This was our sixth cruise with Costa (Victoria, Atlantica (twice), Europa, Magica and now Mediterranea). With some 23 cruises behind us, this cruise was way below the standard of care, help, thoughtfulness and information we have experienced on other ships. The Black Sea is not exactly the "run of the mill" of itineraries and therefore the majority of passengers had not been to that area before.
Unlike other ships we have been on, the daily paper, in this case "Today" can always be relied upon to give useful and helpful information about the Port being visited and particularly the safety aspect.
The Today paper onboard the Costa Mediterranea said absolutely nothing, not one single word about the Port and did not even give the name of the Country!!! It merely said Constanta, Odessa, Yalta, Katakolon,Izmir, Istanbul, Mykonos. There were many first time cruisers and also first time to Costa cruisers and I doubt everyone had a degree in Geography! It said nothing about what the local currency was called or the exchange rate and whether or not they would accept euros/dollars.I soon discovered that in Odessa for example, some taxi drivers would only take euros and others would only take the local currency. The venicular (to avoid walking up 220 steps to the town) only took local currency. Most shops would accept euros.
Cabin 7254 deck 7. Really wonderful cabin in all aspects. 27' balcony with two loungers, two chairs, two tables. The floor size of the cabin was 20' x 12 'excluding the wardrobes which were of very good size. The bathroom was of a good size with excellent shower. The position was Port side directly by the stairwells and bank of four lifts. These lifts took us directly down to the entrance of the dining room on deck 3 and directly into the buffet area on deck 9. 10/10 for the cabin.