Costa Europa Cruise Review by Paul&Kathy

I don't intend to focus too much on the ship itself except to say that is fine in an old-fashioned sort of way. There are 2 good sized pools, plenty of open deck space and sunbeds but you have to be up early to bag a space in the shade. I don't think many people would choose this cruise for the ship - it is very much for the itinerary and the unique and exotic ports of call. Many of these were quite difficult to research before leaving as so few ships sail the Indian Ocean, so my aim in writing this review was to try to provide as much information as possible about each port. However, there were many changes which sadly resulted in the loss of many of the ports.

The original itinerary included Mayotte in the Comores but when our final tickets arrived a few weeks before sailing this had been removed and substituted by Tamatave, an extra Madagascar port. We were aware from news reports before leaving home that there was a serious political situation in Madagascar and that the previous 2 voyages had been changed to avoid the island. Some passengers did not know about this and were disappointed that Madagascar might be missed, but of course safety has to come first. The first night on board we received a letter stating that Tamatave would be dropped in favor of an extra day in the Seychelles, which seemed a good swap. A few days later another letter was sent around to explain that Nosy Be, in the north of Madagascar should be alright but that the authorities in Diego Saurez could not guarantee our safely so we would not be able to call there, but would have an extra half day in Reunion instead.

Unfortunately, shortly after leaving the Seychelles the Europa suffered what was nicely described in Costa-speak as a "technical inconvenience" - basically it seems that one of the engines and/or propellers (depending on who you spoke to) had failed leaving us only able to proceed at about half speed. The announcement duly came that we would not arrive in Mombasa until late afternoon of the already rescheduled day and would stay there the following day to allow the safaris to be run and the ship to be repaired. During that day the engineers, specially flown in from Denmark, apparently, found the repairs to be more time-consuming than first thought and the captain announced that we would not be leaving until the following lunchtime, that the day in Nosy Be had to be cancelled and that everyone would receive 300 euros per person on-board credit as a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience which could as an alternative be taken as a 600 euros off a future Costa cruise. I am giving this as information only as of course opinions of the passengers varied widely between those who, like us, were disappointed but felt it was a fair deal in unfortunate circumstances, and others who were very upset and angry.

We left Mombasa the following day and it soon became clear that the problem had not been effectively solved. We could see from the landmarks mentioned in the daily news that we were already several hours behind by the next lunchtime, and the day after that, when we should have been well on our way to Reunion, we awoke to a lovely close-up view of the coast of Madagascar. By this time there was a lost of unrest on board, groups of passengers getting together meetings to demand answers and/or further compensation. This was at first refused, but an announcement finally came that we were well behind schedule, that the stop in Reunion would be reduced to a short "service stop" as several hundred passengers were due to disembark there, and that the offers were now to be combined IE everyone will receive 300 euros on board credit AND 600 euros off a future cruise. We duly received the vouchers in our cabins and the credits to our on board accounts. People (like us) who did not spend the full credit were repaid the balance in cash at the end of the cruise.

So now to the ports, or at least those we did get to !

Port Louis, Mauritius

We arrived at the port by taxi, check in took only a few minutes and we then found our way to our cabin, which was an inside room, plenty good enough for our needs.

Arriving late in the afternoon meant that we did not have time to do much that day except unpack and get ready for dinner. We were however in port until 1pm the next day, so took the Costa shuttle bus into Port Louis (cost 6 euros each return - you have to buy tickets at customer services before leaving the ship, although some people apparently used it for free the previous afternoon). For some reason the bus drops off at the Caudan Waterfront which is a lovely new shopping & entertainment complex, but almost completely closed on Sundays (which is the day Europa is always there). A lot of taxi drivers were touting for business both at the the dock and the shuttle drop-off. Riding in on the bus it looked as though the market was closed as well but in fact we found a very busy street. Cross the main road from the Caudan (there are underpasses but it is easy enough to dodge the traffic on a Sunday) and walk a few yards up the main street which is lined with palm trees. The market street is then on the left, African in style and full of cheap trinkets, watches, T shirts etc and we passed a nice hour or so wandering around. On leaving the market we crossed the palm street and carried on straight ahead one block back from the waterfront and again there were market stalls and hawkers. From there it was a few minutes walk back through Caudan Waterfront complex to the shuttle bus (last one runs at 12 noon).

Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles

The cruise port in Victoria is about 1km from the town, but unfortunately much closer to the local fish factory and we were greeted by the aroma. The "perfume"made its way into the ship's air conditioning system and lingered for all of the first day and night. A heavy storm the second morning thankfully deadened it as bit.

There are clear signs pointing the walkway into town which was quite pleasant, following a palm-lined street up to a roundabout. From the roundabout you can turn second left onto Mont Fleuri road and soon arrive at the famous botanic gardens. The 2 right turns both lead into town, or you can follow a path along the harbour through the park on your right soon after leaving the port gates. Europa was scheduled to dock at 3pm on the first day but in fact we were ashore shortly after 2pm. Nearly everyone used that first afternoon to explore the town. Victoria is one of the world's smallest capital cities and exploring did not really take too long, but it is pleasant enough. You can easily see all the sights in a couple of hours and maps are readily available from the ship and tourist office, with the little clocktower in the centre being the point of reference for everything.

Having 2 more full days on Mahe we decided to try to book one of the local ferries for the following day to visit the nearby islands of Praslin and/or la Digue. The (very good) destination lecturer aboard had warned that this was difficult to do on your own as the ship had chartered all the catamarans. Not being lovers of organized tours and 6am starts (and not keen to pay 184 euros each for a day trip, either !) we thought this might well be a ploy to sell excursions, but enquiries at the CocoCat and tourist offices in town confirmed that there was no availability for either day. Sadly it seems that the Europa does indeed take over most of the resources of this tiny city when it arrives. One of our dinner companions went into a local travel agency and did manage to book the Praslin & La Digue trip for 40 euros less than Costa's price, so that may be an option to save a little money.

We had planned to explore using the local buses and they seemed to be plentiful and cheap (3 Seychelles rupees per journey, where 25=1GBP) and some of our friends had a great time doing it that way. When we left the ship on the second morning we were offered a jeep rental for 90 euros for the 2 days and decided we would see more that way. There were several car hire firms at the port, ours (Exotic Cars)were really helpful and pleasant, the rep even drove with us to the petrol station to show us the way.

The first day we drove as far south as possible along the east coast, which was rather disappointing as very few beaches and a lot of the coast is surrounded by new islands reclaimed from the sea. We then crossed the island at the southernmost point (husband hates mountain roads and even this "low" route was more than high enough for him !) The west coast was nicer with several very pretty and very deserted beaches up until the road runs out at Port Launay. We stopped several times to admire the granite boulders, I think Baie Lazzare was the nicest beach we found. It is amazing how quiet and unspoilt the island are and it was quite refreshing not to be approached by vendors etc, but equally there are no facilities at all on any of the beaches. We stopped at Le Meridien Barberons hotel which was lovely and they kindly allowed us to use their wifi internet connection so long as we bought a drink in the bar. Internet access had become quite a problem for us by this time. Surprisingly there is no wifi on the Europa (although we had it on the smaller older Allegra 2 years ago) and the connection in the internet cafe is horribly slow - takes up to 10 minutes at 50 euro cents per minute to load a page of emails. Due to the change of itinerary we were trying to amend the safari we had booked independently for Mombasa to the following day, but unfortunately the company were not able to do it.

From Port Launay we could have taken the scenic route back to Victoria over the mountains, which apparently was beautiful, but we returned the way we came. The following day we visited the botanic gardens on the outskirts of Victoria (walkable from the ship - take the 2nd left at the roundabout as you walk towards town). It was worth the 5 euro entrance fee (or $7 US or 100 rupees) to see and feed about 20 giant tortoises that live there. Their website shows 2.50 GBP as an alternative charge but they would not accept my sterling even at a more realistic exchange rate. After an hour or so in the gardens we headed for Anse Royal, one of the few nice beaches on the east coast then returned into Victoria to use up our last few rupees, which we had obtained from one of the several ATMs in town on the first afternoon, as you cannot buy either Seychelles or Madagascan currency in advance.

Mombasa, Kenya

We docked at an industrial port a little way from the city centre. As we had spent several holidays in Kenya in the past we did not feel the need to go into the city but wandered around the little market that had been set up on the dock, where you could buy typical african souvenirs and experience the typical african market atmosphere, complete with hassle, bartering etc. We had long ago given up hope of our safari which was a shame as we had a good deal with an online company offering a day to the small Shimba Hills park just south of Mombasa for 50 GBP each. We felt bad at a having to cancel it for the original day and did not dare to ask them to rearrange it again, in case the itinerary was altered any more. Fortunately we had not paid anything up front but with the lack of sensible internet connections it was all we could do to make contact with them even to apologize, let alone rearrange. We could have booked onto the equivalent Costa trip for 133 euros but apart from the price difference it was a very early start and spent only the morning at Shimba and the afternoon on the beach, which did not excite us. Most of the passengers booked the long day to the Tsavo East park for about 160 euros which they thoroughly enjoyed (as had we on 2 previous visits) although most found it an exhausting day.

Costa did run a free shuttle bus into the city on the next morning which was a nice gesture, we thought.

Reunion

We docked again in a large port and there was a shuttle bus to the port gate, which is where I think buses, taxis and hire cars are available. Costa on this occasion (I think only because all the tours had been cancelled) ran a free shuttle bus which was advertised as going to a shopping centre in "Le Port" but in fact took us to a local market about 20 minutes down the coast at St Paul. There were however far more passengers than bus seats and we spent the first hour of our 2 and a half hour stop queuing for the bus, which only further inflamed to already angry majority of passengers. We had 40 minutes at the market, not nearly long enough, before having to join the queue to get back. Having said that, Reunion looks a very scenic island and the market is worth a visit if you are there on a Friday. The beach at St Paul was black sand and littered with pebbles, not very attractive, but I believe there are some nicer white sand beaches too.

Disembarkation

As reported previously on Cruise Critic, cabins have to be vacated by 4am -YES 4AM - on the final morning (for us this was the worst aspect of the cruise as we had hours of hanging around for our flight and could have done with a few hours' more sleep). Under normal circumstances we would have bribed the cabin steward to leave us in bed, but the cash accounts desk was only open until 5am and we wanted to be sure of our refund, so duly dragged ourselves out of bed. The process was surprisingly quick and simple - into the disco to wait in a short queue for our money, up for breakfast and then into the theatre to collect our passports. Independent guests were supposed to leave by 6.30am but we went back on deck for a coffee and left about 7.30am and nobody seemed to mind.

Conclusion

The captain admitted during one of his speeches that he accepted that "this cruise has been ruined". It was very sad and disappointing, both for us passengers who had travelled so far and seen so little and also, I am sure, for Costa, who must have operated at a serious loss for the duration. I just hope the experience does not put the company off exploring new and innovative itineraries for which they are becoming known. We are now trying to decide how to use our discount voucher and hope that our next experience will be a better one - and I am sure it will be.