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 The Italian coastline looks spectacular from a cruise ship.
Only a few minutes earlier, a group of sunbathers - mostly fair-skinned Brits and Canadians like ourselves whom we nicknamed the white whales - were seen floating in the ship's swimming pool and lounging around the deck trying to rid themselves of their winter-white complexions.
Confused, we decided to return to our cabin - if a 20-square-metre room with a dining room, living room, bedroom with a king-size bed and full-sized marble bathroom complete with a Jacuzzi tub and stand-alone shower can be simply called a cabin.
We did not see a soul as we made our way along the ship's extra wide corridors. Even the oversized public areas were deserted. Very spooky!
As we entered the Taj Mahal of cruise cabins, we noticed that someone had been in the room during our absence and left behind a chilled bottle of champagne and a plate of caviar - Beluga caviar!
We couldn't wait to tell our fellow shipmates what the champagne fairy had left us. As we related the story at dinner that night, the veteran Silversea passengers just shook their heads at the rookie cruisers.
"Don't you know that on Silversea you get this kind of treatment?" asked one of our fellow passengers, thus explaining the earlier disappearance of passengers.
"There is Silversea and then there's all the rest (of the cruise lines),"added another.
For the rest of our seven-day cruise aboard the Silver Shadow - the ship cruised the northern coast of Italy and the south of France before docking in Barcelona - we raced back to our cabin each day around 4 p.m. in anticipation of the treat du jour.
The caviar and champagne were followed on day three by a plate of huge shrimps and each day after that another surprise would arrive - culminating in the piece de resistance, a platter of crab claws.
Now this is living.
We had been told that Silversea was the Rolls Royce of cruise lines when we booked our Mediterranean odyssey - many ordinary travellers are getting a chance to see how the other half lives on these luxury cruises thanks to some serious discounting (up to 55 per cent right now) brought on by global instability - but we never expected to be pampered like this.
In fact, the Rolls Royce comparison is not far off the mark. According to Brad Ball, Silversea's amiable public relations director, the cruise line was born when its Italian owner decided the cruise world needed a high-end luxury line.
"He (the owner) was sitting in a bistro in Nice one day when a Rolls Royce passed by. He decided right then that that's what the cruise business was missing and set out to change it. That is how Silversea came into being and our first ship was called the Silver Cloud after the famed Rolls Royce model," said Ball.
The Silversea line has received many honours of distinction over te years - it is recognized as the world's best small cruise ship line by both Conde Nast Traveler and Travel +Leisure magazines and has been awarded the Best of the Best Cruise Line award by the highly regarded Robb Report. Conde Nast readers even voted Silversea one of the top 35 travel experiences worldwide.
All well earned and justified awards, we can report.
Silversea, in fact, sets the standard for luxury - not just on the high seas, but on land as well. They even created a 6-star rating for the Silversea product and after one week at sea on the Silver Shadow, may we recommend a seventh.
One of the biggest attractions for Silversea passengers is the all-inclusive aspect of the voyage. You pay for nothing once on board. No tipping, no surcharges (except for high-priced wines) and you can even have your meals served right in your cabin and never see another person during your cruise - just the two maids assigned to your room, who clean it within minutes of your leaving it each morning.
"My husband hates cruising but he agreed five years ago to go on one only if we took the top of the line," said Barb from Florida, one of our shipmates on this Mediterranean cruise. When I told the travel agent what I wanted, she closed all the other books and went straight to Silversea. This is our sixth cruise in five years with Silversea."
We hear similar stories throughout the week from other passengers who have made multiple trips with Silversea, a company that's based in Miami but runs cruises throughout the world, including Europe, South America and even the East Coast of Canada during the autumn season.
"The fall foliage tour is one of our hottest and most sought after cruises," said Ball.
Silversea is especially appealing for those who shy away from cruises because of the community approach other lines take - making you sit with others at supper when you really want to be alone, for example.
"A cruise is no longer a rigid proposition," said Ball. "In the old days, you were told when to get on and when to get off. We've introduced the idea of flexible cruises. Passengers can choose the length of the voyage and embark and disembark from a wide range of ports.
"Add to that the fact that we can provide the ultimate in luxury - the best champagne, the best caviar , the most superb service - and our cruises are enticing an entirely new crowd. Ten years ago, most of our passengers would have been in their 60s. Now many are under 30," he said.
A cruise line is only as good as the people it employs and that's probably why Silversea is the success it is.
Each of the crew on the Silver Shadow - from Paolo the maitre d' extraordinaire whose debonair hand kisses thrilled the women he greeted in the main dining room each night, to Alex the golf pro who held lessons at the back of the ship, to maids and porters who so quickly responded to our every wish - were excellent.
The food on the Silver Shadow was always gourmet quality. You will not find vast buffet-style restaurants on Silversea and if you wish to have a quiet, romantic get together with your loved one, Paolo will find you a table next to one of the huge panoramic windows that are the highlight of this ultra-modern ship's main dining room simply called The Restaurant.
Soon Silversea will introduce an added dining attraction - a Relais & Chateau gourmet restaurant in an area of the Silver Shadow that is now reserved as the champagne room, where you can go and sample the best bubbly money can buy.
Our voyage with Silversea started when we flew from Toronto to Rome via Frankfurt with Germany's first class airline, Lufthansa.
It may be a Star Alliance partner with Air Canada, but our troubled national carrier could take lessons on how to run an airline efficiently from the people at Lufthansa.
After spending a night in a 5-star hotel in Rome - all arranged by Silversea - where we get a smile and a nod from tennis legend Martina Navritilova at breakfast the next morning - she and other tennis stars were in Rome for the Italian Open that weekend - we board the Silver Shadow in the port city of Civitavecchia, an hour and a half away by luxury motor coach from the Eternal City and its eternal traffic problems.
We are processed in record time - I remember on other cruises how it took hours to board the ship, but here Silversea gets us into our cabin in a matter of minutes - and so there's time to explore the old seaport, which was established by the Romans.
The Silver Shadow looks pretty impressive sitting against the setting Mediterranean sun, but is much narrower than some of the other cruise vessels docked in Civitavecchia that evening.
It's that sleek design that allows every cabin on the Silver Shadow to offer an ocean view.
Some time during the night, while we were sleeping in our king-size bed with the Egyptian cotton sheets, the Silver Shadow slipped out to sea.
We decide to put the kitchen staff to the test on our first morning at sea and placed a late breakfast order to be brought to our cabin. Within minutes, the order was being placed on our dining room table - everything piping hot and made perfectly to order.
The ship spends Day Two of our cruise at sea - headed for our first port of call, Portovenere, from where we will board a smaller ship and visit some of the five towns that make up the world-famous Cinque Terre (Five Lands) region of Italy.
Before we get there, I decide to try out the ship's workout facilities - where Jadrinko, the Shadow's Croatian-born fitness director, whose body looks like it was carved out of the rocky cliffs we see en route to the Cinque Terre, is conducting classes for some very attentive female passengers.
After the workout, the ship's Mandara Spa located next door to the gym, beckoned.
A lava rock treatment was too tempting to pass up (spa treatments are extra and can run between $100 and $250 U.S.) but the results later helped me get one of the best night's sleeps in weeks.
I head to the sun deck after the massage, where I relax and catch up on some reading while the islands of Montecristo, Elba - where Napoleon was exiled to for a brief time - and Corsica, where he was born, all silhouetted against the bright Mediterranean sun, slip past. The passengers around the pool are beginning to get acquainted - however, the elderly couple from middle America appear mesmerized by the gay men applying suntan oil to each other by the edge of the pool.
After a night of dancing in the ship's lounge, we drop anchor in Portovenere, a place where Lord Byron wrote many of his great poems and where we get our first glimpse at a true Mediterranean fishing village, complete with its terra-cotta coloured homes where those who wish not to go on the Cinque Terre tour can stay and wander.
After an exciting visit to the Cinque Terre and an evening spent in our cabin looking at old movies - the Silver Shadow has an extensive video library - we awake in Portofino, Italy's fairytale port town. Portofino's fabled harbour and the small streets that run off it are filled with thrills for the Silversea passengers who jostle for picture positions with some local school children.
The harbour is ringed with upscale shops featuring the creations of Dolce & Gabanna, Cartier, Georgio Armani and a few other designers whose fashions are not part of my budget. It also features plenty of multi-million dollar yachts.
The ship also makes stops in Livorno - the country's second largest seaport - where we join an excursion to the great city of Florence and see some of the world's greatest art treasures, and the French port of St. Tropez - the place where the world's elite hide out on their yachts - before docking in our final destination, Barcelona. Those who signed up for the 12-day cruise will go on to Marseille and Monte Carlo. We contemplate becoming stowaways.
As we head for our waiting taxi that will take us to Barcelona, Paolo, the maitre d', appears and wishes us a safe trip home and leaves us with this to remember: "I hear they will be serving lobster as the afternoon treat today."
Silversea cruise line offers sailings through the Mediterranean throughout the summer and right now is offering discounts of up to 55 per cent. Go to www.silversea.com to find out more about their special offers
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Comments
Thanks for sharing your experience about cruising in Italy.It really makes me feel to plan my trip there.Wonderful write up from you.Thanks!
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