Background
This was my first cruise. I have friends who enjoy cruises and its something that I have wanted to do for a while. I had some annual leave I needed to use up before the end of the year, so was looking for a last minute holiday to book. I had a look on the Cruisecritic website looking a cheap last minute cruise and saw the Mediterranean Spirit cruise offered via IdealCruising; however googling around a bit I found the same cruise available on cruisedeals.co.uk for more than £100 cheaper. I suggested the idea to a friend of mine who was also looking for a cheap winter holiday and he was up for it, so I phoned CruiseDeals and spoke to their agent Lorraine who was very helpful and arranged the cruise for us. The total price was as advertised. This was £519 per person including flights. This was for an Oceanview stateroom. A real bargain, especially as the flights were with BA.
The itinerary was a seven day circle of the Western Med on board the Costa Concordia, beginning and ending in Savona:
Very clean; comfortable beds; loads of storage. Bigger than I expected.
Slight vibration from engine, but didn't bother me.