If anyone who read Sylvia Leigh’s article (BDN, July 3-4) on her cruise to Bermuda and was put off from visiting this lovely island on her rather negative comments, I would like to present a different point of view.

Tourist-trap shops are few and far between on Front Street in Hamilton, the attractive capital. Instead, there are stores like Trimingham’s which has been selling quality goods for more than a century, or the Irish Linen Shop where one can purchase embroidered items from Madeira, cotton prints from Provence or linens from France and Ireland.

As Bermuda has a subtropical climate, it is not as warm as Caribbean islands but to leave the snow and ice of Maine at the end of February and arrive at a place where the grass is green, palm trees are waving in the breeze, the ocean ranges in color from blue to turquoise to azure and many varieties of flowers are in bloom is a special treat indeed. (And only 1 1/2 hours from Boston.)

The houses with their dazzling white roofs are painted in pastel shades of pink, yellow, green, peach, salmon or blue, making a ride along every street a visual pleasure.

There are hotels or guest apartments to fit every pocketbook (package tours are the least expensive), restaurants in a varying price range, and a number of world-class golf courses.

Ms. Leigh did say that she didn’t see very much of Bermuda because she went on an underwater walking tour, but I have to agree with Mark Twain’s comment while he was vacationing there: “You go to heaven, I’d rather stay here in Bermuda.” Barbara Chase Deer Isle