La Bella Vita Barge Cruise Review

As we mentioned on page 1 of this review, La Bella Vita began life as the sand barge Mery, which entered service in 1960 on Italy's River Po. European Waterways purchased Mery in 2010 and converted it into a hotel barge with an unusual design:

Unlike most of its peers in France and Britain, La Bella Vita looks more like a ship than a barge, with three decks (including a full sun deck) and a bridge or wheelhouse behind the bow. With a maximum capacity of 20 passengers, it's also larger than the typical eight- to 12-passenger hotel barge.

During our cruise, we appreciated the large sun deck (which offers plenty of room for sitting, walking, and picture-taking) and the sheltered open-air side decks (where passengers can enjoy fresh air on rainy days). If you've cruised on river ships but are new to barges, La Bella Vita's layout will seem familar--albeit much smaller than on a full-size river vessel.

The three decks are arranged as follows:

The sun deck is just that: a large, flat open-air deck with teak furniture. (When the ship needs to pass under low bridges, the crew can fold down the railings and carry the furniture below.)

The upper deck or main deck has the wheelhouse, a dining room, a comfortable lounge or saloon, two suites, the reception foyer and tour guide's office, a lavatory, and crew accommodation in the stern.

The dining room features a PC with a cellular "Internet key," which worked most of the time. We used our own mobile connection, since the ship was usually within range of a cell tower.

A stairway in the reception foyer leads down to the lower deck, which has has eight standard staterooms, a galley, and more crew quarters aft.

For disembarkation and embarkation, or for going ashore, La Bella Vita has a metal gangway with rope railings that's similar to the gangways on larger river ships.

Accessibility:  During our cruise, one of the passengers used a cane, and he had no trouble getting about (or off and on) the ship. However, European Waterways is quick to point out that La Bella Vita has "restricted facilities for passengers with mobility issues." The barge doesn't have an elevator, and the gangway is too narrow for wheelchairs.

Superstition trivia: The name "Mery" is still on the barge's bow. When we asked the captain why, he explained: It's bad luck to change a ship's name unless you keep the original ship's bell. Mery didn't have a bell, so the name on the bow was left intact, and the barge's new name--La Bella Vita--is on a banner tied to a railing on the sun deck.