Deal or No Deal: Will You Really Save on This Costa Offer?

If you’re a big Princess or Carnival fan, check your e-mail inbox for a missive from sister line Costa, which apparently is reaching out to Carnival Corp. siblings to fill its ships. We received an offer this morning dangling up to $300 in onboard credit if we booked a Costa cruise.

According to the fine print, the OBC for an inside stateroom is equal to $50 per passenger, up to $100 maximum. Naturally, the benefit increases with the quality of the cabin.

We did a quick check of three ships trawling the Mediterranean in May to see what the rates are for an inside cabin on a seven-night cruise. All three ships — Costa Serena, Royal Caribbean‘s Adventure of the Seas and Norwegian Jade — receive the same score (four ribbons) from Cruise Critic readers.

Insides on both Adventure of the Seas (roundtrip from Malaga, including stops in Valencia, Livorno and Rome/Civitavecchia) and Costa Serena (roundtrip from Savona, including stops at Palma de Mallorca, Valencia and Rome) start at about $649 per person, double occupancy, before taxes and other fees. Norwegian Jade (roundtrip from Venice, including stops in Dubrovnik, Piraeus and Izmir) starts at $599 on select sailings.

Presuming you’re taking a friend and/or loved one on Costa and you get the full $100 OBC, that brings the fare down to $599 per person — equal to the Jade tariff. (But keep an eye out for ever-changing perks offered by the agencies and cruise lines — such as upgrades and coupons currently available on Jade — that might impact the deal.) Bottom line: It’s a bit of a savings, but it wouldn’t exactly make us change our vacation plans.

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5 Responses to “Deal or No Deal: Will You Really Save on This Costa Offer?”

1. Jim
   March 13th, 2012 @ 10:59 pm

   No deal

2. Judy
   March 14th, 2012 @ 8:19 am

   If they gave me the best suite and 1st class airfare, I would refuse it!

3. Gail
   March 14th, 2012 @ 8:43 am

   Thanks, but no thanks.

4. Peggy
   March 14th, 2012 @ 10:22 am

   Most of the OBC credit offers are specific and are for things my husband and I don’t/won’t use anyway. NO DEAL

5. Tom in long beach
   March 14th, 2012 @ 12:49 pm

   While I know that I myself would use up the OBC on booze and shore tours I would really prefer a lower fare. Already booked on a 7 day Carnival Cruise this year (Canada and new england). You would think they would be offering better deals with their recent debacles…. I had joked that this might be the year for a cheap summer med cruise on Costa..

   Are those CAPTCHA phrases even real words ?

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