Booked this western Mediterranean cruise to visit most ports that I had not been to. I also had never been on Costa or any other Italian flag ship. I had cruised Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, and Princess on a total of 8 cruises. The advertised cost seemed reasonable, but then came added things, like water package, drink package, and specialty restaurants like the ice cream bar and the ...
We were offered a package with airfare and cruise. Seemed like a good deal. We had previously discussed visiting some of the cities on the itinerary,
First glimpse of Costa infrastructure technology was when we tried to log in to the MyCosta website
It asks for your first name, surname and your "BOOKING REFERENCE"
Login always fails unless you omit the first name..
We asked for where ...
This was our 3rd with Costa (and 26th overall) and we had always had great experiences previously with Costa so did not expect anything different on this cruise.
We were very disappointed overall.
The ship overall was very nice. It was well maintained and decorated nicely for Christmas. Whilst the layout of the ship is not the greatest (you have to go up or down to get where you want to go ...
Briefly;
SAMSARA SUITE #11005 - the second largest cabin size on the ship (I believe)
- ONE plug socket for guest use (oh and one behind the wall mounted TV)
- Massive balcony with tub but horrible blue fluorescent lighting (stops junkies I guess)
- Poorly designed bath screen needed a dressing robe cord to stop it banging all night
- WiFi signal practically non-existent
- Very ...
The good points are cabin excellent and kept clean. Boarding was efficient and the terminal very clean. Most staff were hard working although if you're English speaking some didn't seem to understand unless basic requests at the table. Entertainment was good, especially the Tenor singer. Wasn't keen on the night the staff provided the entertainment, some were good others pretty mediocre, bit ...
We wanted to enjoy some of the sites along the mediterranean.
Very disappointed with customer service.
They were non attentive and did not respond to our concerns.
Wait staff were indifferent and sometimes hostile and arrogant.
Disembarkment and dispensal of passports at the end of the cruise was at best chaotic and disorganized.
Recommendation save your money and go on an American ...
My first cruise and it did not scare me off from going on others. It did however cement our resolve never to cruise with Costa again. A bedlam of constant noise, either from the clientele (if you do not enjoy Italian style of communications... don't go! Just sayin!) or from the very frequent announcements. If if wasn't the daily safety drill (yes, this cruise is a rolling cruise... peep ...
So to tell the story, my father and I hired a travel agent last minute to make a trip to Spain for New Years. We decided to go for a cruise that goes to some of the Italian coastal cities, so based on our budget, we went with Coastal Diadema.
Checking in and getting into our cabin was fairly easy and the New Years celebration was a lot of fun since you could go to different areas in the cruise ...
I called Costa Cruise in Miami to find out information before getting on the ship regarding payments onboard and other pre boarding questions. Each question was answered incorrectly and when we boarded we were in for many surprises.
On the first night of the cruise, were were FORCED to purchase a drink package for each of our three children on the ship who were staying in their own cabin. Two ...
Wanted to try a different cruise line so chose Costa, the ship was lovely and I can't fault the cabin or the public areas very regal and good quality finishes however our experience was somewhat coloured by the type of clientele the ship attracts, I can only compare to one of the hop on hop off buses which are plentiful in the ports we visited as the ship takes on and disembarks passengers at ...