I had read the bad reviews here before going, but we still took this ship ONLY because of the combination of ports it was visiting. I found the bad reviews were completely true. We took the Costa Luminosa as the second of three cruises we did (one right after the other). The first was the Carnival Valor, which is the Luminosa's sister ship (Both cruise lines are owned by Carnival Corporation). Our stateroom was literally identical to the one we had on the Carnival Valor.

The best part of the ship were the Filipino housekeeping staff and waiters. They did try hard to please passengers. However, the rest of the crew (mostly Europeans) didn't seem to care if passengers did not like the service or facilities. The North Americans (Canadian and Americans) I found aboard seemed amazed at the horrible customer service. The staff showed little flexibility. It would never be tolerated in a North American hotel. The disembarkation process each time was much slower than Carnival and seemed overly bureaucratic.

This ship was primarily filled with Europeans visiting the Caribbean. English speakers only made up about 10% of the passengers - while the majority were French, Italian, and German. Announcements on board were usually in 5 languages. I have been to Europe several times and enjoy visiting there. However, something seems to happen to these people when they come to North America in a group. They were some of the rudest people I have ever met. Very rarely did I ever hear them say "excuse me" (not even in their own language) when they frequently pushed by. They were also notorious for butting into lines (with the French being the worst). Read more