Staff was kind and helpful, very clean. Cabin and corridors are cleaned daily. Restaurants on 5 and 9 floor was cleaned permanently. We were informed about everything by daily news. Very nice. Information desc was available all time. It was possible to eat 7 am - 10 pm. But in case of trip outside of ship, from 3,30 pm to dinner time, nothing to eat except cakes and bagetas. Nothing for me. Every day was performance in the theatre - very nice. Fittnes was full, pools too. But not unmanageable. Nobody reserved seats around the pools, it was very good. Children in pools for adult were irriterende, nobody did not check them. Sometimes we moor a little bit far from the city but there are possibility of excursions. Bars at open board were very busy, maybe they could be more ones. Very inspirative were the dance courses during a day. We would like to go again. Read Less

Let me start off by saying I am neither a complainer nor a pushover. I like to say things as they are and to hell with what the majority or otherwise might say. Nor am I a happy clapper willing to give out praise where it not due. That out of the way, let me proceed. As seasoned travellers myself and my wife have been most places in the world and often several times over. However, until now we have resisted the urge to cruise. Don't ask me why, I have no logical reason, other than liking to be in charge of my our own day to day lives and what we decide to do with them, which is best suited to a holiday where we set the daily itinerary. I was often put off by the choice available, the often very high prices, and unfortunately, the high prices upfront to fly to some of the departure ports from Northern Ireland. For instance, the Caribbean felt a good option several times, but paying up to £700 each for flights just to get to Miami and then the cost of the cruise on top was a turn off. Deep down I also had a fear that I would get cabin fever, and also harboured an illogical feeling that a cruise ship was merely a tarted up ferry and I would know it inside out and back to front within an hour. This proved to be unfounded. So this year we decided it was time to break our mould and book a cruise. The Western Med seemed a safe bet, and being slightly off season in March we wouldn't have spent a Kings ransom if it turned out we really were not up for cruising at all. If we liked it, then spending a lot more in some sunny summer exotic destination would be less of a worry. After an evening of internet research, I arrived at the Costa website, and we finally decided on a Western Med 7 night cruise on the Costa Diadema out of Barcelona. We booked an exterior room with a balcony. We also booked the Piu Gusto all inclusive drinks package including Cocktails. So off we set in early March 2018 In the midst of severe arctic weather as a result of the polar vortex over Ireland and the UK in late feb early March 2018, and we duly arrived in Barcelona on a rather pleasant saturday afternoon. Our cruise wasn't due to leave until Monday night, so we decided it would be good to book a hotel for 2 nights in Barcelona as well. This was a great decision, we had 2 lovely days in the city, and our hotel was right by the cruise port which meant a 2 minute transfer from hotel to Ship on Monday afternoon. Monday came quick enough and a quick taxi run saw us arriving at a modern fresh Cruise terminal purpose built by Costa. The Diadema in all its spotless glory was tied up alongside. Our labelled bags were whisked away, and an hour later, we were called to board. On entering the ship the lavish design is the first thing that hits you. This was no glorified ferry! The ship is beautifully fitted out and spotlessly clean. We made out way to room 2037 on deck 2 and were pleasantly surprised at the size of the room, the bed and balcony. Our two Cruise cards were awaiting us on the bed. These act as your boarding card/ ID at port stops, your payment method whilst onboard, and your door keycard for entry to your room. The idea is you "pair" your credit card to the cruise card at one of the multiple terminals onboard. You then no longer use personal cards or cash on board. Any accrued cost, you settle the night before your trip ends. Of course, the card also holds details of your drinks package, so all your drink 'purchases' are free. You will be called to a meeting point an hour or two after boarding, resplendent with life jacket for a compulsory drill. All in all it took about 20 minutes. This is taken extremely seriously by the crew members and they expect you to treat it as seriously and pay attention to all that you are told. Common sense, and no more an interruption on your cruise than the flight attendant instructions at the start of a flight. At this point, I'll explain go back and explain the drinks packages. There are several, from water only, kids soft drinks, meal only wine packages, wine only all areas, main spirits wines and beers, everything inc Cocktails (but not absolute premium brands) this is the package that we had , and the everything you want package including the very top brands like 20 year old Brandys. Note: everyone travelling on the same booking must have the same package for adults. This is to prevent the card holder 'buying' drinks on the all inclusive package, and passing them to others who haven't paid for the package. Incidentally, I saw this once with a group of 30 something men. The barman saw it happening and immediately refused further service to the whole group. They were then escorted from the bar. I don't know if their cards were confiscated, but on the literature it does say that this could happen if abused. Simply, do the right thing and you are fine, if caught, the bar staff take it seriously and will take action. All the bars on ship serve the same range of drinks and the extensive drinks menu is at every bar. You simply look at the coloured dot that represents your package on the front page of the menu, and any drink that has your colour dot (yellow in our case) then that drink is included. Our package was hugely inclusive and only about 3 cocktails and a selection of like 20 year old brandies were excluded. It included dozens of top brands. Martell, Johnny Walker, Baileys, Smirnoff, Gordons, Martini, Bacardi, Canadian Club, and loads of liquors and beers, coffee, soft drinks and juices.. The Cocktail menu was to die for, with about 30 on offer. (Try the Bahama Mama!!) At €8.20 a cocktail, it would be an expensive night if you were paying by drink. Our package was €175 each. We each drank about €70 of cocktails etc on the first night! :-) Suffice to say, the drink package is worth it. When you consider it includes your wine at dinner, soft drinks etc at lunch time, all your Illy coffees on board. I estimate our tab would have been not much shy of €1000 for the 8 days onboard. (you can avail of your breakfast, lunch and drinks package on departure day as well!) Stay away from the minibar in the rooms as usual over priced. Now for all said above, heres the anomaly. This company (Costa) has a real bee in its bonnet over drinking water! Yes, the stuff you need to stay alive. It is not included free in the room (€3.50 a litre from the mini bar.) It is only dispensed from water dispensers to cup in the buffet area, and by glass only in the restaurants. If you want chilled bottled water, you have to pay extra! even with a drinks package, unless you take out the actual water drinks package! So Martell VSOP brandy and €9 Cocktails are included on your package, but chilled bottled water isn't even though they would likely stock it at about 10 cents a bottle! Very strange, and it seems to irk a lot of people going by comments here and elsewhere. It also seems unique to Costa. So, sort it Costa, really silly policy and one which needs addressed. I cannot for the life of me understand having an all inclusive drinks package and not having the cheapest and most basic form of drink available on it! However that said, I don't remember gasping for water onboard, it is available from dispensers 24/7 and we kept a litre in the room at all times. Moving onto dining. I can genuinely say that If I had have believed some of the ridiculous reviews left by some people here and elsewhere, I may have cancelled the trip. What it did do was leave us with some doubts as to what the food would be like. There must be a lot of people out there with very low tolerance levels, or very delicate palettes . This is an Italian cruise ship. There is no escaping it caters mainly for Italian, Spanish, French and German peoples. In fact English was the 3rd or 4th language translated for announcements. I am not a picky eater at all, but I admit enjoying the typical UK/ Irish diet. Everything from fish and chips, roast beef, a good curry etc. But I also enjoy rice dishes etc. I wouldn't say I am a big lover of the classic mediterranean diet, but I would have a go anyway. Suffice to say, the food will be different than the UK or Irish traveller might be used to. But its of very high quality. In a nutshell, both my wife and I were bowled over with the quality of food on offer. The Italian chefs onboard created dishes each night that were just amazing. From basic spaghetti and pasta dishes, to the beef, lamb, chicken and pork offerings. We were blown away. It was so satisfying too, as our expectations had been lowered so much by these reviews!. I have to say to some of the reviewers on this site, some of you must be serial complainers or just unfortunate, because the experience we had all over the ship was of a serious effort to provide top class food and experience and I don't think we were let down once. You will be allocated a dining room on day one, with either sitting 1 or 2. We were in the Fiorintino restaurant on deck 3/4 for first sitting. Some reviews said staff were nasty and overworked, food arrived cold and took hours. I think you are reviewing the wrong boat. Our waiter was prompt, wine bottle in hand before you had even warmed the seat. The 5 course menu browsed, a nibble at the constant supply of fresh breads, and the first course arrived within 10 minutes. We never spent longer than 1 hour to 80 mins in the restaurant unless chatting to people. It was a lovely experience in 5 star surroundings. The waiting staff were warm and friendly and nothing was too much for them. The food was superb, resented like a top restaurant and cooked perfectly. Now, if you didn't want the sit down 5 course meal, or you decided to eat later, the Buffet on floor 10 was available up until well after 9. If you have experienced all you can eat buffets before, this will be of no surprise to you, but it was no where near the problem some have posted. Its busy, but we never found it crazy busy. You may well have to look around for 2 or 3 minutes to get a seat in the actual buffet area, but never longer than that. Also the area directly outside the buffet has hundreds of seats and tables to eat at also. The buffet runs along 3 sides, and is split into Oriental (Chinese type dishes, rice, fried rice, noodles, ribs, chinese chicken pork etc,) Italian, spaghettis, pasta, lasagnes, ravioli, then a big area serving roast beef, chicken etc. A large salad area and a dessert area. Again, for a buffet, the food is very good and you can have a really nice meal here. One review I read actually said, "most of the food available in the buffet is cold"! what absolute rubbish! This is also the location for your continental breakfast. Cooked breakfasts are at your designated restaurants. In addition to this, there are 3 or 4 "prestige" restaurants, costing about €25 per person per head over and above your inclusive package. There is the Tarayaki, The Ferrari and another. We never bothered, as the food inclusive was so good. You also have an Italian Pizzeria and a burger bar available (at a cost) to about 1.30am, or room service 24 hours at a cost of course. The Pizza is to die for, seriously. We had a full cooked breakfast in bed one morning for €10 all in. (Full UK style) So thats the food aspect. We were really delighted. I expect in review columns like this, it is natural that people will come to complain more than compliment, but I really must say a big congratulations to Costa for service and food. So on to the ship itself. Wow. Its a bit of an assault on the senses. The sheer size of it is the first thing that hits you. It is vast. 16 floors high, numerous bars restaurants etc. A shopping mall, casino, cinema, theatre, disco, nightclub, 2 pools, jacuzzis, country club, Ice cream parlour, spas. Just about everything you would expect. I understand its one of if not the biggest currently on Mediterranean duty. The shops are typical of cruise liners. Tommy Hilfiger, up market watches, and the typical Boots type perfume and lotions shops. Not really our thing but nice enough to kill an hour or so. Do be aware, they run 'sales and promotions' most nights, but in reality the prices are rubbish and its easy to get sucked in when in holiday mode. You will pay at least what you will pay at home, sometimes a lot more! Suffice to say, ignore the 75% off luxury watches promos. Ripoff. But I am sure you are not cruising for the shops on board. Each night, you will receive the ships "newspaper" detailing all of the next days activities and the port of call. This is excellent because you know whats on the ship at any time. We enjoyed a show one night in the vast theatre, and shows change nightly. But we found our home in the country club where a terrific cover band called Royal Alligators played Dire Straits,Queen, Toto, Police, and all the old classics until the early hours. They were very talented and pulled big crowds each night. Other than that, it was nice to just drift about the ship in and out of venues to see what was on, you really can lose yourself walking about the many decks and bars. The bar and lounge areas are all slightly different but designed beautifully, and its lovely to sit in any of them and just take in a bit of entertainment. And this is non stop. This is a dancing boat! Morning noon and night, there are couple Cha cha'ing or Latin dancing to their hearts content. There are free classes on constantly, with bands, singers, musicians, comedians, and dancers doing different shows every night. The public areas are busy, but not frantic. Italians do tend to converse loudly and shout rather than talk, but I don't remember ever feeling that the Ship was rowdy or boisterous. Just happy! You would have thought the waiting and bar staff would be trained to slow down the drinks intake of all those all inclusive passengers to save the company money, but its quite the opposite. The staff will arrive as soon as your glass is empty to fetch a refill. The service is excellent. In fact, the attention and service of staff all over the ship is really exemplary. They are courteous, well trained and efficient. There are always people polishing stair rails and glass partitions, cleaning surfaces etc. You will not see a fingerprint on this ship. I'll not dwell on the ports called at. Suffice to say, we stopped at Palma, Palermo in Sicily, Rome, Savona, Marseilles and back to Barcelona. I cant comment on the tours, but we booked the bus transfer to Rome and it left and came back on time, and the same in Palma. On early arrival back at Barcelona, we had breakfast. Our cases were left outside the room the night before to be transferred to the terminal for collection (saves you carting them through he ship on exit). We were told we could stay on board until about 1 pm which we did, availing of lunch and a few more Cocktails! So an excellent trip with 5 star service board and food. We will definitely cruise on the Diadema again. Read Less

It's a pity I only read the reviews about Costa after I have booked its Mediterrean cruise. Turned out the negative reviews of most critics are true! Indifferent restaurant service, overcrowded and messy restaurant with mundane food, chaotic restaurant seating arrangement, below average night shows, confusing ship facilities layout, poor communication regarding embarkment & disembarkment etc., all made our experience with the cruise under-whelming. The buffet was always too jammed with insuffucient seats & you had to be quick to grab a table & sat almost shoulder to shoulder with another fellow passenger. On a postive note, the premium insde cabinet was large enough for 2 persons with sufficent storage space. It was also clean & tidy. If you go to the breakfast on the third floor where eggs and bacons are served, you are allocated to sit with others without any sense of logic. We are a couple & there are plenty of small tables with 2 seats. Why are we allocated to a big table where similar couples are forced to sit together? Read Less

The story with Costa started badly from the beginning. It was our first cruise. When we were getting on the cruise, we were attended by a person who barked at us in an incomprehensible language and forbade us to enter because of a non-existent schedule problem. Behind him came an officer on board who, in very bad manners, let us reluctantly pass by the cruiser. On entering, we asked for the Wi-Fi in the Hospitality Service and we were 'greeted' by an Italian woman with very bad manners who made us feel like idiots for asking questions (it's her job to answer them, after all), and informed us that the Wi-Fi service was not only paid, but it was also divided into two RIDICULOUS categories: social networks and internet. Either you paid one or you paid the other. And they charged you 100 euros for 3 GB for the internet. The worst thing was that in addition to the theft of the price if you left the cell phone turned on unused it consumed all the data bought. Of course, this was not advised when offering the "service". We happened to buy the internet and went to dinner and on returning, we no longer had access because the data had been magically consumed. In general, the customer service was appalling. At all times the relationship with the staff was horrible and unwilling. The waiter from the restaurant, for example, charged us with things we didn't consume, brought us the wrong dishes, and was angry when we explained his mistakes. The cleaning of the room was bad: when drawing a curtain, some peanuts showed up on the floor, thrown together with who knows what. The decor, cheap and tasteless. Rome is one of the most important destinations on the itinerary. The cruise arrived in Rome at 8 am and departed at 7 pm. To take advantage of the time, from the excursion office we were suggested to take the train instead of the bus to Rome, on a tour organized by Costa in which they would only leave us in the city (without tour included). In this way, we were promised to arrive in Rome in an hour and a half, so we could be in the city for about seven hours. 8.15 was the time of departure. The bus that took us to the station was delayed by Costa service issues and when we arrived at the station the train had already departed (we learned of this only because we heard our guide speaking on the phone in Italian saying that it had left, because nobody explained anything at all). As a result, they decided to take us to the next train stop. When we arrived, we saw on the tracks a train that looked like it came from the last century; not even seen in third world countries. To our stupor, it was the "fast" train that would take us to Rome. They made us climb on it, but the train did not start. Other passengers told us that the train was broken and that it would not start. Our guides told us that everything was fine and that they were only waiting for authorization to depart. Meanwhile, from inside and with a temperature of 40 degrees (in summer and with the air conditioning turned off), we watched the train driver pacing from one end of the train to the other talking on the cell phone hotly. Finally, we saw him pace one last time, this time with his backpack on his shoulder, and off he went. He had left us in the middle of nowhere. By now it was 11.15. TWO whole hours inside the hot train, which was sealed. Really dangerous. The guides told us that nothing happened, that in a few minutes the train was leaving. With other Spanish speakers, when we saw the driver leave, we got together and decided to pull the emergency levers to get some air and get off the train, which was already a living hell. We asked the Costa guides to send us a bus to take us to Rome. They refused and said we would return to the cruise. We told them that we did not want to lose Rome, but nothing convinced them. At 12, having already lost three hours, the broken train brought us back to our starting point. If we wanted to get to know Rome, we had to sort ourselves out. When we reported this to Costa, all they did was bring some grapes to the room along with a bottle of cheap champagne that did not even reach half a liter, and they gave us back the money for the tour. At no point did they seek compensation in any way for making us lose one of the most important destinations of the cruise. The worst thing is that they treated the money refund as if it were a favor. As a cherry on the cake, the night before the cruise ended, we found that the refrigerator door of the cabin was locked. The bottle of water (which in any part of the world is courtesy of the service and in Costa was charged) and snacks (which of course if consumed were charged) had disappeared. Why? Because as they closed the account at midnight, Costa did not want to risk the consumption of soft drinks or snacks without paying (!!!!!). It is stated that as a rule of the cruise each person had a charge of 10 Euros per day per trip. As 5000 passengers travel, they collect 50,000 Euros daily for gratuities, but they can not conceive losing two Euros if any passenger consumes a snack or a bottle of water the night before departure. This is only a sample of the pettiness of these people; The examples (in just seven days) are too many to write. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND COSTA. At all. Unfortunate experience and unfortunate service. Read Less

Cruised out of Barcelona on March 20, 2017 with our 2 teenage daughters. We had two cabins next to each other. The ship is beautiful and very large. OUr cabins were on the lowest deck. It was by far the nicest ocean view cabin I have ever had on a cruise ship. Very large with 2 bathrooms. Ports of call were all very nice. Food was just average. Half the nights we ended up at the buffet for dinner instead of the dining room. We were assigned to open seating at Corona Blu. The nights we did eat there, we got right in. We were given free tap water. No problem. We also purchased a package to get bottled water. Our room steward Rushpandi was incredible!!! He went above and beyond in every way. We looked at this cruise as a nice way to get to see several cool ports and our goal was accomplished. The ports made the cruise. Read Less

Horror!!! Horror! Could not wait to disembark after a week from hell !!! The most mercenary employees in tourism i have ever met in my numerous travels, the managers have absolutely no consideration for the passengers, only for their business. My family live on different continents hence we thought a week together on a cruise would mean both rest and togetherness, something to remember fondly. We booked together,we flew together, we embarked together only to be split on different decks by the company ( you do not want to know the distances between the decks and the daily hassle). The stewards told us they had rooms on the same decks and we repetitively tried to reason with the management/ guests services explaining that the very reaons for the cruise was for us to be together. it was to no avail. We were all hassled non-stop, we ended the one week exhausted since we had not had a single restful day. They are extremely mercenary in everything, thin air is the only thing you do not pay for on costa diadema. No rest, no afternoon naps ever, every afternoon emergency drills and announcements in all cabins (!!!), even if you were drilled upon embarkation you repeat everything every single day, every single afternoon for about 2 hours both in your cabin and on the halls in 5-6 languages. A total of 7 days x 2 hours / day afternoon drills resulted in a large number of hysterical passengers who embarked in the same hope to be able to enjoy a few restful days, only to literally weep with joy at the end of the cruise. Moreover, again, on a daily basis, all the crew only announcements are heard in all cabins, non- stop, as they are way too cheap to buy walkie talkies or professional switchboards to only announce the drills in specific rooms or crew only announcements delivered only to staff. By the end of a week we were bone tired, traumatized, a bundle of nerves and happy to crawl off this pathetic ship swearing never ever to book costa cruises again. Everything on this ship is focused on covering them against any complaints/claims coming from passengers, it is never about the passengers' wellbeing. Nothing works properly hence you have to run to and fro for several km/ day from upper decks to reception to sort out malfunctioning cards, misunderstandings etc after, obviously, repetitively standing in huge queues. 5000 people and two tiny pools ( one in the middle of the buffet area- imagine the chlorine smell and the flooding restrooms nearby - pictures upon request) . Ever day they automatically withdraw 10 euro/ passenger from your card unilaterally - you are compelled to put money on their card and they administer it as they think fit- conveniently forgetting to mention that this is a daily tax not legal to impose on passengers in european waters. On the contrary, the management at guest services insists that it is a must. In european waters, it is the passengers' decision to offer the sum if you are happy with the services, at the end of the journey as all other companies know and accept. Generally speaking on cruises you comply gladly because you are satisfied and well rested, happy with the services provided. here, whether you are a satisfied customer or an extremely dissatisfied one you are told that " bad luck", you have to pay (i have recorded proof i can provide in this respect). On costa diadema everything is on savings mode. On other cruises you are looking forward to the fabulous performances in the theatres every evening. On costa diadema they have a weekly evening show ( one of your 7 paid evening shows!!) delivered by the employees - pathetic amateur night they claim the passengers must appreciate as it is a gesture for them. I shall not be imposed amateur shows upon myself and my family as we did not pay for them ( can provide some videos for general hilarity). I suggested we, the passengers, could also help with further savings, some can sing, others dance, a few recite, numerous hum etc. It is extremely embarrassing for both sides: passengers who are told that they should be grateful and appreciate this " nice" gesture on the part of the staff, and the staff themselves who are ridiculed on stage. When compared with the grandiose shows on other cruise lines you feel like crying at your stupidity of having chosen costa. On the other nights a few pathetic dancers/ singers on a big stage on which they get lost, try hard to warm up the passengers, again to no avail. Non stop mix ups, attitude problems, laziness, misunderstandings because of language difficulties of employees ( we suspect super overworked and very cheap for the company, hence no special skills are needed). Should you - god forbid - expect an egg for breakfast, you are told to go down two decks and buy one in a specific restaurant:)) how cool is that ?! Fabulous Diadema savings mode Part of my family accommodated forcefully- as i have shown above-on a superior deck hardly saw their steward ( we had a very good steward on a lower deck). When they complained at reception they were sent a few apples in a basket and a bottle of cheap champagne and nothing changed, they were told that they should be pleased. No further comment. Do not recommend costa diadema to anyone ever!!! Those who worked hard for their money and wish to rest and enjoy a few nice days are in for a very nasty surprise. Buffet closed and cordoned off 1-1.30 hours before closing hour, resulting in even longer queues, even machine water and coffee are attentively monitored and offered only for a short time, while staff watch eagle-eyed so that you do not take 3-4 cups of water. Have been waiting for months on end for this cruise together with my family only to find that at the end of it i had to apologize to them all for the week from hell i had imposed on them. Never, never again costa. We have been on very many cruises before but never experienced anything of the kind. I had expected february to be a more savings oriented cruise but nothing to this extent. If that is the way they treat passengers i do not think i can afford to throw money away on them and, meanwhile, on my own money, masochistically torment myself and my entire family. Read Less

We have travelled several times with the Costa. Always with great satisfaction, but this ship is really awful. Crowded with shouting and screaming children. What a terrible noisy and badly runned ship. Everything is concentrated on the Italians, while there are so many different nationalities on board. But that does not count on this ship. Food in the restaurant was not well prepared. The buffet had just an small choice and in the morning there are no eggs at all. The place arount the swimmingpool is always dirty. It is a pity that they replaced a lot of serving staff from Philippines and Indonesia by unfriendly Italians. Costa if you want to be an international firm, then you should do more for the other nationalities and not only make your animation program for the Italians. The cabin was cleaned by very friendly people from the Philippes. Entertainment in the big Music hall is good, but there is hardly no music before dinner. Everything starts when the Italians are ready with their dinner. And that is very late. Read Less

First time with Costa Cruises. The ship and accommodation was magnificent. The entertainment in the theatre and by the Latin dance team was excellent. Room cleaning was good. Bar waiters do not harass you to buy drinks, they ask once and place a napkin on your table to signify to other waiters that you have been dealt with. However, I thought Costa let themselves down in several ways. 1. On board gratuities are compulsory therefore service suffers. 2. Prices quoted in bar menus do NOT include a 15% service charge. 3. Sales stalls are set up in high volume walkways causing congestion and making it difficult to move around. 4. Charges are made to get from the ship into the town where you are docked. These are excessive e.g. Ibiza Town - Costa charge 12.95 euros, the local bus from the port is 5 euros return. The time at each destination could have been arranged better e.g. 6 hours in each of Naples and Barcelona as against 18 hours in Ibiza. Read Less

We have cruised many times, but only twice on Costa. ( 14 times on RCCL, 4 on Celebrity, 2 on Carnival, 3 on Princess,etc) We understand that once it was bought by Carnival, the quality of service would go down to Carnival’s level. Well… It went way down from Carnival’s level Costa Diadema Nov 11 to 18 - 2014 from Palma de Maiorca,The food, was horrible, the Filipino and Indonesian service was just as bad, as the waiters are not properly trained on the Western ways. If at dinner, you want a glass of water, they charge ( bottle) you for it. Since when is water a chargeable drink ? So, what is drinkable for free at the dinner table of the dinning room ? Nothing ? No dinner buffet Only at the main dinning room, and at the PAY FOR restaurants Some staterooms do not have a choice early or late dinner No room service for some staterooms either At breakfast on the cafeteria, no eggs,and no hot items.of restaurant, nor of At the night buffet party, you pay for everything you eat. I have never been in such a tiny cabin, as on this cruise on the Diadema I will stay away from Costa, and advise everybody to do the same. We were a group of 6 and this is our overall opinion!! Read Less

The food in the dining room and the lunch buffet had excellent food. A buffet option should also be available. I have to say that the dining experience was not very pleasurable in several ways. The last night, the entree didn't arrive until one hour and twenty minutes had passed. The shortest time for the entree to arrive was 55 minutes. I have to say that I ate much wonderful Mediterranean seafood and other dishes. So many children were running around the dining room and screaming while the waiters were carrying their heavy trays that a possible dangerous situation was there. Some children were crawling down the aisles and under the tables. A few were climbing the dividing walls. Some were jumping down short flights of steps for entertainment. This is not my idea of a good dining experience. I had a nice roomy cabin. Noise started about midnight above my head and continued (every night) until about 2 am. The kitchen was there. The excursions were very good. I don't recommend the "total freedom" excursions, although some might benefit from them. The independence in this type of excursion was not good for me who needed more guidance to see the sights. The ship decorations look like they were planned by someone who had taken hallucinogenic drugs. They were very ugly and disturbing to look at. The brass sculptures were nice, the others look like an acid trip (although I have not had the experience).   Read Less

Bullied into paying 15% 'service charge', for drinks ; is too much, considering you are charged 48.00 euros each for 'service charge' with the final invoice. This is on top of extortionate prices for drinks - 20.00 euros for a white table wine, plus 15% plus daily 'service charge', or 43.48 euros for a nice-ish white chardonnay, plus 15% plus daily 'service charge'. Water is also included with 'service charge'. Cocktails would have been more enjoyable if the makes were recognisable, Discount packages are available, which I was not made aware of, and you need a fair intake before they seem worth while. Because of the size of the liner, only the largest commercial ports are available, therefore the romance of the mediterranean is spoilt by hundreds of containers, container ships, naval shipping. A courtesy bus is usually on hand to take you into town which is a big positive, except in Marseille where the bus is charged for, as the journey is 15 minutes to the tourist area, which is the only part of Marseille worth seeing. Excursions were always available, although, personally I prefer to travel less, and get up later !! At 50.00 euros a day each, this would have mounted-up quickly. Cabin was more-than-big-enough, very clean, room valetting was excellent. Overall service offered was very good. Information was readily available at the information desk, not always polite, but it's a long day and full of problems. Food was ok, considering the 'New York New York' restaurant caters for hundreds of people, it's amazing that it is as good as it is. 'Blue Moon' restaurant service was exemplary, the food was ok, and the prices were ridiculous, considering it is on top of the daily rate charged for food already. Needless to say, there were six of us in the restaurant, one couple sharing a main course. I would have liked to see more signs while onboard; there are 13 decks !! Going by the number of people asking for help, including myself, it would be an improvement. Gym was small but good, Spa was, again, very overpriced, but there are discounted packages available, which still seem expensive. Entertainment was from dance lessons, through bingo to onboard walks, and karaoke. Theatre was worth seeing, really enjoyed 'The Two Paraguayans' duo, by the 'chocolate bar'. I hope this review meets you as objective, it is not supposed to be a rant, just the help that I didn't have to make a decision on taking the cruise or not, and how to finance it.   Read Less