The reviews on the web especially from subscribers to this site do not give potential cruisers on Costa Allegra a lot of confidence. How can I explain to those doubters that, "in life you get what you pay for" We chose the itinerary first and then the price, what we got was a 5* package in a 3* ship and in my book this equates to good value, after all cruises on a 5* vessel would have cost nearly double the price we paid. The Costa Allegra is not the most beautiful vessel on the high seas in fact its no more than a converted car ferry but never the less it serves its purpose well with all the facilities one would hope to have on a cruise ship. Our inside accommodation on deck 2 was larger than we expected, kept spotlessly clean by the staff a very comfortable bed and more than adequate hanging space. All the waiting staff in the restaurants could not do enough to help, the food was plentiful if not always as hot as we would have liked however we put this down to the air conditioning which everyone knows has a habit of cooling everything down quickly. Now the main reason for picking this cruise, the locations visited in Indonesia,Malaysia,Thailand and of course Singapore all com firmed our hopes and expectations, in particular the Komodo dragons, K.L. Bali and Phuket. Some of the other ports of call did not have the glamour but even so my wife managed to inflict serious damage to the credit card. Of course there has to be a downside, on board ship drink prices are at a premium high. Take a tip from me unless you have escaped from A.A. wait for the two happy hours per day and then purchase 2 for 1 and also buy the X1 drinks package at 9.6 euros per day which will more than adequately cover all drink requirements at meal times. The worse 'rip off' is the cost of the shore excursions. With the exception of Komodo Island and K.L. where the ship docks at Port Klang some 60 kms away I would recommend doing your own thing. Without exception you can arrange something private with the many taxis waiting for you when arriving on shore and always at a bargain price. So here you have it, ignore the moaners,its the itinerary that counts and if you can get a 5* package at a price you can afford the just go for it