We had never been on Costa Lines but the only ship that went to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania was the Costa Pacifica, so a group of friends and us decided to take the cruise leaving and returning to Kiel on August 21, 2011. First of all, this is a ship where many of the passengers smoke, so if smoke bothers you,do not go on this ship.The smell permeates de ship. Second, the food leaves a lot to be desired. Even the Blue Moon specialty restaurant is pretty bad, with service there just as bad as the food. We had to wait a long time for our food, and the waiters were chatting in a corner of the dining room and we almost had to get up to get them to come and serve our table.Food took forever and the meat was overdone and dry. The cabins on the ship were ample and comfortable (we were in a suite on the 7th floor) and the steward which cleaned the cabins was very nice and accomodating.

It is a shame that such a nice,big ship has such mediocre food. It seems as if they only rearrange the options with the same sauces with different names! The music all over the ship is quite good, there is an excellent singer on the ground floor every evening, and the shows are adequate. The spa is quite good, with very good hairdressers and manicurist. Prices are high, so in a 3800 passenger ship the salon was never fully booked.I find it difficult to believe this is a Carnival Cruise line owned ship, if they have an interest in this line they should supervise the cuisine.Most of the passengers on this cruise were German and Italians, so maybe the food was meant to cater to their tastes?