A muse on the Muse.

[drron29]

Next a meat course.Mrsdrron had the waygu beef without the spicy accompaniments whilst I had a very nice lamb Rogan Josh.

..

.
For desserts mrsdrron had the kaffir lime creme brulee whilst I had a rice pudding.

..

 

Meal was fine but not much choice for mrsdrron.It is not our preferred restaurant.

[drron29]

 

Monday was basically a sea day arriving in Melbourne at 6pm.We had lunch in Spaccanapoli-a pizza place.Some starters.

.

Whilst waiting for our pizzas the Spirit of Tasmania passed us.

.

Hazy because of lots of smoke from the Tassie bushfires.
Mrsdrron had a mushroom pizza and I had olives,anchovies and Italian sausage

..

OK but not great.
It was also very cold so back to our suite and turned the heat up.

 

[drron29]

 

Finally in to Port Phillip bay.

.

....

.

Edited February 13, 2019 by drron29

[drron29]

Sorry I edited 3 times to get rid of the repeated picture but I guess it just wants to stay.

[drron29]

Now heading to the dock.

..

 

. Arriving at Station Pier.

..

.

[jpalbny]

Seems like we were just there! Enjoy your visit.

[drron29]

That night we went to Kaiseki.No points for guessing it is a Japanese restaurant and there is a surcharge at night.Teppanyaki style.When we arrived the rice was already on the teppan.

.

Served a pre dinner cocktail-prosecco,vodka and elderberry juice.Plus I was drinking sake

.

The menu .

..

There were also 3 warm appetisers but they were not appetising to us.First some edamame

.

[drron29]

Then your appetisers served in a bowl.

 

.

I had the seafood appetiser with tuna and snow crab which was a little spicy.

Rojaan had the meat.Pork belly and waygu beef de-spiced.

..

Each of the 3 appetiser courses came with a seaweed salad.

 

[drron29]

Then comes the Teppanyaki courses.First the sauces and a lobster tail as the first course.

..

Then black cod.

.

I forgot to take a pic of our waygu beef course but here is one they prepared later.

..

A really good night and you do of course have people on either side.

 

[imcpa]

I was just in Melbourne too, on Viking, and then went to the AO.   I love your pics of the port.  Brings back great memories.  We ran from the port to Bondi beach, but took an Uber back.  Did not want to do near a half-marathon on vacation. 

[drron29]

Tuesday morning and the Spirit is in.

.

We left the ship at 1030 to do a little shopping but also to have lunch with one of our surrogate granddaughters.It is Chinese New Year,she is half Chinese so it was the Flower Drum we chose.On the way evidence of the New Year-we were given fortune cookies.

.

The Flower drum is very good both from the service and the food.Of course that makes it a little more expensive than your ordinary Chinese restaurant.The food is brought to a side table and today divided 3 ways.We began with char siu pork and Peking duck pancakes.Both excellent.

..

then mixed sauteed mushrooms and honey,garlic ribs-which I forgot to photograph but they were really yummy.

.

We finished with beef and hor fun noodles.Again excellent.

.

A really good lunch and now time to say goodbye and walk back to the ship shuttle bus.

 

 

 

[drron29]

So walked back along Swanston street over the Yarra.To go with the grey clouds and cold winds they were making a mess of the street.Still some nice views

..

.

On the shuttlebus back to the pier.

.

Took a while to actually enter the pier as one woman couldn't find her ship ID.
Views from the Starboard side.

..

[drron29]

And we are on our way to NZ.

.

..

Three sea days ahead.

 

[drron29]

Tuesday night and we ate in Silver Note.Said to be styled on a New York piano bar.

.

The menu.First raw starters.And cooked starters.

...

.

[drron29]

Mains and dessert.

...

[drron29]

Rojaan had the beef starter and I had the beehive.

..

Rojaan liked hers.Mine was too clever.Little serves with not really enough to get the flavours.Just too busy.

The mains.Rojaan had the lobster and I the duck.

..

Both nice.
Desserts and Rojaan had the berry fantasia and I the sugar volcano

..

Plating a bit strange as Rojaan's dessert looked more like a volcano and mine was served on a berry coloured and contoured plate.Both very rich.

 

[drron29]

Wednesday morning and we decided to have brekkie in our suite.I went the full English special brekkie.

.

That morning there was a presentation by the Silversea Master Chef David Bilsand.Here with our Cruise Director Jimmy.

.

The making of a Bundt cake was the subject of this presentation.

..

..

[drron29]

...

 

..

A really good performance.

[drron29]

Lunch that day was in Atlantide.Rojaan had the roast lamb and I the mushroom ragu.

..

Both were very nice.
The sun came out briefly in the late afternoon.

.

[drron29]

Before that we transitted Banks Straight.Not a mistype.Banks strait separates Tasmania from Cape Barren and Flinders Island.Because of the proximity to land there was some birdlife.I presume the smaller dark ones are shearwaters/mutton birds.

.

You could see Cape Barren and Flinders islands.

..

And Tasmania.

.

Then out into the Tasman Sea

.

The next 2 days the weather was awful.

.

The seas though were basically calm with a swell of 1 metre and very occasionally 2 metres.Some guests though still had sea sickness.

 

[drron29]

A couple more of the islands.This time Cape Barren in front and Flinders behind.

..

This time the low Clarke island in front,then Cape Barren and with the naked eye you could just see the higher Flinders behind that.

.

Another bird.

.

.

The last one is an albatross.Wouldn't come any closer.

[Daveywavey70]

Loving the pics drron, it’s a part of the world we’re yet to try but it’s on the list!

I find the whole Silver Note thing a bit confusing, we didn’t get to try it on the Spirit as it didn’t open until the end of the cruise. Menus/food concept seem a bit confusing. Would you rush back? 

Can any other posters she’d any light?

 

 

[drron29]

The only reason to go back was the piano player.But that was not enough and we cancelled the second booking there.I agree it is confusing.

[retiredcat]

Wow!  Thanks for a taking the time to share highlights.  We board the muse in sydney on feb 22 and are looking forward to our first silversea experience and our first visit to Australia. 

[drron29]

Tuesday night and we had dinner in La Dame.It is a $US60 surcharge per head.The menu.

..

..

.

And drron gets into the mood with the complimentary champagne.Yes Silversea have gone back to champagne not prosecco.Had a couple of glasses each-helps that we knew the 2 waiters and they both remembered us.

.

.