My wife and I just got off the ten day Caribbean cruise on Costa Luminosa. The itinerary was terrific, and the overall price was quite reasonable. Being the first time on Costa we were quite disappointed with the levels of service (especially food service) and the actual food served (even in the alternative dining room). This was our 18th cruise, but our first on Costa. The food was not up to the standards of the cruise industry, and the service was slow and not good at all. The waiters seemed to feel powerless about fixing problems with the food, and they caused us to feel they did not care. In the Lido deck the service was never in the same place, even during a single meal. You might get your food in one place, but had to visit another if you wanted to select another choice.
We will never cruise on Costa again. Although the price was good, we kept saying (and hearing) you "only" get what you pay for. Even in the alternative dining room, they charged $32.50 to eat there, but added prices for coffee or tea.
Extra charges for room service too. even pay per view movies, and no free movies unless you want to watch one in Italian. They tried to charge us for water in the alternative dining room and I refused to pay for that.