Experienced cruisers all, our family of five embarked upon a 2 week cruise with Costa, enamored of the itinerary offered, to see the Norwegian fjords and the Baltic capitols, including St. Petersburg, with a reasonable cruise fare to boot. We knew ahead of time that this Italian cruise line would have a predominantly European clientele and therefore harbor a number of smokers, but took that into consideration. What follows are our recollections of the trip, from door to door, so perhaps TMI for some.
We departed our home on the coast of NC for the nearly 7 hour drive to Dulles Airport (IAD) in Washington DC on a Thursday evening, having booked a one night stay at the Homewood Suites at Dulles, which offers "Park, Stay, and Pay". This deal allows you to stay one night at the hotel either before departure or upon your return, AND leave the car parked at the hotel rather than the airport for the duration of your trip. Due to blinding rain on the majority of the drive, we didn't arrive at the hotel until almost 1am, so requested a late checkout, which was granted. To our great dismay, however, a fire alarm (set off by a housekeeper who burned some microwave popcorn) went off at about 6am, and couldn't be shut off until the fire department arrived about 15 minutes later. When we'd finally gotten back to sleep, with ringing ears, another fire alarm woke us at ~10am, so our short overnight sleep was thus curtailed. To top it off, the thermostat in the room read 84 degrees F despite having been driven down to a 64 degree set-point! So much for starting out our 2 week journey well-rested . . .
After the offered complimentary breakfast, we took the shuttle to the airport for our transatlantic flight. Very convenient. Our flight on Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) was routine, a nonstop from Dulles to Copenhagen, where we took a taxi (driven by a madman) to the cruise departure on Ocean Key, the furthest from downtown and an expensive ride. There was nothing to do here but wait several hours to board, so we arranged with helpful staff to check in our luggage early and then simply waited. One of my teen-aged daughters was so wiped out, she simply laid down across a row of chairs and was lucky enough to get a couple of hours shut-eye! On weekdays, Bus #26 goes to the city center from about one block away, but on weekends, service was spotty and we didn’t feel we had enough time to go far afield. Checking in was easy, given that we had checked in on-line ahead of time, but it was curious that we weren’t asked for credit card details to be able to charge items to our account while on-board. It turns out, one needs to do this AFTER boarding on Costa, at the always-busy Purser's Desk (!?). We received Our cruise ID/charge cards were on our beds when we got into the cabin, and bright red cards were also provided that needed to be handed in at the Mustering Drill later that first afternoon, in essence, a way of taking attendance. In fact, those folks who missed handing in their red cards at the Mustering where obliged to attend a 9am meeting the next morning; we felt this was a just punishment, until the entire ship was awakened at 8:30a by an overhead announcement (in 5 different languages in succession) reminding those slackers to attend!
Upon entering our interior cabin, an entirely run-of-the-mill choice on Deck 7 Aft, it was clear that it was well laid out. There was a well-lit desk with pencil drawer and stack of 4 drawers and a stool that could be hidden under the desk, and then there was another counter under which were a mini-fridge and 3 shelves. The closet space had ample tall and short hanging space, with hangers, and shelves, and a safe. On both sides of the bed, there were matching nightstands with a top drawer and lamp. No clocks, so bring your own. The bathroom had a shower with curtain, adequate shelving both above and below the sink, and 2 hooks on the door. There were 2 hooks on the wall of the cabin as well, but I could have used more. The shower had a retractable clothesline for hanging wet bathing suits and such. There was a shower gel in a dispenser in the shower, but no other toiletries were provided. We had to ask for the ice bucket to be filled daily and for extra towels for my long hair and for a "Do Not Disturb" sign, but they were all readily provided by our cabin steward. Blue towels, for the pool, were provided but had to be accounted for in the cabin, or we'd be charged. Now for the downside: though I had made sure when booking that our cabin 7389 and that of our children 7388, on the parallel hallway, were not near any elevators or stairways, it turns out that they were BOTH immediately adjacent to an empty crew area. Well, we were unlucky enough to be awakened multiple nights during our 2 week cruise between 3-6am with an awful clanging and clanking, which occurred directly behind our headboard in our case, and immediately next to my eldest daughter's bed in Cabin 7388. What could this racket possibly be?? Upon investigation, I found in this bright white-painted smoke-smelling crew area that a legion of metal signposts (like those that the following day stood sentry upon disembarkation saying "No Exit this Way" or "To Shuttle Bus") was amassed along the wall, behind which my headboard was. And what was the response of Customer Service when we visited them? "You must call at the time the noise is occurring, so it can be duly investigated." And guess what happens at 4:30am when I am awakened but my husband is still asleep and I am supposed to call the front desk and then they send someone to "investigate" by knocking at our cabin instead of where the noise was coming from, but the noise is by then probably over? After several more nights of this, we even suggested that if these infernal signposts couldn't be moved to the deck where they are actually used (which would be the logical solution) the crew at least pad the walls with mattresses or other padding to dull the sound . . . to no avail. Our complaints fell on deaf ears, for TWO weeks! This to say nothing of the fact that when we, exhausted on our vacation by interrupted nighttime sleep, tried to catch an afternoon nap, we still couldn't rest due to incessant multilingual announcements and running/screaming children in the hallways.