled Champagne!
Our veranda suite is standard on a Silversea ship, which is to say it’s deluxe in every way. There’s a generous lounge area. Italian linen on the queen bed is crisp and cool and there’s a pillow menu. The bathroom is enormous, with plenty of room for two in front of the vanity, and a full-size bathtub. You have Bvlgari lotions, fluffy bathrobes, and voluminous storage including a walk-in wardrobe.
Over the next two weeks, Terrence and Mac create a haven for us. No detail is too small - charger cords are coiled tidily during housekeeping; Suzanne’s favourite cashews are replenished as quickly as she can toss packets in the drawer for later; shoes in the wardrobe are lined up; beverages we choose for our mini-fridge never run out.
Terrence serves breakfast a couple of times during the cruise, always on a white linen tablecloth in the lounge. More than once he suggests afternoon canapes or caviar - why not? When you can order almost any item from any restaurant it’s not surprising many guests choose to eat in their suites.
But we want to try everything, everywhere, if maybe not all at once. After our Day one greet-and-meet, we head to Arts Cafe. All day you can find a sweet or savoury treat here, maybe a piece of pecan pie, as well as a caffeine hit.
I start my art trail in the cafe, taking in many of the ship’s 600-piece collection. Silver Muse was designed and built in Italy; an Italian aesthetic predominates - marble, columns, muted yet rich colours and furnishings. Murano glass vases brighten the midship stairways. In the forward stairwells, the history of The Veneto is woven in fine tapestries.
At the top of that stairwell is the Observation Library. Right above the bridge with its own bar, 180-degree forward views and a door leading up to the outside observation deck, where there’s no better place for marvelling at the beauty of Sydney Harbour.
Here on our first evening, we meet Pauline and Steven from New York, who’ve been aboard since Melbourne. This quiet lounge is a favourite haunt of theirs - Steven has the barman make him a “special” espresso martini (I try one too). In no time, Pauline is telling us about collecting Mahjong sets and playing the game onboard, and the impending birth of their first grandchildren. Steven is disappointed that bad weather has foiled his attempt to play a round of golf in every port. Their advice as Silversea veterans: “order anything, especially caviar!” and “get your butler to shine your shoes!”
On another evening here, Pauline relates the “sake saga”: you can get wine anywhere onboard, she says, and have it sent to your room or any restaurant. But rice wine is only served in the Kaiseki restaurant, she’s told. Undeterred, Pauline succeeded in getting the barman at Atlantide restaurant, Alexander, to keep a bottle in the fridge just for her. The story illustrates the dance between gleaned intel and guest/crew relations, a sort of Da Vinci Code treasure hunt, which is great fun to play as the voyage progresses.
La Terrazza is a fabulous Italian restaurant at night and has a great buffet at breakfast and lunch. Our first lunch there includes the biggest seafood mountain you’re ever likely to see. A smiling steward will hand you either a cold or a warm plate. There are so many servers taking orders, seating guests, bussing but not fussing.
We have dinner there with Brisbanites and seasoned voyagers Peter and Simone, who become firm cruise friends. The antipasti is great, the pansotti pasta with walnut sauce is nutty and hearty, and the cassata dessert satisfyingly sweet.
On another evening, we slide into La Terrazza for second pudding, joining Steven and Pauline, who are dining with their new friend Mike, who has sailed 900 nights with Silversea. He likes that everyone onboard enjoys the same excellent service, with no exclusive restaurants or special-access areas. Pauline and Steven are enjoying chicken parmigiana and Mike a plate of fancy fish and chips. Neither meal is on the menu, but Mike knows that if you give the chef enough notice he will cook you almost anything. That’s another level unlocked in the Silversea game.
Service around the pool is a highlight. An army of attendants bring you towels and lay them out on your lounger, fetch you Champagne and caviar, hand you the coldest towelette on the hottest Townsville afternoon. Here you can drink at the Pool Bar or eat at The Grill, or at Spaccanapoli one deck up beside the jogging track.
The personable Donovan, who commands the food and drink side of things here, knows our names by the second afternoon. He is willing to turn a blind eye to us drinking in the almost secret jacuzzi right at the back of Deck 10. Most days there is a buffet lunch at The Grill - on Swiss day we get our fill of sausages, potato salad and spatzle. It’s here one night I overhear a dinner conversation where an American passenger exclaims “this is the best cruise I’ve been on: the best ship, the best crew and the best guests!”
Allan tends the Pool Bar and one evening mixes a blood-orange margarita that perfectly matches the colour of the setting sun. Over lunch at Spaccanapoli, where the pizzas demand to be devoured to the last crust, Pauline pitches what she says is the perfect opening line for my story: “On the first night of the cruise we met the most wonderful American couple...”
After a browse through the boutique, make a grand entrance via the sparkling spiral staircase to the Panorama Lounge above. Outside, the couches are perfect for a view of the ship’s wake or the lights of the Sunshine Coast. Inside, the jazz trio are resident in the early evening and the DJ is on later. One afternoon the boutique showcases its blingiest jewellery, with an enthusiastic line-up of guests as models, including our friend Simone.
Dolce Vita, at the heart of the ship, is almost full for afternoon trivia, run by cruise director Martin, the consummate quizmaster. We’re invited to join the friendliest multinational quiz team, all seasoned cruisers, which makes the geography questions easy. The bar serves a moreish tiramisu martini.
A la carte breakfast, lunch and dinner are on offer in the genteel seafood and steak grill Atlantide. Pauline’s friendly barman Alexander concocts an ouzo mojito after I spot a bottle of the stuff on the shelf. Here we share a dinner table with siblings Bob and Mary-Beth and their respective spouses Annie and Bob who hail from Philadelphia. Again, the attentive service and great food allow for relaxed conversation and conviviality.
Sparkly black marble tables and sleek banquettes set the scene for a pan-Asian feast at Indochine. The servers indulge our desire to try almost everything at one sitting and a banquet promptly appears. Spices flavour the drinks at Enoteca, Indochine’s bar, where bartender Gaurav pours me a generous shot of Japanese whiskey.
More intimate in scale are teppanyaki grill Kaiseki, French restaurant La Dame and club hangout Silver Note. I celebrate my birthday in the chic ambience of La Dame, eating souffle for entree and dessert and enjoying a chorus of Happy Birthday served with petit fours by our fine waiter Ramzi.
Silver Note becomes a favourite. We eat here as a couple, delighting in the music of chanteuse Iulia and pianist Lecivan. Our waiter Armando insists I add the lobster tail to my entree as the duck starter is “too small!” Another night we come back with Simone and Peter, and barman Vern plies us with drams of various scotches and tots of rum. When Iulia sings a jazzy rendition of Radiohead’s Creep, I realise that I do, indeed, belong here.
Whiz-bang entertainment and activities are a long way down the list of priorities on a Silversea cruise, but every evening has a show in the sleek Venetian Lounge theatre or Panorama Lounge. Destination and local history lectures are worthwhile. Bridge players smile and greet me warmly when I pop in for a nosy. And plenty of interesting shore excursions are included in the fare.
On our final, sad departure from Silver Muse, after the last perfect gesture of service — a pair of smiling crew members take and carry our hand luggage down the gangway — I’m filled with the certainty that I have left something behind. On the Cairns quayside, holding my own bag (ugh!), I understand what it is. It’s my real life, a life of butlers, suite attendants, caviar by the pool, chilled towelettes in tropical climes. That is all real and this — this — will forever be my fake life.
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There are 11 Silversea ships to choose from, cruising to more than 900 destinations around the world. For more information, see silversea.com
The 'Southern Link' will directly connect Aotearoa to Argentina by year's end.