Costa Fascinosa Review

-- / 5.0
Editor Rating
112 reviews

Can you tone it down a little? Ciao!

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Costa Fascinosa
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Tormentor
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Value for Money
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Additional details

Sail Date: Aug 2015
Cabin: Balcony Classic

The ship is very big. Getting around took some time but slowly we learned where we were going. Embarkation was a breeze. We each had forgotten we had a bottle of something in both checked bags and carry on which was completely ignored. Once onboard the English speaking guests were sequestered for our safety briefing. I was a little worried there were so few of us. I later learned that of the 3000 passengers we only had about 200 English speaking ones. The staff did their best to compensate but so few of us meant we missed out on a lot of things like entertainment and English tours.

The staff were very friendly. Our dinner servers Ravirajah and Mina did an awesome job. My lady friend and I had a small table for two in Il Gattopardo upper. I was pleasantly surprised by the dinner food. It was a selection of Italian dishes based upon the region we were sailing near. If those didn't work you could always buy alternatives like Lobster for 15 Euro. We never went hungry as there were always 4 or 5 dishes for dinner plus soup and salad if you wanted. As neither of us drink much we opted out of the all-inclusive. We found that our beverages of choice were priced almost the same in a card or individually so we chose to pay one at a time. (Sodas were 3.30 Euro including gratuity). We were happy to find out that being from North America we had a special option called USAWATER included for free which gave us free water, regular or sparking, with our dinner. Breakfasts were simple and apparently European. Coldcuts, cheeses, pastries, bread, fruit, cereal. Juice, tea, cafe au lait and water was free and unlimited. If we chose to use the restaurant instead of the buffer we could get eggs. North American coffee was non existent, likewise milk to drink. My friend just got hot water and watered the coffee down. We were rarely there for lunch as we were ashore all but 1 day but the buffet choices ranged from sandwiches to burgers to salads. For lunch the only free drink choice was water.

Our cabin staff, Michael, did an awesome job and was very friendly. The cabin was large enough. We had 6 english channels to watch but they were all news shows. We had a selection of movies to watch. WIFI onboard was disappointing. Using it on my mini IPAD was extremely slow. It was better to go down and use the chips computers. Instead we went ashore and used wifi cafe's which were abundant everywhere except Palermo. Worse case, almost every McDonalds had free wifi. After doing a ton of research we opted out of the excursions and went ashore on our own. Savona was awesome. We were alongside right near downtown so walked ashore and did some touring and some shopping. Rome was hot. 40C We took the free shuttle out of the port and the 2 euro bus from there to the train station and the train to Rome. Palermo was disappointing. not much to see, and it was very hot. Ibiza, was a pleasant surprise. We chose to walk almost 3 km instead of pay for the expensive shuttle. Apparently the cab back was cheaper than the shuttle. The fortified old town was something to see. Shopping was good. Palma de Mallorca was also a nice stop but very hot. Castle Belver was pleasing. Disembarkation was fairly organized and we were ashore to the free shuttle which dropped us near Las Rambla in Barcelona.

Cabin Review

Balcony Classic

Cabin BC

Our cabin was more than sufficient for our needs. The double bed (two twins) was fine and the shower/bathroom sufficient. The TV selection was limited but we weren't there to watch TV. We had one North American outlet and one European to charge things. With an inexpensive adapter we had plenty of space. There was plenty of closet space and drawer space. Our balcony was fine for the two of us. It would have been crowded with more people though.

Port Reviews

Savona

We loved this port. The locals were friendly and the atmosphere was pleasing. We sat at a local cafe' and used their free wifi. I would visit Savona again,.

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