|
Before this cruise we've cruised with Carnival in the Caribbean and Costa in the Mediterranean. This cruise was a last minute cruise, we've booked only four days before departure.
Our Cabin was nice, but the cabin and the balcony were a lot smaller than on the Costa Magica. I think the Costa Magica cabin had twice as many closets as the Jade cabin. In the areas above the TV, there was a lot of dust. Also the carpet was dusty in areas that could not easily be reached by the vacuum cleaner.In the bathroom there are separate areas with a toilet, a washbasin and a shower, separated with sliding doors. The ship is build in Germany and has good German faucets.
The food was tasty in both the main restaurants and the buffets. There are a lot of specialty restaurants at this ship, but for every specialty restaurant you have to pay a cover fee (25 dollar per person average). This fact must be taken into account when considering going on this cruise.
The hostesses in the main restaurants were not friendly. They seemed hurried and didn't make you feel welcome. One of the hostesses was one time coughing unhygienically while receiving guests. Some of the waiters didn't speak sufficient English and appeared to be rude. Sometimes the wrong dishes were brought or they didn't ask us what we wanted to drink. I think the better functioning waiters and hostesses are working in the specialty restaurants.
One evening we were in the Starbar. Three times in succession people entered while they were actually looking for the Steakhouse next to the Starbar. After these people some people entered the Starbar and before they could open their mouths, the woman bartender in the Starbar was shouting loudly in a rude manner to these entering guests that they should turn around for the Steakhouse.
The entertainment was average. One big "Four elements" show with dancers, one "cirque du soleil" resembling show, one traditional circus show, a musical with four ladies and a magic show.
The shore excursions were disappointing. In Izmir we really wanted to go on an excursion but all the excursions included a mandatory one hour visit to a carpet factory. We didn't feel like buying a carpet, so we ended up with hiring a taxi for half a day, that turned out to be a good choice ( see port review). There was a total lack of non-cultural excursions. I only saw one sportive excursion in the excursion overview.
WiFi was very expensive 0,40 euro up to 0,70 euro per minute, so we didn't take it. On our Costa cruise we took WiFi but I remember that it was far less expensive.
Disembarkation was not a success because our flight was in the evening and it was very clouded in Venice. The last possibility to disembark was at 9.45 AM so we had a long day in Venice, in the rain first, later it was very sunny and humid. If you have a late flight, make some preparations. There are left luggage offices at Piazzale Roma, in the cruise building until 5.00 PM and at the Santa Lucia train station
Because of the rude staff and the adding up cover fees, I think we will choose another cruise line next time.
|
