Cruise - Silversea
Small-ship cruising with big ship cred? Maggi Oehlbeck took a top shelf cruise and visited many ports of call.
If you fancy a small-scale ship, but an up-scale product, Silversea Cruises is the perfect fit. Recognised as an innovator in the luxury segment across their six ships – all with the prefix Silversea, the company offers large-ship amenities without compromising the intimacy of the small ship experience – conviviality, casual elegance and a club-like ambience.
Carrying 540 passengers, Silver Spirit is a little larger then her sisters who carry about 400. All the ships however, emphasise design excellence, passenger comfort, fabulous food, facilities and outstanding service in a polished professional yet laid-back, Italian style. What’s more, the cruises include gratuities and beverages of choice in your in-suite refrigerator on arrival, complimentary cocktails and table wines at dinner. And the French champagne never runs dry.
With its newly expanded fleet, Silversea cruises to seven continents.
At some point, you will succumb to the lure of a Mediterranean cruise. For many, it represents a romantic odyssey across a seamless sea to ancient civilizations, glamorous celebrity watering-holes, majestic cities, colourful villages and unexpected ports dotted along distant coastlines, and even seldom-visited islands.
If you opt for a Western Mediterranean cruise, you will skirt the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal), with exciting port calls such as Bilbao where you can see the amazing Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum (some find its exterior more beautiful than the art it houses); La Coruna for the exquisite architectural beauty of Santiago de Compostela; Lisbon, Portugal – with its proud maritime history, beautiful blue tile-adorned palaces; pretty Sintra perhaps, or Oportp – the home of port. Back on board, the ship heads for Cadiz (Spain) – the oldest city in Europe.
Once through the Straits of Gibraltar, you’re in the Mediterranean sailing for Malaga, access port for Granada’s magnificent Moorish palace, the Alhambra. Further into the heart of Andalucia is seductive Seville which throbs to the sound of flamenco round the clock, then venture further still into the high sierras, to spectacular Ronda – once an ancient Moorish bastion.
Depending on the cruise, some ships then cross to Italy for Livorno (for Florence), or Civitavecchia (for Rome), en route sailing via Sardinia and Corsica to visit Napoleon’s birthplace of Ajaccio – an enchanting port which echoes the cultures of France and Italy. The French Riviera is a favourite place for many wonderful markets, with most popular ports being Cannes, Nice, Antibes and Monte Carlo. How could you resist sailing down Italy’s sublime Amalfi coast with visits to captivating towns like Positano – an eruption of colourful houses, tangled bougainvillea and impossibly scarlet geraniums?
Across the Bay of Naples chic Capri beckons. Here the air is fragrant with lemon-scented perfume and the heady drink Limoncello. (Have some slinky, sparkly sandals made while you wait, and wear them on the deck that night.)
Back to sea, round the heel of Italy’s boot into gorgeous Taormina, with its pretty cobbled streets and Greek theatre with volcano Mt Etna in the background huffing and puffing, hopefully benignly.
Eastern Mediterranean cruises often start in Venice.
There is nothing to equal sailing out of this jewel of the sea, past glittering mosaic-studded buildings, the compass set for Istanbul, while on the way sampling delights of the Adriatic such as Rovinj, gorgeous Hvar, postcard-perfect Dubrovnik and nearby Kotor. Or perhaps you have chosen to sail from Athens on an itinerary which includes island favourites Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes and other highlights.
Almost all itineraries include a couple of sea days. These are often more than welcome as you have some downtime to enjoy the amenities of the ship; the lounges (and on Silver Spirit an exciting new lobby bar which resembles a coolly-casual Europe hotel bar) are abuzz with chatter where you can have Italian coffee or champagne.
Among Silver Spirit’s exciting new features is an upscale supper club offering sumptuous gourmet cuisine, live music and dancing in a nightclub environment.
With gourmet restaurants and fine wines on offer too, what more could you desire on a marvelous leisurely cruise around the Med?
Phone Ucango Travel & Cruise Centre on 1300 822 646 or complete an online enquiry for more details or bookings
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