I organized a group of friends (both American and Italian) for a week together without the need for being a host. We booked in April and wanted a fall cruise from Venice as that port would be convenient to all 10 of us.

Pre registration. The english Costa site was a nightmare. Some of us were not able to pre-register and had to wait until the e-docs were received so that we could fill them out manually and bring them with us.

Embarkation. Once you arrived at the terminal, you were given a number. There were two lines. One for Costa repeat customers, the other for the rest of us. You can imagine which moved faster. On the minus side, there were only four processing stations open when we came through. Costa had more staff hawking drink packages than they had processing the passengers. On the plus side, you did not have to stand in line until your number was called and there were ample seats available while you waited. On previous cruises, one card was issued that served as a charge card, embarkation card, and room key. Costa gives you a separate room opening card and you find your charge card on your bunk. You then have to validate the card at a kiosk. I had to go back several times before finding a functioning machine. Read more