Modern Living: Ship of Drools

The timeless enticements of a Mediterranean cruise—the visits to fabled isles, the sun and spray, the moonlight murmurings—were not for those aboard the French Line's Mermoz. The passengers, in fact, had little stomach for anything but their stomachs; the ship's 470 well-heeled and generally well-fleshed guests had signed up for an ocean voyage dedicated solely to gastronomy.

From the Thursday morning when they embarked, until the following Sunday afternoon when the Mermoz returned them to Cannes, they ate and sipped their way through an epicure's dream of meals prepared by four of France's...

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