Barbara Khan

At the end of October I flew to Lisbon in anticipation of boarding the Silver Moon. First I stayed at 2 different hotels in Lisbon, Tivoli Avenida Liberdade and The One Palacio da Anunciada. Both were amazing, Tivoli very classic and The One more trendy. One day I did a 4 hour tour of Lisbon's many neighborhoods by sidecar! What a fun way to see the city. On my last evening I did a sunset catamaran trip. I toasted the City of 7 Hills. I boarded the Silver Moon and was delighted to see my veranda cabin 717, deck 7 forward. My butler, Edmundo had a chilled bottle of Piper-Heidsieck waiting. The itinerary was a trans-Atlantic one and our ports of call were Madeira, Arrecife Canary Islands, Santa Cruz de la Palma Canary Islands, and Mindelo Cape Verde. The ship has several dining outlets, La Terrazza (buffet breakfast & lunch) and it becomes Italian for dinner with table service. This became our favorite, more formal restaurant. Spaccanopoli for casual pizza (our 2nd fav), Kaiseki for Japanese & sushi, La Dame for French (this was the only one we did not try, not a fan of foie gras etc.), Atlantide for sit down breakfast/lunch/dinner. I guess this would be like the "main" dining room. The Grill/Hot Rocks was on the pool deck for steaks and the like. Then S.A.L.T. Kitchen which is a unique dinner restaurant serving cuisine of the region the ship is sailing. The gym and spa were well appointed. The evening entertainment was always varied. During they day they offered many activities such as trivia (I was on a team and we met daily), bingo, enrichment lectures, and cooking demos in the S.A.L.T. Lab, just to name a few. Silversea is a wonderful way to cruise, because it's all inclusive, gratuities, all drinks (alcohol & not), specialty coffees, excursions, and so much more. You literally don't have to think about anything! Plus your butler is there to bring you anything you do think about. Silversea is luxury cruising at its best. This amazing cruise ended in Bridgetown Barbados where I had not been in 30 years. It's certainly hard to come back to reality!