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BELLI OF THE BEAST

Cruise in style on Bellissima, a huge new ship launched from Southampton featuring Swarovski staircases

MSC Bellissima is a giant of the seas, as long as three football pitches, holding more than 5,600 passengers

I AM watching two Cirque du Soleil acrobats whirl and twirl skipping ropes, tumbling through them individually and together.

They even “jump” over the ropes from a sitting position, legs out straight in front of them. It’s exhausting just looking at them.

The opulent cruise liner MSC Bellissima
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The opulent cruise liner MSC Bellissima
MSC Bellissma
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The cruise ship is adorned with Swarovski staircases

Cirque shows are usually reserved for such grand venues as London’s Royal Albert Hall, but I’m watching one on MSC Bellissima, a huge new cruise ship named in Southampton last weekend by Italian screen idol Sophia Loren.

The show, called SYMA, is one of two productions that Cirque has created especially for this MSC Cruises ship. There’s a sailing boat, giant jellyfish, a woman who juggles with her feet, fabulous costumes and lots of imagination. It’s brilliant!

Even better, it costs a fraction of what you’d pay to see Cirque on land — €15 (£12.80) for the show, or €35 (£30) for a three-course dinner and a show.

MSC Bellissima is a giant of the seas, as long as three football pitches, holding more than 5,600 passengers and glammed up with sparkling crystal Swarovski staircases and a glitzy Yacht Club with drinks included and butlers for all.

MSC Bellissma
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The rooms come equipped with your own virtual helper ZoeCredit: MSC Rights

In the XD cinema I was attacked by pirates and werewolves and raced pals in a Formula 1 car. OK, it was only a simulator, but I still got it into a spin.

I even tiptoed over crumbling ledges and plunged down lifts in my quest to destroy a Minotaur, the mythical Greek half-human, half-bull creature that brushed off my burning arrows as if they were marshmallows.

It’s one of three games in the VR Maze, and so cool I went back to take on a giant python guarding the Temple of Anubis while a friend zapped bunnies. “It’s OK,” she told me. “They weren’t the cuddly type.”

Back in the real world, you can harness up and balance over tightropes, beams and stepping stones. Just don’t look down — the course is 80 metres above the sea.

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Play areas for kids, from toddlers to teens, have Lego, computers, video games, table tennis and discos, are open all day, every day — and are free.

A two-storey boulevard through the centre of the ship is lined with shops, restaurants and bars and topped by an 80-metre-long LED screen that one minute was imitating Michelangelo’s frescoed ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, the next saluting London’s landmarks.

You can indulge in chocolates and macaroons in a French patisserie and create your own, pig out on Italian gelato or tuck into tapas by Spanish Michelin-starred chef Ramon Freixa.

In the Japanese teppanyaki, chefs prepare food on giant grills right in front of you, there are snails and scallops in a gorgeous French bistro or hunks of meat in an American-style steakhouse.

MSC Bellissma
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The cruise liner has several restaurants to choose fromCredit: MSC Rights

All these restaurants are excellent but be at the main dining room on gala dinner night, as one of the dishes is created by celebrity chef Raymond Blanc, patron of swanky Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons restaurant in Oxfordshire.

I loved the ritzy Champagne bar and Masters Of The Sea, a British pub with beers from around the world, but there are loads more places to down a bevvy.

If you can’t decide where to go, ask Zoe, the first virtual cruise assistant at sea. She’s in all cabins, speaks seven languages and can do everything from checking your bill to advising on the best restaurants in town.

The cruise line’s Italian boss Gianni Onorato joked: “She’s the most expensive crew member MSC has ever had.”

An MSC For Me app lets you call up maps or book restaurants and trips ashore on your phone.

It’s clever, but I preferred to go offline in the spa, where you can be rubbed and scrubbed with exotic oils, mud, seashells and candles — yes, really — and sweat it out in a steam room and sauna.

It was too chilly to go on the three splash-tastic water slides that twist and turn down the back of the ship, and even take you over the side.

But as I see it, that is just another good reason to get back on board.

Go: Cruising

GETTING/STAYING THERE: A seven-night Mediterranean cruise, visiting Spain, France, Italy and Malta from Barcelona and departing on June 14, is from £999pp excluding flights.
See or call 020 3426 3010.

Cruise ship MSC Bellissima featuring huge water park, two Cirque du Soleil shows and an AI assistant in EVERY cabin has arrived in UK
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