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Silver Whisper Entertainment:
The entertainment was surprisingly enjoyable, especially for such a small ship. Although there were no enrichment lectures or formal concerts on this itinerary, the musicians, vocalists, and dancers were all very talented.
A vocalist played piano and sang every evening in the deck 5 bar. He has a fine voice and great sense of style. Ingeniously, he used his laptop screen instead of sheet music.


A piano trio provided dance music every evening in the deck 8 Panorama lounge. They knew all the standards, took requests, and even did vocals on some of their numbers. My wife and I thought that the dance floor would be too crowded to use on a cruise like this, but we found only a handful of passengers in the lounge with us, and they listened at the bar but did not dance.

The Jane Ryan Company of six dancers and two vocalists provided entertainment in the show lounge every evening after dinner. Their productions ranged from an evening of Broadway show tunes to a Cirque du Soleil style performance that combined avant-garde music with acrobatic dancing. The production values matched any that we have seen while cruising, and the bonus is that this is the first and only cruise production company we have encountered that does not over-amplify its music and vocals. I usually have to leave the cruise ship theater after a few minutes of ear-blasting pain, but on this cruise I was able to enjoy each production from start to finish.

Kudos to the man in the sound booth (and to the absence of loud music around the swimming pool)!

Silver Whisper Fellow Passengers:
On this cruise, our fellow passengers were not what we expected. The average age was around 60, but ranged from the 30's to 80's. The average BMI was around thirty, but ranged a good deal higher (thin and rich do not always go together).

We expected the dress to range from Armani to Zegna, and were worried that our three outfits (formal, informal, and casual) would not be sufficient, even on a short cruise. Mirabile dictu, the average dress during the day was shorts and T-shirts. Dress during the evening was surprisingly informal. In fact, although everyone was presentable, people made less effort to dress well on this cruise than we were used to seeing on previous Holland, Celebrity, or Princess cruises. Perhaps it was just this particular short cruise.

Sartorial habits aside, everyone we were seated with when dining on this cruise proved to be well traveled, highly articulate, and very entertaining. On some cruises my wife and I prefer to dine at a table for two, but on this cruise we always opted to join a group because of the enjoyable company. Perhaps the maitre d' has ESP -- he always seemed to look into one's eyes, think for a moment, and then say "Hmmm, yes, I think I have the perfect table for you." He was right every time.

Dining on the Silver Whisper:
Dining can be a touchy subject because it is so subjective. As I mentioned earlier, we were never able to sample the regional Italian cuisine in La Terraza restaurant because this was fully booked before we ever boarded the ship.

We also opted not to try the multi-course dinners and wine tastings in Le Champagne dining room. These had a "nominal" fee of $150 pp to cover the cost of the premium wines. Although I enjoy a good wine, I cannot detect the subtleties of a great wine, so it would have been a wasted evening for me.

That leaves the deck 7 buffet and the deck 4 main restaurant. The buffet is very enjoyable at breakfast. Since we did not have a balcony, we preferred to eat breakfast on the veranda outside the buffet rather than have room service. The buffet selections are varied, well prepared, and nicely presented. The breakfast buffet is very comparable to those found on mainstream cruise ships, but without the lines and crowds. That in itself makes the experience pleasurable. The lunch buffet parallels the menu in the main restaurant. As a matter of portion control and made-to-order freshness, we preferred the main restaurant for lunch.

The Main Restaurant dining experience is good to excellent, ranging from that found in the main dining rooms of Holland, Celebrity, or Princess ships, to that found in the surcharged restaurants on those same ships.

We experienced a few minor lapses in service on the Silver Whisper. One appetizer and two drink orders were forgotten; often my water glass was not refilled when empty (the wine service was more reliable but the water was more important after a long day in the sun), and sometimes there were unusually long intervals between courses.

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