MSC Bellissima Maiden Voyage March 2019
What initially amazed me about the ship was her size but also her beauty, she really is Beauty at Sea. There are 19 decks, though no Deck 17 apparently this number is bad luck in Italy.
Keen to explore the ship, I dropped my hand luggage in our cabin – Balcony Deck 10 - no obstructive view, cabin was very spacious, comfortable and had everything we needed.
Due to the size of the ship, you do need a map to work where everything is at first. Though they do have interactive screens all over the ship, which give you access to the ship maps and outline everything there is to do onboard.
You are allocated a set dining time in one of the main restaurants (Lighthouse or Posidonia). We were assigned the Lighthouse. You can choose to have breakfast, lunch or dinner in the restaurant or at the marketplace buffet. We had dinner in the Lighthouse and Lunch in the Posidonia. Both of these were lovely three-course waiter service meals which we both thoroughly enjoyed. However, for the reminder of the cruise, we chose to eat in the marketplace buffet as we found this suited our tastes and timing of our holiday more. The buffet has a wide range of food ranging from pizzas & pastas, fish, meats and an ethic section, with fresh fruit and desserts every taste was catered for.
Unfortunately, on the first night and for the next few days, we experienced rough seas on the Bay of Biscay, which is always talked about in many cruise forums and is really down to luck, I suppose. Due to the rough seas, we had to miss our first port of call La Coruna and carry on arriving in Lisbon a day early.
This gave me more chance to explore and wandering around the ship, you do notice the sparkle and glamour from the sparkle staircases, the Champagne Bar to the Mediterranean-style promenade with LED Sky Screen, the MSC Bellissima really does sparkle.
The staff are always helpful - nothing is too much trouble. I even tried the Casino, something I’ve never done before and a staff member was kind enough to spend time with us explaining how the machines worked, he must have been a good teacher as I came back a few nights and finally, I won on the last night! Not a small fortune but enough to feel like a win!
I watched the shows each night, which you had to pre-book for, there was no charge for this, but this ensured everyone at least got to see the show once. Most shows had two or three different performance times. Each night was something different from mime artist, to a ventriloquist and dance acts. While in Lisbon, we even had a traditional folk show from local people who had been invited onboard to perform.
We visited Lisbon for two days. First day, we did the City Sightseeing Bus a great way to see the city and the bus picks up right outside the Port Terminal. On the second day, we did the Lisbon by Tram Tour, organised by MSC - this for me was one of the highlights of my cruise. We were taken from the ship to one of the trams that was exclusive for MSC guests and treated to a drink of the local Port and also a custard tart, a local delicacy - it was very sweet not what I expected of a custard tart but very tasty, I could have eaten quite a few! We then had a tour of the city with a few stops for photos before going back to the Ship. I would highly recommend this tour.
Our next port of call was Valencia, where we docked the port is about a 25-minute bus ride from the city centre and you can catch a shuttle bus from the ship provided by MSC for a charge. We decided to do the City Centre Bus Tour to try to see as much of Valencia in the short time we were there. Again, this was a good way to see the city.
Our final port of call was Barcelona - our disembarkation port. We had arranged for a company to take our luggage to the airport for us as we had a late flight and wanted to explore the city. We took the port bus to the city centre, very reasonable at 4 euros each return and then did the City Sightseeing bus for a few hours – again, a great way to see the city but also handy as we obviously had our hand luggage with us with having a late flight home so we didn’t have to carry this around with us. I enjoyed the City Bus Tour and we both agreed Barcelona is a city we would like to return to in the future for a City Break to explore the City some more.
So, did I enjoy my first every cruise?
I have to say I did, it really does suit us as a couple as we like to explore various different places on our holiday and really also enjoy having entertainment in the evening wherever we stay. We enjoyed the ports we visited and have to say Lisbon was our favourite. I suppose the only thing we would change is we would probably fly next time to meet the cruise at a port rather than go over the Bay of Biscay – however, we could do the same cruise again and the weather could be completely different!
So yes, I would cruise again, the question is ‘where to next?’.