MSC Lirica, 17 night Transatlantic, Dec 27, 2004 – Jan 13, 2005 Very Long

Itinerary
Dec 27 Depart Genoa
Dec 28 At Sea
Dec 29 Malaga, Spain
Dec 30 At Sea
Dec 31, Fontal Madeira
Jan 1 - Jan 6, At Sea
Jan 7 Grenada
Jan 8 St Lucia
Jan 9 Antigua
Jan 10 Tortolla
Jan 11 At sea
Jan 12 Nassau
Jan 13 Ft. Lauderdale


This was my 47th cruise and my 7th trip across the Atlantic by ship. It
was also the first time that I have cruised alone, as a single passenger.

I left for Rome on Christmas Eve and flew to Genoa on Christmas Day. My
two-day hotel stay in Genoa was at the Bristol Palace, and it was
literally a converted Palace. This beautiful 4* hotel was located in a
very fashionable part of the old city. I had a large room, with 14ft,
frescoed ceilings, antique furnishings, and a large, modern marble
bathroom. I booked the hotel through venere.com for 100 EU/night.
Considering that the lowest price I found for the room on any US website
was $260 EU, this was a great bargain.

Unfortunately, the weather in Genoa was cold and rainy. It was also
unfortunate that everything was closed on Christmas day and the Sunday
that followed.

When I arrived in Genoa on Dec 25, the Lirica was docked at the port.
It turns out that the ship had been in dry dock for a month, even though
it was less than two years old. If they were trying to spruce it up for
the winter season in the Caribbean, then they did an excellent job. I
have been on a number of inaugural cruises before, and the Lirica
appeared to be a new ship in every way.

On December 27th, I took a cab to the port, arriving at 11:30 AM. There
were no lines at check in, and I boarded the ship immediately.

The Ship

The Lirica is a 58,000 ton ship that holds about 1500 passengers.
Reports on various websites of a 2000 guest capacity are totally wrong.
To me the ship was of an ideal size, with a large space ration. It
never felt crowded.

The ship’s interior was absolutely stunning. Colors and décor
throughout the vessel were soft, and elegant. Furnishings were
delightfully comfortable. Decks five and six contain numerous lounges.
All public areas are decorated in exceptionally fine taste, with the
predominant colors being teal green, navy blue, pink and mauve.

Deck five houses the lovely, two story Broadway Theater, with excellent
site line at the bow of the ship, moving aft one finds the Lord Nelson
Pub, the Beverly Hills Bar (a large space that is surrounded by a
variety of shops), a large tour desk, a two story reception area, and a
beautiful dining room.

On deck six, there is a coffee lounge above the reception area, Le
Cabaret Lounge, a large Casino, L’Atmosphere piano lounge, a photo
gallery, internet café, and a second smaller and more elegant dining
room where I was assigned to the late seating.

The bow section of deck 7 houses the Lirica Lounge, a large space that
was used for ship wide cocktail parties, fun and games, and ballroom
dancing each evening.

The aft section of deck 12 houses the Blue Club, which is the most
gorgeous top deck bar and disco that I have ever encountered on a ship.
The entire, very large space is surrounded by glass. The bar is
constructed of what looks, and feels to be lapis lazuli; but I was told
that it was some kind of fabricated stone.

On Deck 11 there are two large, outdoor swimming pools and two Jacuzzis
sitting mid ship. The forward section of deck 11 houses a large bar,
and a well equipped gymnasium and spa. The aft section houses another
bar, a large outdoor eating area and grill on each side of the ship, and
Le Bistro, where buffet breakfasts, lunches, and midnight snacks are
served. One also has the option of eating full breakfast and/or lunch
in either of the lovely dining rooms.

There is outdoor seating on decks 11 and 12, as well as an outdoor
solarium on the bow section of deck 13. I found the outdoor pool and
buffet restaurant areas to be rather Spartan and not particularly
attractive. Lounge chairs were readily available on decks 11, 12, and
13. They were very comfortable, and different from those on any other
ship that I have taken. Each lounge contained its own attached sunshade
that could be pushed away, or adjusted in an infinite number of
positions to partially or completely block the sun from ones face or
upper body. Towels were readily available poolside, which was a very
nice change from the growing trend on many cruise lines of issuing a
pool towel in one’s stateroom. There was no seating on the covered
promenade outside of deck six, and the promenade was not continuous
around the ship.

Accommodations

I had an inside cabin (the only time since my first cruise) on deck 9.
The cabin was reasonably spacious and very well decorated. It was,
perhaps, a bit smaller than the standard inside or outside cabin on a
celebrity ship, but it was very cleverly designed, and laid out, with
many mirrors that added a feeling of volume to the space. The cabin
housed three wardrobes. Two contained closets and one held 6 nice size
drawers and three shelves above. One corner of the room held a vanity
table with storage, a comfortable chair, and a large corner mirror with
storage space and a safe behind it. There were 4 electric outlets on
the vanity, two supplied 110V current and two supplied 220 V. The other
corner housed a refrigerator and mini-bar, with a TV sitting on top.
There was a full length mirror on the wall adjacent to the mini-bar.
The wall opposite the entry contained a large queen-sized bed (two beds
pushed together), two very large nightstands with storage, and a very
large mirror above the bed. As a single passenger, I had more storage
than needed for the 17 day voyage, and many spaces remained empty. Two
people traveling together might find the space a bit tight, but
certainly adequate. The bathroom was small, but well equipped; however
the shower was a bit tight (for the first time I was able to understand
those inevitable shower curtain jokes told by comics on cruise ships).
A wall mounted hair dryer was provided in the bathroom.

I did have an opportunity to visit both the regular outside staterooms,
which were identical in size and layout to my inside stateroom, and the
suites on this ship. The suite was about the size of a Cat D balcony
room on RCCL or a CAT A mini-suite on HAL's Masdam, Zandam, Rotterdam ships.

Cuisine

Personally, I was delighted with the cuisine served on the Lirica.
Every lunch and dinner in the dining room provided a full six course
meal. Antipastos (3 or 4 choices with every meal) included such treats
as carpaccio, salmon tartar, caviar, etc. Soups (3 choices with every
meal) included spinach and garlic, potato and leek, etc. Each meal
provided a choice of pasta or risotto, and each of these was perfectly
prepared (al dente). At least four main courses were offered at each
meal, and one of these was always vegetarian. One of my favorites was
shrimp fra diavlolo, another was garlic shrimp over wild rice. Lobster
was served on the last gala (formal) night. A salad course was offered
with each meal. Finally, at least four desserts were offered with each
meal. Sirloin steak, grilled salmon, roast chicken, Caesar salad, and a
cheese with fruit were always available at dinner, in addition to the
varying menu items. What especially impressed me was that no menu or
menu item repeated itself on this 17 day cruise. Having been on may
cruises of two weeks or longer, I have never encountered this on another
ship.

I did hear a number of British and American passengers complain about
the food on this ship. While it is true that not all of the dishes were
well prepared, all of the Italian dishes were superb, in my opinion. In
regard to cuisine, I highly recommend this cruise for individuals are
adventurous and/or experienced with continental cuisine. Less
adventurous or sophisticated cruisers might be considerably less happy
with the fare.

Buffet dining was very European in style, and there was no buffet dining
alternative for dinner. There was also no a la carte dining alternative
on this ship.

Room service was available 24 hours per day. Apparently, during the
first year of service on this ship, there was a nominal charge for room
service; but there was no charge on my cruise. The room service menu
was very limited, but food was delivered on a silver plated tray, with
cloth napkins, real silverware, and porcelain dinnerware.

Regular coffee on the ship was too weak, in my opinion. A nice touch is
that it was always served with hot milk. Strong coffee was available at
any bar with a charge of only $1 for espresso, and $1.50 for cappuccino
or latte.

Service

Many of the crew on this ship was new and some were very poorly
trained. My cabin steward, Liliana (from Italy) provided outstanding
service throughout my voyage. My dinner waiter, Nomen (from Bali) and
assistant waiter (never did catch his name or nationality) were very
nice, but their service was not well executed. There was, however, a
noticeable improvement as the cruise continued.

Bar service was often a problem, with slow bartenders and bar waiters or
waitresses that did not comprehend English very well. Within a few
days, however, I had discovered who the good bartenders and waiters
were. Whenever possible, there were the folks from whom I ordered my
drinks.

Entertainment

As I already noted, there are many different lounges on the Lirica, and
each provided musical entertainment every evening. The Beverly Hills
bar, a beautiful space in mauve and brass housed a versatile female
singer, accompanied by a keyboard and horn player. L’Atmosphere housed
a pianist and various musicians playing string instruments. Le Cabaret
offered a variety of international music presented by a trio of
musicians. The orchestra played in the Lirica Lounge each evening.
Recorded music played in the very comfortable Lord Nelson Pub. The bar
at the top deck Blue Club, opened at midnight each evening, and often
did not close until 5 am, when I was generally there with a small, hard
core group of people who knew how to seriously party. New Years, we
kept the dude there until 7:00 AM. The DJ started spinning around 12:30
AM and never stopped before 3:00. The club reached it’s height of
activity between 1:00 and 2:30 AM each morning; and only once during the
17 day voyage was it largely empty.

New Years Eve was VERY, VERY special on the Lirica. We were anchored in
Funchal, along with a large group of other European ships. A deck party
began at 10:30 PM. At midnight, we were offered the most spectacular
display of fireworks from the city of Funchal that I have ever witnessed
in my life. Now I should mention that Eileen and I were very serious
about fireworks. Until this cruise, I though that nothing compared with
Paris on Bastille Day; but I was wrong. What I witnessed in Funchal
brought the concept of fireworks to a new level for me. At the stroke
of midnight, the entire island seemed to light up with a synchronized
display that went on for a full hour. I wept, as I attempted to convey
what I witnessed to the love of my life, who was no longer with me.

Now is an excellent time to mention the fantastic “Animation Team” on
this ship. The Animation Team consisted of a large group of very young
Italian men and women who worked from mid-morning to 3:00 AM each day
keeping the guests happy and involved in ships activities. They were
extremely creative, friendly, very sexy, and hilarious. They played
games with the pax morning, noon, afternoon, night-time, and in the wee
hours. Many of these games were very raunchy, and I strongly wonder how
they will be received by a more uptight group of US passengers. In
short, the Lirica had the most effective social staff that I have
encountered on all of my 47 cruises.

Shows were presented twice each evening (for the two seatings) in the
Broadway Theater. The production shows were not very good at all.
Singers and dancers ranged from poor to mediocre. Costumes, lighting,
and sets were unimpressive when compared to those of Carnival or RCCL.
There was also a flamenco dance group that was more like Irish step
dancers than intense and sexy flamenco dancers.

There were, however, some very special shows that would never be shown
on another cruise line. Two of these were classical, Italian opera
presentations. The first of these consisted of a soprano, a fantastic
tenor, and an accomplished violinist. It was wonderful. A second show
presented another soprano, a pianist, and a flutist. Although the
soprano had poor stage presence, her voice was as beautiful as it gets
for me. She opened the show with Musetta’s Waltz from La Boheme (I know
it’s a plebian aria, but I love it nevertheless). I was promptly
brought to tears by what I heard.

The Passengers

For me, my fellow Pax on this ship were the highlight of my cruise.
Forty-eight different nationalities were represented on the cruise. The
largest group was from England, the next largest from Italy. There were
also a sizeable number of French, Germans, Americans, and Canadians.

My best description of the pax majority is that it was sophisticated,
open-minded, and elegant. In my 17 days on this ship, I did not run
into a single unpleasant person.

On gala nights (there were 4 or these), roughly 80 percent of the men
wore tuxedos and/or dinner jackets. The vast majority of the women were
beautifully attired each evening in Euro/designer fashions.

All ages were represented from 20’s to 80’s. There were both children
and teens on board, and most were very well behaved. Interestingly, all
of the age groups mixed quite well with one another. In this regard, I
had a great time with folks in 80’s as well as those in their 20’s the
cruise.

Most of the pax seemed to be in much better shape than comparably aged
US passengers on the ships I have taken. In Malaga, for example, it was
a three mile hike from the ship to the center of town. Despite the fact
that more of the pax were smokers, practically all walked the three
miles into town and three miles back without a problem.

Special Note for My Gay RTC Friends

When I left on this trip, there was some talk about Holland refusing to
include a Friends of Dorothy event in their daily program. Well folks,
I am pleased to tell you that the Lirica had a regular FOD event listed
in its own bold box on each of the daily programs for 16 of the 17 days
of this cruise. The event took place each day at 5:00 PM in the Lord
Nelson Pub; and since many of my friends on the ship were gay, I
attended many of them (when I was not sleeping).

Overall Conclusions

Many of you have indicated in recent months that you would enjoy a
cruising experience that is very different from what you get these days
on the mainstream cruise lines. For those of you who have expressed
this sentiment, I am pleased to report that MSC seems to fit the bill.

The Lirica is a beautiful ship that provides something that is
definitely out of the ordinary; and it does so, for the time being, at a
very affordable price.

More specifically:

1.The Ship is beautiful, with a classy décor that could not fail to
delight even the most critical members of the group.
2.There were NO, I repeat NO in cabin or on ship announcements during
the cruise, apart from the passenger lifeboat drill and several crew
drills during the cruise.
3.There were NO shopping mall like spaces selling junk on the ship. In
fact, there was no open selling on this ship at all.
4.There were NO inch of gold sales, and NO “art” auctions.
5.There was NO junk advertising delivered to your stateroom at any time.
6.There were NO port talks aimed at terrifying pax into taking ship
sponsored tours; and there were NO recommended stores for any port.
7.The shops on the ship provided very nice European fashions and jewelry
at rather high prices. If there was any junk merchandise for sale, I
did not see it.

This cruise,like all of the others that I have taken, was not perfect;
but overall it was a delightful experience that I would gladly repeat.
Just how MSC’s full entrance into the US market will screw things up, I
can’t say. But for those of you who are truly looking for something
different, I recommend trying this ship out as soon as possible.