St. Maarten remains one of my favorite ports of call. The shops at the pier, rebuilt after Hurricane Somebody three years ago, offer a microchasm of all the usual island jewelry, camera and electronics shops. If you don't want to take a $6 water taxi into Phillipsburg on the Dutch side, you can shop til you drop right there at the pier. Being a Francophile, I opted for a quick taxi ride to Orient Beach. When asked by the taxi driver where I'd like to go on Orient Beach-which is quite a long stretch of sand- I tell him to drop me off at Bikini Beach. This is a little less liberal than other areas, i.e. only a few topless people, not total nudity. There is a favorite restaurant of mine, Kakao. It's a small French restaurant directly on the sand, with rustic wooden tables and chairs. You can order a Chardonnay to have with the best prepared mussels I have ever tasted. They are twice the size of those we get in Florida, dusted with bread crumbs and baked in a garlic, lemon and wine sauce. Mon Dieu! If you are still hungry, make your way across the sand directly behind the beach to a small shopping area. There is a French grocery store where you can buy freshly baked croissants, pain du chocolat, baguettes, cheese, just about everything. They will convert Euros to USD for your convenience.
Back on the ship by 5:00 for sailaway. The Lirica is the cleanest ship I have even seen as well as one of the easiest to learn your way around. The public rooms are spacious enough that even before dinner, when usually you are bumping into people en route to/from the adjacent dining room/lounge, there is ample passage way. The color schemes throughout the ship are easy on the eye, in shades of peach, blue, pale rose and a soft purple. The dining rooms are configured so that you are never sitting on top of a service stand, nor do you feel that you are sitting in the kitchen. Pasta is always al dente, and the bolognese sauce is perfect. Tonight's predinner show was a classical performance including a pianist, a soprano, a tenor and two violinists. I've heard the two singers and they are fabulous. I have to say that the entertainment in the Broadway Theater is of a very high caliber and without resorting to usual glitz and lasers of the mass market lines, MSC knows how to put on a show!
Extended to me was an invitation to dine at Captain Romano's table. There were two couples from Florida and five officers. Service was,of course, excellent, as were the selection of Italian wines served to us during and after dinner. Thank you, Captain Romano for a memorable evening.
