Costa was a wonderful surprise for us. The food was the best we had experienced on a cruise ship for taste, flavor, variety and quality. We had no problems as others have in getting the food prepared timely and as requested.

Our cabin was a midship Panorama Suite which was adequate for 2 adults and 2 teens to share, with a great balcony with real wood deck chairs. Service was mixed. Our butler was charming but had trouble remembering things we requested on a day to day basis. Treated the "do not disturb" sign as optional, knocked once and then came in. Our room was never made up the same time each day regardless of our schedule. The work they did perform was excellent. The jacuzzi tub had weak jets, would shut off after four minutes and could not restart until another 5-10 minutes later. The TV in our cabin was on the blink most of the week. (Take your complaints to the customer service desk...do not waste time with the cabin staff).

Shore excursions were also a mixed bag. Not all problems were the fault of the staff. We had booked "Tulum" through the website 2 weeks prior to departure and came to find out that "Tulum" alone was not being offered at all at any time this year despite my confirmation from the Costa website. We scheduled the "Stingrays" in Cayman but Costa's land transportation arrangements went awry so we stood in the sun waiting for a bus for over an hour. The "Stingray Observation" boat cancelled on the day it was scheduled. These did not seem to be the fault of the Shore Excursion staff, but they did little to enlighten the passengers about these issues. Read more