Stunning Italian cities off the beaten path

Genoa & Lucca:

- JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ

The fishing village of Boccadasse in Genoa

I recently met a jet-setting Filipina who has been on 30 cruises in her still young life. Cruises and bridge, she says, are her elixir.

I don't play bridge, but I understand why cruises uplift her and take her all the way up from the waves to Cloud Nine.

My husband Ed and I were recently on a Mediterranean cruise aboard the Silver Ray, a seamless blend of luxury and comfort. I was invited by Silversea through CITTI Elite, the top producer of Silversea cruises in the Philippines, to join the cruise. My husband was attracted to its value-for-money cruise price, it being a luxury cruise ship where each spacious suite has a butler aside from a room attendant, and joined me on an unforgettable journey.

Though Takanobu Kobayakawa, Silversea director of sales for Japan, Korea, and South and Southeast Asia, encourages passengers to go beyond the ship and explore the shores, the Silver Ray is a destination in itself. Skippered by Capt. Giovanni Schiaffino, an Italian who endears himself to Filipino passengers by exclaiming “Hindi ako makapaniwala!” when he bumps into them, the Silver Ray is truly a “beam of light.”

The Silver Ray, unlike ocean cruise ships, has less than 700 passengers and almost a one-is-to-one passenger-to-crew ratio. The crew is about 80 percent Filipino, with the ship's medical team head by a Filipino, Dr. Loyd Tuvilla, and its food and beverage outlets, overseen by a Filipina, executive chef Marixie dela Cruz.