Trip review - September Transpacific on the Silver Muse

[irvington]

I just finished a cruise on Silversea and wanted to write a review. I’ve usually cruised on Celebrity and HAL and was pleasantly surprised about what a step up it was. I’m excited to travel on Silversea again.

Transpacific Itinerary. I had wanted to take a transoceanic cruise and this worked well in my time off from work and my interests. We left from Vancouver, up the inside passage and 5 ports in Alaska, 2 in Japan and ended in Yokohama. We had spectacularly good weather (much better than the Alaska cruise I took many Junes ago). I thought the stops in Dutch Harbor and Kodiak were especially interesting since I’m not sure when I will ever get back.

Entertainment on Board. I never went to the evening shows, but the solo or duo entertainers they had in various venues were all outstanding: Shane and Felicity, Andre, Mark, Ioannis. I went to multiple sets every night. People seemed like they had fun with the team trivia. I went to almost all the lectures, and they were on a real variety of topics (Ports, English history, technology and science, true crime, better health) and uniformly good.

Crew. They were amazingly good, and due to the length of the cruise, the sea days, etc. I felt I got to know them well. The fact that they hire widely around the world probably creates management challenges but it was fun for the guests.

Other guests. I was traveling as a solo and wondered how that would work. There were over 40 of us on a ship that maybe had 400 passengers, so there were lively cocktail hours and dinners arranged for those who wanted to participate. Silversea also seems to attract a well-educated and friendly crowd and I had many good conversations with the couples on board as well.

Food. I thought it was outstanding and really no complaints. There were so many choices of venues that you couldn’t get tired of what’s on offer.

Tips I learned (some of which I didn’t use): order berries early, raspberries and then strawberries decline first; get mango through room service; use the laundry facilities on the upper floors since they are rarely used; join team trivia and go to the solo gatherings if you are worried about meeting someone to talk to. La Dame prices are going up so visit before then if you can. Coffee is available all hours in the Observation Lounge. The seasickness pills they hand out are good for sleeping pills. Gluten free pizza, pasta are available.  They will cut up the meat for you on the Rocks if you are worried you can’t cook it enough on the rock they provide, or you can ask for a second rock. This is probably obvious, but the cruises where the single supplement at 25% have large groups of solo travelers.

Happy to answer questions! Emily

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by irvington

[irvington]

I meant to include a screenshot of the itinerary.

[Lois R]

Hi Emily, thanks for the review and glad to know you had such a good time😀

[highplanesdrifters]

4 hours ago, irvington said:

. I thought the stops in Dutch Harbor and Kodiak were especially interesting

Care to tell us more?  Thanks for the report.

[Stumblefoot]

4 hours ago, irvington said:

They will cut up the meat for you on the Rocks if you are worried you can’t cook it enough on the rock they provide, or you can ask for a second rock.

You mean if you prefer your steak a little more done than this? 😉

 

p.s. Thx for sharing your report.  

[jpalbny]

Who burned that steak? For shame.

 

Thanks for posting your nice synopsis. Having migrated to SS from Princess and Oceania some 14 years ago I have to agree that it's a very pleasant step up. The problem becomes, that it's hard to go back after this!

[drron29]

6 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Who burned that steak? For shame.

Absolutely agree with that statement JP.😉

[irvington]

18 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Care to tell us more?  Thanks for the report.

Happy to. I will post some pictures later unless I manage to go back to sleep - this time change always gets to me.

 

Kodiak was small of course, not a lot of sites to see on the self-guided city tour (I think all the excursions were full by the time I booked), but the weather was great and I enjoyed sail in. I think this was the port we were supposed to dock but at the last minute the captain pulled out due to safety concerns and decided to drop anchor. There were a lot of semi-joking conspiracy theories about why there was a last minute change but I never heard more on the official story.  I went to a small but lovely museum. I really enjoyed seeing another Russian Orthodox church. Unfortunately it was not open, nor was the bookstore, but I was able to peek through the windows and see some icons.

 

Dutch Harbor was especially memorable. We again had wonderful weather and heard (as we so often did) that this was one of the rare nice days and the only one they had all month. I got closed out of the Bunker Hill Hike, and this was the shortest time in a port of call we had (not sure why, we had 4 or 5 sea days after that!) So the plan was to do the only other "excursion" they had which was a loop done by school buses once the kids were in school. Exited the ship and waited; learned they were only running 2 of these loop buses out of the usual 4. Uh-oh, everyone worried. But they appeared, with funny, chatty volunteer guides on board. They shuttled us basically 2 places, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Museum of the Aleutians (from which I also walked to the big hotel, which was skippable). Unfortunately they didn't stop at the WW2 museum which I had been particularly looking forward to seeing. But by the time I calculated it, I didn't think I had time to walk there before we left port (and everyone was very worried about missing the exit). But the 2 stops were amazing! The museum was very good and did cover the WW2 era, along with everything else. I was tempted to buy a woodblock print of an old Quonsett but it was something like $400 which was outside of my budget for an impulse purchase. The Orthodox church (cathedral?) was open and there was a very friendly priest (bishop?) who was willing to chat about anything and everything and pointed out all of the interesting interior art and architecture. I knew of the history, but wasn't aware that the Orthodox church had so much of an ongoing presence in Alaska. A very interesting bit of culture to learn about.   

[highplanesdrifters]

4 hours ago, irvington said:

Happy to. I will post some pictures later unless I manage to go back to sleep - this time change always gets to me.

 

Kodiak was small of course, not a lot of sites to see on the self-guided city tour (I think all the excursions were full by the time I booked), but the weather was great and I enjoyed sail in. I think this was the port we were supposed to dock but at the last minute the captain pulled out due to safety concerns and decided to drop anchor. There were a lot of semi-joking conspiracy theories about why there was a last minute change but I never heard more on the official story.  I went to a small but lovely museum. I really enjoyed seeing another Russian Orthodox church. Unfortunately it was not open, nor was the bookstore, but I was able to peek through the windows and see some icons.

 

Dutch Harbor was especially memorable. We again had wonderful weather and heard (as we so often did) that this was one of the rare nice days and the only one they had all month. I got closed out of the Bunker Hill Hike, and this was the shortest time in a port of call we had (not sure why, we had 4 or 5 sea days after that!) So the plan was to do the only other "excursion" they had which was a loop done by school buses once the kids were in school. Exited the ship and waited; learned they were only running 2 of these loop buses out of the usual 4. Uh-oh, everyone worried. But they appeared, with funny, chatty volunteer guides on board. They shuttled us basically 2 places, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Museum of the Aleutians (from which I also walked to the big hotel, which was skippable). Unfortunately they didn't stop at the WW2 museum which I had been particularly looking forward to seeing. But by the time I calculated it, I didn't think I had time to walk there before we left port (and everyone was very worried about missing the exit). But the 2 stops were amazing! The museum was very good and did cover the WW2 era, along with everything else. I was tempted to buy a woodblock print of an old Quonsett but it was something like $400 which was outside of my budget for an impulse purchase. The Orthodox church (cathedral?) was open and there was a very friendly priest (bishop?) who was willing to chat about anything and everything and pointed out all of the interesting interior art and architecture. I knew of the history, but wasn't aware that the Orthodox church had so much of an ongoing presence in Alaska. A very interesting bit of culture to learn about.   

Thanks for taking the time to share details. I've always been curious about those ports in the hinterland.  Alaskan/Russian history is quite interesting. 

[irvington]

4 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Thanks for taking the time to share details. I've always been curious about those ports in the hinterland.  Alaskan/Russian history is quite interesting. 

I'm not sure it is worth planning a trip around, especially since it could be raining cats and dogs, but I was really glad to have seen them and was surprised some folks chose not to get off the ship! each to his own.

[irvington]

I wanted to add some pictures to my review. I have time due to jet lag insomnia! We had lovely weather leaving Vancouver. 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by irvington

[irvington]

The next day we were transiting the inside passage and the weather was wonderful again. I woke up early and went to the observation lounge to drink a coffee and watch the scenery. 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by irvington