Contact Us
Phone, E-mail, or Text
888-857-7379 (inside the USA only)
253-857-7379
+1-253-857-7379 (outside the USA)
michela@specialtycruise.com E-MAIL
Or contact your travel professional
Address
Specialty Cruise & Villas
15208 42nd Ave NW
Gig Harbor, WA 98332
About Us
Company Profile
We at Specialty Cruise & Villas have been in business since 1995, and are a proud member of the Virtuso Travel network, the world's leading purveyor of luxury travel experiences. We are all about luxury travel: the best accommodation, the best food, the best service, but not the type of globalized luxury travel in vogue in some quarters today. To us, true luxury is about experiences and memories. Luxury should not only encompass good service, great accommodations, and fantastic food, but a true sense of place. We have no interest in becoming the clone creatures of a globalist world. In our opinion, a homogenized world is the biggest threat to travel experience as we know it. If there is little difference between your home town and where you vacation in Asia or Europe, why waste you time traveling there. Travel should not only rejuvinate the body, but expand the mind. In this respect travel can be a true positive force in our diverse world, but only if we embrace the diversity.
With the above philosophy in mind, if you were traveling to Japan, we might counsel you, to stay in a beautiful traditional luxury Ryokan, rather than in a room in even the best luxury international hotel. The price and level of luxury will be much the same, but the Ryokan will let you experience Japan. If you want to stay in a cocoon, eat familiar food, complain if your hosts can’t speak impeccable English, then we’re probably not the best fit for you. Another example might be Venice, Italy, an absolutely enchanting city, but one which can feel more like DisneyWorld, if experienced incorrectly. We might recommend an apartment on the more residential Island of Giudecca, across the canal from St. Marks. This is a place where well off Venetians still live, and live very well, removed a bit from the swarm of tourists. I can think of a palazzo with 11 apartments, where the curtains and wall hangings are by Rubelli, the linens by Jesurum. The Richard Ginori crockery is part of a collection designed by the building’s owner. Make no mistake, guests are in the lap of Italian luxury-but it is Venetian luxury, as it should be. The palazzo is a showcase for the regions artisans. The kitchen appliances are made in Vicenza, the exquisite marbles come from a firm in Padua, the fine carpentry from a Verona workshop. The cellars are stocked with wine from Friuli and the bathroom amenities are manufactured by inmates of a local women’s prison. This is travel as it should be.
In conclusion, if you desire to create luxury experiences with a sense of place, and want to collaborate with a professional, well traveled advisor, rather than an app or a website, we would love to work with you. We are not a call center, or villa consolidator with 2500 listings all over the word. Our villas are only in Italy, and we know each of them. Our owner, Jim Bisciglia, has lived in Italy and has spent hundreds of hours researching and inspecting the properties that we represent.
We have also most recently added some Italian City apartments to our inventory. Again, these are the best available of their type for short term rental. They are quite luxurious and very unique. We are especially proud of our selections in Florence and Venice.