Costa Mediterranea Review

At Costa - the customer is always wrong.

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Costa Mediterranea
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buckeyecruzrs
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Aug 2016
Cabin: Balcony Premium

We chose this cruise for the ports, which did not disappoint. However, we encountered many problems on our first time on the Costa line. The cruise was marred by inefficiency, little concern for the passenger, needless standing, waiting, and rude customer service.

The worst was rude treatment at the customer service desk. On the third day of the trip our internet stopped, costing us about 100 mb on our package (about $50 worth). At customer service we found that this was because our onboard account had been closed as we had failed to register our credit card upon boarding. Unlike other cruises where we registered the card online, Costa requires an additional step of standing in line at one of a handful of machines to feed and register the card. There is fine print on page 5 or 6 of cruise documents saying “register your card.” We wrongly assumed online registration was enough, but customer service very sternly let us know otherwise - we should have stood in one of those lines upon boarding. We then gave our card, they registered it, and after we apologized for our stupidity, asked if Costa could make good on the internet package we had paid for and restore the 100 mb. NO, we were told, it was our fault that we had not registered our card so it was also our fault we lost the time. “You would not have lost the time if you had registered your card as required.” We tried to explain innocent ignorance. Heightened reprimand by customer service, by this time the worker and her supervisor. I asked politely for a business card or their names, making clear that Costa had refused to make good on my purchase. The supervisor immediately covered his nametag with a brochure as did the customer service worker. The supervisor backed into his office and closed the door. No names. On any of our prior cruises, the internet time most likely would have been restored and our apologies accepted. And certainly customer service workers would not have covered their names.

Now the inefficiencies. The first was at luggage drop. As instructed, we had printed our luggage tags and attached them to our luggage prior to arriving at the port. We arrived at luggage drop a little before 2 PM as instructed and encountered what we thought was a reasonable line. We anticipated a quick trip through the line and out of the Venice heat. Problem was, those ahead of us in line had not printed out nor attached luggage tags. So, while 3 people were working the conveyor belt for luggage and 2 were at the check in desk, the employees did little most of the time due to the inefficient setup. Each party that had not attached tags stood there while one person at the desk gathered their ID and information and made out and attached tags. The other person at the desk simply handed a numbered card when this was done. The men at the conveyor belt stood there waiting for the luggage to be handed over once this procedure was completed. And we stood in line waiting as this slow procedure was repeated over and over. Seems like they could have had one line for tagged luggage to be handed over, which would go very quickly, and another to take care of those who required personal assistance. When we finally got to the front of the line it took all of 5 seconds to hand luggage over and receive a number.

Cabin Review

Balcony Premium

Cabin BP

The cabin was clean, well organized, and our cabin steward Christopher was great. One of the best in our many cruises. He was in the room while we were out to breakfast and again during dinner. So unobtrusive and so very thorough. Always plenty of fresh towels. The only drawback in the cabin was one afternoon when everyone was getting back from shore excursions there was no water pressure in the shower for a while. This was on the "gala" evening so a bit of the problem.

Port Reviews

Split

We toured on our own, which gave us an opportunity to explore the basement of Diocletian's palace into which his ship would sail back when water levels were lower. The entire city is best on foot and at a slow speed. It was long walk into town and no shuttle service was offered.

Kotor

The old town is fascinating and walking up to lookovers is worth it. We had to take a launch in from the ship, so a bit of a wait in a lounge for our number, but the transfer itself was quick and let us out in the center of town. No wait for a launch back.

Dubrovnik

Again we paid extra for the shuttle bus into town where the old town was the drop off point. We walked the full circle of the old town wall. Take water and good hats - it was hot with almost no relief from sun and many sets of steps to climb. But it was worth it. We spent most of our limited time in town hiking the wall - it was a stop just for the morning. I would like to see more of the town.

Corfu

We took the cruise bus into town at an extra charge. the bus itself is a long walk in full sun from the ship (yes, we walked it), so we advise anyone to take the cruise shuttle to catch the cruise bus to town. The bus let us off at tourist information next to the fort, and we climbed to the top of the lighthouse. A warm hike but worth it. Breezes and good hats made it tolerable. The old town is nearby and worth a walk around.

Venice

We toured Venice on our own both before and after the cruise. On disembarking we purchased a day ticket for public transportation. We used vaparettos to get around Venice, followed by a ride to Murano island, back to bus station and then a bus to our airport hotel, from which we had an early morning departure the following day. The public transportation is very easy to use and we never had long to wait.

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