Bellissima

[philsuarez]

Bellissima is looking stunning as she makes her way to Southampton. Early tweets of the interior have shown a few unexpected details. They appear to have drastically changed the Yacht Club Restaurant and lounge from Meriviglia so that it now has a mezzanine level like the Seaside. I prefer this layout as if will feel far more light and airy. Can’t wait for our cruise onboard in April!

[CruisingFox27]

The Eataly restaurant has been replaced by a tapas restaurant, this is also going to be retro installed on Meraviglia. 

[Captain-John]

Good stuff - some relatives are sailing her in early April.

 

CF - any idea when the restaurant is being retrofitted to Meraviglia? I'm planning on having our Black card meal in Butcher's Cut in any event but just curious.

[Beamafar]

I've booked the tryptic package with Eataly included for our Meraviglia cruise - we had decided to (finally) give it a try.  Definitely don't want tapas!  Looks like I'll be cancelling.  🙁

[CruisingFox27]

2 hours ago, Captain-John said:

Good stuff - some relatives are sailing her in early April.

 

CF - any idea when the restaurant is being retrofitted to Meraviglia? I'm planning on having our Black card meal in Butcher's Cut in any event but just curious.

 

It just says it will be in 'the next few months'...I had a very quick look at her schedule and can see no obvious break where they would do it. Although, if it's only refitting the one area, I doubt this would take a team that long so she mightn't need to be out of service.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/3798/

[Beamafar]

Thanks for the link, CF.

 

Cap'n - let us know how you liked Butcher's Cut.  I've enjoyed it both times we've been - on 2 different ships - and would gladly have paid the charge if we didn't have the Black Card benefit.  It is well worth the €39 cost IMHO.  I'd love to find a restaurant on land that could offer me similar for the same price - I'd certainly eat out more often!

 

In fact, I've just decided to cancel the tryptic booking and go to Butcher's Cut a couple of times instead.

[Beamafar]

Interesting that Adam from CruiseCritic was on Bellissima earlier this time than when on Meraviglia (we met him onboard in YC on her first Med itinerary when he was filming and researching the ship).

[Captain-John]

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

Thanks for the link, CF.

 

Cap'n - let us know how you liked Butcher's Cut.  I've enjoyed it both times we've been - on 2 different ships - and would gladly have paid the charge if we didn't have the Black Card benefit.  It is well worth the €39 cost IMHO.  I'd love to find a restaurant on land that could offer me similar for the same price - I'd certainly eat out more often!

 

In fact, I've just decided to cancel the tryptic booking and go to Butcher's Cut a couple of times instead.

 

Will do. I had considered the package too, but, being in the YC would find it a waste. If not YC I would definitely pay for a few speciality meals to 'elevate' the experience as it's something we enjoy and consider good food to be key to the overall trip.

 

Definitely getting a package for our Celebrity cruise next year - as the upfront prices for those restaurants are a bit eye-watering.

 

On NCL we usually get a package as part of the booking, as well as 2 Platinum meals so we're well catered for with them.

 

[Beamafar]

Just now, Captain-John said:

 

Will do. I had considered the package too, but, being in the YC would find it a waste. If not YC I would definitely pay for a few speciality meals to 'elevate' the experience as it's something we enjoy and consider good food to be key to the overall trip.

 

 

We'll be in YC for 23 nights, so will be looking for more variety and to break up the routine.  We ate in the restaurant nearly every night of the 28 night Splendida cruise last year and went at the same time every night.

[Captain-John]

Yes can definitely see why you'd want variety! Keep forgetting your trips can be so long.

[Beamafar]

5 minutes ago, Captain-John said:

Yes can definitely see why you'd want variety! Keep forgetting your trips can be so long.

 

It sometimes seems like that, Cap'n!  🙄  Most are actually 7 nighters. 😊

[Norwegian Cruiser 73]

I'm not surprised that they are replacing they Eataly on the Meraviglia with a Tapas Restaurant, the place was almost deserted every evening on our 14 night cruise in 2017. We had our black card dinner there. On our recent cruise, on the Preziosa a few weeks ago we also had our black card complimentary dinner in the Eataly and to our surprise, the drinks were included. We were about the only guests. Excellent pizza. We did also order pizza from the Eataly to the YC pooldeck for lunch a couple of times. 

[asctony]

We need to change the title of this thread. No one is talking about the Bellissima. The ship they are taking about is the  Meraviglia.

Please,  may we stay on topic.?

Thank you! 

 

[Beamafar]

The OP so far hasn't complained.  Others who don't like the direction the thread has taken (and who haven't contributed anything about the subject, either) don't have to follow the thread.

 

To the OP ... hope you have a wonderful cruise on Bellissima, Meraviglia's sister ship.

[Captain-John]

14 hours ago, asctony said:

We need to change the title of this thread. No one is talking about the Bellissima. The ship they are taking about is the  Meraviglia.

Please,  may we stay on topic.?

Thank you! 

 

 

You'll find the OP did mention Meraviglia in the opening post and the conversation spawned from the differences between that ship and Bellissima (the ships are sisters). I note you have added nothing to the conversation about Bellissima?!

 

[Beamafar]

21 minutes ago, Captain-John said:

 

You'll find the OP did mention Meraviglia in the opening post and the conversation spawned from the differences between that ship and Bellissima (the ships are sisters). I note you have added nothing to the conversation about Bellissima?!

 

 

Cap'n, as you've referenced the OP,  I need to point out that the OP on this thread is Philsuarez as there seemed to be a bit of confusion on the subject beforehand - at one stage someone thought it was me    (the posts have since been deleted!).

 

It appears that some people don't know what OP stands for, so I should like to clarify.  The letters mean 'Original Post/Poster', so it refers either to the person who starts the thread or to the first post in the thread.  Hope this helps those who didn't know.

[philsuarez]

Dear All,

 

Happy for you to talk about any ship. Certainly Meriviglia is the most direct comparison. I’m sure much more information on Bellissima will filter through over the next few days. I’m lucky enough to be in Bellissima YC in April then will experience Merigvilia YC in September 2020. I love tapas so looking forward to experiencing the new restaurant. Having been on Seaside in March 2018, i’m Sure lessons will have been learnt for Seaside EVo class. 

 

Perhaps the most ironic news is that the usually stable UK weather heaped havoc on the Christening ceremony which had to be abandoned midway and moved onto the ship. Storm Freya is beginning to descend on the rest of the UK. 

[Beamafar]

Surprised they hadn't planned for the storm - it had certainly been heralded days ago.  It was expected to miss Ireland but the UK was in its path.  We had the tail of it with strong winds yesterday;  just had an email from someone in Southampton about how bad last night was.

 

As I've said, we were on Meraviglia early on - I thought I wouldn't sail on a new ship again.  However, with the heralded changes to Bellissima, I'm now a little sorry that I didn't book it.  Looking forward to hearing people's experience onboard.

[cparker01]

There are a lot of new pictures of Bellissima on Liveboat.it from the naming ceremony last night. Looks like the YC restaurant will have great views. Would love to hear others thoughts on the photos posted!