I recently went on my first full cruise (had to leave my first one early due to an emergency) on this ship. I live in Germany and drove to Savona and parked in the Costa lot. The embarkation was fairly easy in part because the ship was not at capacity and also because they gave me an earlier boarding number due to the fact I had small children with me (8 and 1). We arrived to our room and it was quite suitable for 4 of us. There was a portacrib for the baby and a bed that pulled down from the ceiling for my son. The room was on the top level of the ship and came with a large balcony. Our cabin steward (Carla) quickly introduced herself and she did a great job throughout the cruise. Everytime we left our room it was in a disarray from all of the kids toys and every time we came back she had picked them all up and layed them out nicely on the table or on the couch. Some drawbacks to the room including the fact that it was often quite warm. This was solved by opening the door to the balcony but then we got to listen to the sound of moving furniture from other balconies and from the deck above. Luckily this did not go on into the night so sleeping was not a problem. We had 1st seating in the dining room and actually were able to switch to a different table starting on the 2d night so that we could be with friends. This table was in a back room on the 2d deck and was quite nice with the kids because it was more quiet than the main floor and was also more than half empty so that kids could go in the back of the room and play. Our waitress (Ana) was outstanding and provided impeccable service with a smile throughout the whole cruise. Every time we saw her, whether at breakfast, lunch or dinner she was always happy and always very nice to our children. Our wine steward was also very nice. We had the X1 package and he would always leave us with the entire bottle of wine and would bring us any water or sodas we needed, even for the kids who did not have the X1 package. Overall I enjoyed the food, however, other cruise goers compared the food to other cruise lines and did not enjoy it. I would have to say that if it was better then I probably would have gained 10 more pounds during the cruise. Since I have nothing to compare it to I will leave it at that. I know some folks who said the food in the Club Atlantica (pay for it there) was superb. As far as places to dine went, we definitely enjoyed the main dining room over the buffet areas. While the buffet areas might have had more to offer for breakfast, the crowds were often difficult to deal with. We never found a table inside the main eating area and always sat in the pool area. This was not so bad since the kids always enjoyed swimming and eating at the same time. I also found that we could use the X1 package at the pool bar and in fact they did not mind when I used it (even outside eating times) or how often I used it. All in all, the X1 package was well worth it. One thing to remember is to buy it through your travel agent because you cannot get it on board. During the cruise, we went on excursions with the ship in Naples, Sicily, Egypt, Cyprus and Marmaris. We opted to do it on our own in Santorini and did not go on a tour in Olympia because we had done that on our first, shortened cruise. We did the Pompeii tour in Naples and it was good but the stop at the coral shop was a waste of time and I would have enjoyed the extra 25 minutes at Pompeii since we did not get to see some of the highlights of the ancient city. We did the Taormina tour in Sicily. This is a nice town but having travelled all over Europe it is not anything special and I probably could have easily skipped it. We did the Pyramids and Camel tour in Egypt. This was a great tour and the jeep ride was great fun, especially for my 8 yr old. Drawbacks of this tour was the fact we had only 30 minutes at the Pyramids and the fact our guide got us back to the ship 90 minutes early. She said it was because our group was small but I think it was because she did not like spending a lot of time with all the kids...she told us that this was the most young kids she had on such a tour (8 of them 10 and under). We did the tour in Cyprus that went to the greek theater and the wine making town. This was a great tour because the ancient Greek baths were beautiful and the town was very nice. Finally, in Turkey we did the express boat tour of Caunos. This was a nice tour and it was great because we got back to Marmaris with many hours to spare for shopping in the bazaar. Save your money for the bazaar and don't buy the more expensive stuff at the coffee shop you stop at on the way to Caunos. Having lived in Turkey for 15 months, I was very impressed with Marmarmis and Caunos because the scenery was beautiful and it was clean compared to other areas of Turkey. In Santorini we went on our own and were very glad we did. We got off the ship as soon as we could (note: ship stops in one port to let off folks going on ship excursions and then about 45 minutes later stops in a different port to let off the rest. We made a point of getting in line quickly to get off the boat on the first tender. Once off, we took the cable car up the cliffs, found a taxi that took us to Oia (15 euros) and spent 3 1/2 glorious hours in this fabulous town (the tour groups only spent about an hour). Since it was off season we had to buy a phone card for 4 euros to call a cab that came to pick us up within about 15 minutes (another 15 euro). Ironically, there is a pay phone next to the phone that takes phone cards but it did not work. We also found a great mom and pop restaurant that was right on the main road as you were coming into the town. The mousakka was superb. In Olympia we previously did the tour and it was nice. I noticed this time that cabbies were offering to drive you out, spend an hour on site and drive back for 50 euros (10 euros per person). This would be enough time to visit the site. There is also a train station in Katakolon but the schedule is only in Greek and while it looked liked the train would work as well, it did not arrive at the time I thought it would (as well as many others who were waiting). It in fact came about 45 minutes later. While on ship, we used the fitness club several times. The facilities were nice and it was never too crowded. From what I saw this was also the only hot tub that was never full of young kids since there is technically an age limit in the fitness area. We also spent a considerable amount of time in the indoor pool area. On the first day the pool was very warm, very salty and very chlorinated. On the remaining days it was cooler. The hot tub in this area was never hot and it was always full of kids. Good for us since we have kids but might not be good for others. A sheet you get in your room upon arrival states that the hot tubs are for children over 12 but this rule is never enforced. My son also enjoyed the kids club immensely. A significant reason probably is the fact he had other American friends that he met that were in the club as well. This proved fortunate because there were only four American families on the ship that I counted that had children 10 and under. The far greater percentage of children in the club were Italian. The only problem I had the entire time with the kids club was the fact I found all the kids left with a French only speaking parent in another part of the ship on one occasion when the monitors had to run back to the kids club room to pick something up. Some other things about the ship that are noteworthy are that the average age of the passengers was probably in the 50's due to the fact it was not a time when European children are off from school. There were some good theater shows like these 2 guys from Hungary who could do amazing balancing feats, however there were some really bad shows like a guy who did things with bubbles and a magician who did really bad tricks while changing clothes a hundred times (mostly in drag). The magician I saw on the Costa Concordia was far better. Every employee we came across on the ship was always very helpful and always seemed to be happy. We really loved a bartender in the main lobby on the 2d deck named Marx. The employees certainly made a big impact on our overall enjoyment. Having small kids we always were looking for quiet places to let them run around. The best place we found was the disco because it did not open until midnight. Finally, debarkation was really simple and we got off very quickly with our bags placed fairly close to where our car was parked. We had a green debarkation sticker (which ended up being 3d behind those with red and those with white). Our debarkation time was 930am but they started letting us debark at around 900. All in all I would go on a cruise again, however, I think my wife likes the idea of visiting places longer than a few hours.