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Nevis

Last year we cruised the Mediterranean on the MSC Opera- this time we chose the Costa neoRiviera.  The ships are similar, although the MSC Opera was lengthened a few years ago.  The Costa neoRiviera is leaving the fleet in November and will be transferred to their German division, AIDA Cruises, so this review won’t be relevant for much longer.

The good points: it was a very affordable cruise in peak season for 11 nights.  One of our party was travelling as a single passenger and Costa’s policy (in certain markets) is to only levy a 30% surcharge- this is another reason we chose this trip.  

Atmosphere:

Costa neoRiviera is a smaller intimate ship and is easy to navigate- the only trick to remember was the middle elevators didn’t go past deck 9.

The crew were fine and we encountered no constant upselling like on MSC.  The only disappointments were a confusing 30 minute life boat drill and crew not always enforcing the pool age restrictions, although considering this voyage was mid August this was often an impossible task.

Most of the passengers were Italian, the remainder French, German or Spanish.  There were perhaps 20 native English speakers on board so if you were looking to expand your Anglo social circle, this wasn’t the ship for you- English speaking guests are targeted by sister company HAL.  Since Costa and MSC are mass market cruise lines, the demographics of your fellow passengers come from a wide social spectrum; therefore, standard Anglo behavioural norms/etiquette are often lacking.  Being in the minority, the only solution is to modify your own behaviour: “when in Rome…”

Dining/Food:

Hurray!  After last year’s MSC disgusting culinary experience (straight from the microwave to your plate) and rude Maitre D’ attitude, it was great being on a ship where you could actually eat well and alter dining arrangements without any fuss.  Except for one night featuring a brand new celebrity chef menu (resulting in many half consumed meals) which the dining staff observed, the quality and portions were very good in the main dining room and buffets.

Cleanliness: 

The ship was clean (not MSC obsessive compulsive clean) and satisfactory although some open deck areas on level 12 required attention.  As the ship is being refurbished soon, perhaps it was decided to wait until then to perform the necessary work.  Having said that, there were sufficient deck chairs on board (an MSC Opera problem) and the ship never felt crowded.

Entertainment:

This is the only area that needs improvement compared to MSC which was exceptional.  While the special guest acts were quite entertaining, if the night involved the neoRiviera singers the performances were too repetitive- I think we saw the same prancing/dancing moves a number of times- just in different costumes. There is also a design flaw in the Ravello theatre- rows are tiered, but there are two rows in every tier so the second row can’t see over the first so you need to arrive early to get a seat with a view.

Overall verdict: yes we would cruise with Costa again.  Our expectations were met and the overall experience far surpassed MSC.

NeoRiviera, better than expected...

We have chosen this cruise like most people because of the itinerary.  11 NIGHTS WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN - an amazing itinerary.We sailed on 11 July from Savona.

Reading reviews I knew the cruise line is not perfect and did not expect much, but what we have experienced was so much worth!

Starting from the drill - which took at least an hour or more.

English speaking people were wondering around the decks asking where to go. Eventually we were put on one of the outside areas under the sun (no seating and no sun protection) where we had to stay for at least 30 mins prior the briefing which we cant hear due to noise.  By that time older people were not able to stand longer and some were shouting at the staff who were saying that it was not their problem - go and talk to the management. That was a big waring flag of what would follow.

- No good service (except our stuart)

- Poor quality towels and bed sheets, poor quality of linen at the restaurant  .

- Food of low quality and variety - what was not eaten on breakfast was used for lunch and then for dinner.

- I had twice food poisoning from the dinners' dishes 

- Horrible service during dinners, when we had to wait for one hour to be served.

- Only 2 properly trained and knowledgeable  staff at the excursion desk,  the rest could not do the job and were asking them to book or change tours and it took really long time to rebook excursions which were cancelled.

I can continue, but really don't want to as it makes me so upset.

The reason of all that - poor management on this ship.

 I would never step again on any of the Costa ships or recommend this cruise line.

If you pay me I would never step on this cruise again!

Grand Turk

We had previously traveled with Costa and it was just wonderful. Hoping for a similar experience, we booked this trip with great difficulty. Costa would not return e-mails or phone calls with our travel agent. They shoved a comfort package up our nose, saying we could not have the room without the package. Our room steward was wonderful. The swimming pool was very small and the hot tub was extremely dirty. The food was boring to say the least. Two buffet tables each with the same: always two curry dishes and two pasta dishes that were the same. That means a grand total of four spaces for each. From the buffet,hot water and free coffee were limited to breakfast and tea time.The coffee was just horrid. The cruise had been initially listed as 2 nights longer and we booked a bus tour accordingly. So we almost had to pull teeth to get Costa to cover our two extra nights in Rome that would have normally been on board. For the most part, much of the staff were rude and very stuck in their job descriptions. But there were a couple of gems: Lewis in the buffet room, two very special little ladies in the buffet room who got me hot water when I need it badly, the gentleman at reception who made the arrangements for me to play the bar piano in the afternoon(grr - first time had to find someone with a key, AND a piano bench). And since I was sick from Mumbai to Rome, everything was extremely frustrating. It was just our bad luck that we were not Italian, or our fortune that we were not screaming out heads off in that language. I could go on and on, but I think I have expressed my extreme disappointment with the whole trip.

From Mumbai to Rome on the worst cruise ever

Vancouver

THE best parts of this seven day Geek island cruise, the wonderful food and the great staff in the Dinning room. A special thanks from our family to Natalie the English guest representitive, she went above and beyond her duties to help us.

Cabin staff were uninvolved with us , unlike other cruises we have been on. We had an incident were one of our party was locked out of her cabin and after one hour and four people being asked to he[p she arrived at our cabin extremely upset. No apology  or explanation was given in an event that was quite traumatic. Again attributaed to the lack of involvment  of the cabin staff.We were really disappointed with this cruise line as it advertised itself as not really a family ship and they gave no discounts to children. I find this really hard to believe as this ship was full of families and young children along with strollers everywhere.

Beautiful children that we loved but as an older group we were trying to get away from our own families and choose this ship because it stated it was not a family ship. The noise level on deck was unbelievable as all these families joined in the constant loud music and dancing. One could not find a place on deck to sunbathe and read a book or just have a normal conversation without shouting.If you want that do not choose this ship.

I would like to thank them for helping us when our baggage was delayed and missed the ship complicated by the change of ports due to bad weather. Costa went out of its way to get our baggage to us. 

I am unsure if I would use Costa again or believe what they say in their advertising.

GOOD AND BAD

Costa NeoRiviera review – sailing date 20 January 2018

The itinerary: My Fly, land cruise was marketed as “Mauritius Stay and Jewels of the Indian Ocean Cruise”; Costa cruise documents listed it as “Heaven by the Sea”. 

Boarding was scheduled to be in Mauritius, followed by Seychelles, Madagascar and Reunion Island, returning to Mauritius. 

However due to Cyclone Berguitta, the ship was not able to dock in Mauritius, and Costa Cruises had to move passengers from Mauritius to Seychelles and vice versa. 

Whilst this was a major logistics enterprise, Costa could have kept passengers informed and handled it a lot better than they did.

I boarded the ship on Saturday 20th January at 11.49pm in Seychelles (thereby missing the complete first day there) and was told that I would be charged the full “service fee” of €10 for the remaining 11 minutes of that day. Really? I thought that was a bit rough!

Passenger demographics: On this cruise, the ship catered mainly for French, German and Italian passengers, with a few Spanish and very few English-speaking ones.

Visas: late on the evening of January 24th, with our daily program, we received a note regarding Madagascar visas. We were advised that we needed to contact Reception by midnight that day regarding the visas and that a temporary visa would be issued on board for €13. When I had contacted Costa, some months prior to sailing, regarding this, I was told that it was every passenger’s own responsibility to get their own visas – mine cost $A80. I was not impressed.  

Costa Club: Belonging was worthwhile.  I joined on line before boarding. I received 50% discount on extra price menu items and also 50% off the “Dinner under the Stars” menu at the restaurant on deck 6. Bottles of wine received a 25% discount, and there were other smaller discounts available on ship’s services and shop items.

Cabin 9196 Premium 0ceanview: Not a great deal of room if configured as a double/queen, but ample usable centre space when turned into a twin bed cabin. This also resulted in good access to the window shelf for extra storage. I was travelling solo – it would be a little tight for two.

But set up as a twin, the bed lamps are back-to-front as the metal backing faces the nearest bed and the lamp and switch faces the bed opposite! Also, the bedside cabinets open from the middle, back towards each bed, and have no handles. Drawers would be a much better option.

Bed and pillows, firm but comfortable, linen very good quality and changed every three days.

The desk was good with two Europe/Asia 220w power points as well as two American 110w points; good lighting and large mirror. 

There is a capsule coffee machine, with cups – bring your own capsules. This can also be used for hot water for tea – but gives just over half a mug – do it twice! 

Hot water is available from Room Service between 7am and 10pm otherwise phone Reception. There are two triangular cupboards – one on each side of the desk – the hairdryer is stored here.

The wardrobe had 14 bulky hangers – that unhook from centre fixture – so annoying and old fashioned! Thin wire hangers were available on request. There were only two shelves – a big gap between, and three drawers – 1½ each?

Bathroom: Towels are large and soft – excellent quality and the hand towel was a good size – there is no washer supplied. Towels will be changed when damp – even when hung up – unless cabin steward is instructed otherwise. Liquid soap/shampoo in shower and excellent soap on washbasin. Some toiletries are available on request. Water is hot, adequate pressure. 

Better than usual quality toilet paper for a ship’s vacuum flush toilet.

Safe: this is large and very easy to use, but it is positioned at the front of the cupboard above the minibar (opposite side to the desk), thus completely limiting any other access to this space.

Lifts: The forward lift will travel from deck 5 to deck 12 – midship lift will only go deck 5 to deck 9 – with no access to deck 7. 

Note: You cannot even walk from one end of deck 7 to the other. 

The aft lift goes from deck 5 (which is not really used as it is at the rear of the dining room) to deck 11 – buffet.

Food: available in buffet and dining room also a “pay for” restaurant.

Hygiene: there were hand sanitizers at the entrance to all food areas, but these were mainly ignored by the majority of passengers. However, I was not aware of any cases of Noro-virus on board, though what became known as the “Costa cough” was prevalent throughout the ship.

Buffet: open for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. Tea and coffee are only available breakfast and afternoon tea.

Situated at the rear of deck 11 with an open-air section. Flies can be a big problem after some ports.

Costa denies access to FREE, filtered drinking water, except when the buffet is open. All other times one must pay for bottled water.

Breakfast: a mix of cereals, yoghurt, fruit, cold cuts (cheese is sliced processed cheese), hot foods – with a separate egg station, and a good variety of bread, pastries and cakes. 

Lunch: Cold cuts, prepared salads and salad vegetables, cheese (block), fruit, hot foods, breads, a daily roast, about half a dozen desserts, (often mousses) and a pasta station. A hamburger/grill station is outside near the pool – this also serves a late breakfast and late lunch.

There is no FREE pizza on board this Italian ship served in the buffet, grill or restaurant! There is a charge of between €7.00 and €8.50.

Dinner: I always ate this in the dining room, never in the buffet, so cannot comment.

Dining room – breakfast: Similar “serve yourself” fare to buffet (but no flies) with a choice of various “themed” breakfasts – English, American, Mexican, Spanish, German and omelettes to order.

Lunch: I didn’t have lunch in the dining room. Dining room is closed on “port days”.

Dinner: set time sittings – early at 6.30 – late at 8.45. Menu changed every day. One could go right through all the courses if wanted – appetiser, salad, pasta, mains, dessert, cheese.

Be aware that what the menu states may not be quite what you receive! Often lost in translation!

Main meal sizes vary greatly - sometimes we received entrée size and at other times a large meal. At nearly all times, green vegetables were lacking. We always ordered two dishes of vegetables for our table of five.

The menu also contains “extra price” items. One night I ordered the lobster, which was absolutely superb. The flesh was firm and pearly white – it had been caught locally in Mauritius. As a member of the “Costa Club” I received a 50% discount on the price.

Beverages: wine and water could be purchased anywhere on board and taken into either the buffet or dining room – or the bottles could be held over from meal to meal.

Lounge areas: there are many to choose from, though some of the chair upholstery could do with a good cleaning.

Bar: opening hours and musician times are listed in the daily program.

Reception: open 24 hours – knowledgeable and efficient, however there are no “queue” guidelines – this needs to be addressed to cope efficiently with busy times.

Shore excursion office: Often very limited opening times – usually closed on port days. Again, this area needs “queueing guidelines” as there was often “push and shove” and “get out of my way” chaos!

Make sure you really know what you are purchasing because many tours list “see” when they should state either “view” or “visit” – there is a great deal of difference!

Full day excursions were much better value than so called half day ones. Be aware that the buffet will not be open if you are back after 2.30pm – only the grill area.

Crew: The lower levels of the crew – cabin stewards and food staff, friendly, but not so the officers – hardly an acknowledgement or a smile given out during the whole cruise.

Internet: Three packages available 250mb for €25.00; 500mb for €39.00 and 3GB for €99.00 – all come with a €3.00 “connection fee”, which I thought was a bit rough.

It was excellent paying by usage rather than by time as most cruise companies do.

I found the internet reasonably fast and efficient – even though sometimes I had to go through 5 steps to log in! And I was in a fairly isolated area of the Indian Ocean.

Entertainment: The Cruise Director was a “way out” dresser and he was enthusiastic, but spoke so quickly that it was really hard to know what language he was speaking.

I enjoy trivia and quizzes, but some of the entertainment crew had such heavy accents that made the quiz questions impossible to understand.

The couple of evening “guest” shows that I saw were quite good – I did not see a “production” show.

Library: Open for short periods – seemed to have a good collection of books – but not many in English, as the ship does not really cater for English speaking passengers. There is also a small “swap” section under a window – again no English reading.

Pool: there is a small pool, a slightly smaller rectangular spa pool and two hot tubs. Pool chairs are available on decks 11 and 12 and sometimes on deck 6 where there is shade as it is undercover.

Casino; Gym; Spa: cannot comment as I did not use these services.

Smoking: There is a smoking area on deck 11 (pool deck) and I think there was also one in one of the lounges.

Children: children’s activities seem to be well catered for.

In summary: I have done over 40 cruises and feel that I can objectively judge this cruise.

Costa is just a 3-star cruise line, good in some ways, not good in others. There were many inconsistences and things that certainly could have been managed better.

Would I cruise with Costa again, most likely not, except if the itinerary and destinations were exceptional – as this one was.

Costa needs to lift its game in many areas

We chose this cruise primarily because it stopped in Madagascar, however, a few days before departure we were notified they would not be stopping at Madagascar because of the plague.  We, of course, were notified too late to cancel so we proceeded with the trip.  For the most part the cruise was fantastic.  Wonderful crew, great food, spacious and private cabin. Since we were not going to Madagascar we were given an OBC and told we would get a 30% discount certificate for a future trip.  Due to a medical problem of mine the ships Doctor decided we would not be allowed back on the ship at Reunion even though I had the proper medication.  We, therefore, were abandoned on Reunion to fend for ourselves.  Due to the Christmas Holidays no seats were available on the flights to Mauritius where we had our on going reservations. The result was that we had to wait at the Reunion airport all day to finally get two standby seats to Mauritius.  I have written to Customer Care at Costa (Italy & Miami) several times about the 30% discount certificate, but have been totally ignored.  They won't respond at all.  The cruise, food, cabin and excursions were one of the best ever, but the Customer Care is a farce and enough reason to never use Costa again.

WONDERFUL CRUISE--LOUSY CUSTOMER SERVICE

We were not sure what to expect as this was our 14th cruise but first with Costa.  Previous cruises were with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and Norwegian.  We selected this cruise because of the itinerary and ports of call.  I had read previous reports and fortunately did not base our decision on these reviews.  

The cabins were spacious (for a cruise ship) and spotlessly clean.  We had the option of having the room made up once or twice a day and selected twice a day.  

Previous reports talked about the rudeness of other passengers and the pushing and shoving.  We never experienced any of this.  We did not encounter any other English passengers but all the crew spoke English.  If you are English speaking and you are looking to socialize with other guests, this will not be the cruise for you.

The crew were AMAZING!  They went out of their way to help make our experience memorable.  

We ate in the dining room 4 out of the 7 nights.  There was pasta on the menu each night, so even if we didn't like the featured choices, we could always get a good plate of spaghetti!  Because of the late departure on 2 of the nights, we ate ashore.  

The entertainment was varied and there were multiple dancing venues.

I can highly recommend the NeoRiviera.

Excellent value for money!

Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)

We have just returned from a back to back middle east cuise sailing on the costa Neo-rivierra for a total of 30 nights. The first week was spent sailing around the UAE and then a 23 night crossing from Dubai to Genova in Italy. The following is our opinion on this cruise experience. We try to be fair with our viewpoints on every cruise we do, other passengers on this cruise may have a different opinion than ours.

Flight, pre cruise stay and embarkation.

We flew to London for a couple of days before the cruise and then took an overnight flight with British Airways from London heathrow to Dubai. The evening hot meal was a choice of meat or veg curry and was suprisingly tasty. Breakfast was a dissapointment, just a cereal bar, juice and tea or coffee. Entertainment system was good and flight was comfortable for the 6h.45m flight. I had assistance at the airport and immigration was fast and efficient. 

We used the Dubai metro to get to our hotel and bought a gold NOL card. The first class carraige at the front of the train had room for luggage and was not as crowded as the other compartments. It was very easy to use and cost 25 Dirham,with a 19 Dirham credit included.

Our hotel was the Novotel Mall of the emirates suites, 2 metro stops within easy walking distance. The hotel was clean and welcoming,all the staff were friendly, our suite was large and comfortable and it was made available as soon as we arrived,which was a nice unexpected touch. Breakfast was very good,with an international selection as well as a few local dishes.

2 days later and we checked out, we took a Taxi to the cruise terminal at about 1pm. We dropped off our luggage and filled out the health questionaire and were informed that boarding would begin at about 3pm but our cabin would not be available until 8pm. A small selection of sandwiches and juice was made available while we waited.

At 3pm embarkation started and there was only a few people. The gangway was very steep and there was no way that i could walk it and so a security/immigration officer came down to take my passport and photo and i was escorted through a seperate entrance,i was made very welcome and directed to the buffet on deck 11. Our cruise card could not be collected until 8pm but we just showed our printed ticket to show we had the drink package and that enabled us to get drinks.

The Costa Neo-rivierra.

A small ship that was at first confusing to get around. The easiest way to navigate was to remember that the vast majority of places could be accessed by walking along deck 6 and make your way around from there.

Most of the inside entertainment areas were on deck 6 with a few on deck 5 , 7 and 12. Decks 11 and 12 were the buffet and outside areas.

Buffet.

We did'nt use it that often, the meal we had on embarkation day here was very nice with a nice selection of dishes including curries etc, however all this changed for the crossing where the selection became a lot more suited to the Med palate. There was always a choice but IMHO you cant really make a ships buffet look appealing. At peak times there could be difficulty in finding a seat,but this is true of any ship we have been on. Breakfast in the buffet on this ship included hot as well as cold selection. There was NO free pizza on this ship but a grill serving burgers, hot dogs, fries and salad was available, i tried a couple of burgers and they were good.

The only real complaint i had of this buffet area were the drink stations, they could become a bottleneck. My major problem here was that some passengers would fill thier personal water receptacles from the public stations and on many occasions i saw passengers coughing,then drink from the bottle and then fill this same bottle – small wonder that diseases soon spread. You can't blame the ship for this blatant abuse,there are big notices on the dispensers and even when i pointed the notice out to an offender,he became verbally abusive and a ships officer had to intervene.

Main Restaurant Cetera and St Tropez.

The Main restaurant is called the Cetera and although we didn't eat here,we had a look around and it looked very nice.

Because we are Pearla diamente members,we were allocated the St Tropez restaurant which is used for suite and pearl  members and is open every day for breakfast,lunch and Dinner. Most of the meals served here are also served in the Cetera restaurant with the exception of a chefs menu and we could have steak or king prawns as a no cost always available item.

The menu on the whole was definate regional Italian with a few exceptions.

On the whole the food ranged from good to very good,i only had to send 1 dish back because it was served cold.

Lobster was available at a 15€ supplement. I had it and it was my first whole Maine lobster complete with the lobster crackers (to get in the shell)It was messy to eat but superb.

Everyone, from the Maitre`D to the asst waiter were incredibly efficiant and friendly,nothing was too much trouble for them. A special thanks to the team led by Tamara. Amanda, Jin Jin (papardelle) Sylvester and Jessica, you are all stars and will be missed.

Bars and Drinks.

On our first week we had a pio gusto drinks package included. This gave you quite an extensive choice of both alco and non alco drinks. We are not huge alco drinkers, Donald enjoys an occasional glass of wine and i like my non alco cocktails. My fav on this line is the virgin banana colada and the pink panther. The pink panther tasted the same throughout the bars but the banana colada could change so vastly depending on who made it. It tasted so disgusting in 1 bar that i had to send it back,the second time it was better so i don't know what happened.

On our 23 night crossing, no drinks were included,so we bought a 40 non alco package at 110€ and a 25 cappacino coffee pack at 85€ inc service charge. Most of the bar staff were very friendly and we never had to wait long before being served. Anjean, Deryl, Leah and Michelle quickly learned our likes and dislikes and were such good fun to be around. Our thanks to you.

Entertainment.

The usual daytime quizzes,games,dances etc during the day and music and dancing in the bars and lounges in the evening as well as the different theatre shows. We found the entertainment and shows to be a very good standard. The entertainment team were friendly and worked hard.

We did hear some people complaining that there wasnt much to do but these were N.Americans and they freely admited that they like every minute of every day filled with organised activities.

Excursions.

2 of the 5 excursions we had booked were cancelled due to lack of english speakers. They are fairly expensive but on the whole offered reasonable value for money.

We did the safari on sir bani yas island. I was dissapointed not to see the giraffes but like the guide said, sightings can't be guaranteed. We did see cheetahs, gazelles,deers, ostrich eagles etc.

The Dhow cruise in Muscat was very relaxing,to be fair theres not an awful lot to see other than the rugged coastline.

The ancient etruscan civilization from civatavecia. Nice to look around and learn about these people. Supposed to have a typical etruscan meal included but don`t be fooled, meal was nice but i doubt the etruscans ate chicken, sausage chips and salad.

Front desk/customer service

Front of house staff, we feel often have the most difficult job aboard. They have to deal with passenger complaints and queries and Costa ships have a very large mix of different nationalities on board,this can result in quite a culture shock,especialy amongst the english speakers.

Some of the complaints we heard were quite ridiculous and could have been avoided had the passenger done just the simplest of research or used a modicum of common sense.

Why for instance would you complain because the tea used on board is not your favourite brand, why argue that you wont pay the compulsory service charge, saying the service you received is not to your satisfaction and you've only just got on board. Why should they refund your internet account after 3 days usage because you have now decided that this package wasn't for you. I heard all of this and more. The answers given were clear and dealt with in a precise and friendly way. Whenever we walked by we were always greeted by name and asked how we were with a smile.

Fellow Passengers.

 Lots of different nationalities on board, Italians, Dutch, French, German, Swiss, English, Russian, Spanish, Australians and Americans etc.

We only encountered a handful of rude passengers. For the first time ever on a Costa cruise we easily interacted with a group of Italian people. This may have been because several spanish words are similar and we have now gained more confidence speaking Spanish. We had such a good time with this group especially in the restaurant. We also met a delightful couple from Oz, Malcolm and Beverly, Thanks for your company and also to Yvonne and Hubby,we'll be in touch soon.

The ship and disembarkation.

The Neo riviera was kept spotlessly clean and was just a nice size for me to move about with my mobility problems. There are a few areas where i had to be extra careful, sometimes moving from a carpeted area to a piece of flooring caused me to go off balance.

Staff were very accomadating at the fire drill and whenever i went ashore, and assistance was always given to me when needed, i never had to ask for this, it was all done with a smile.

We arrived back at Genova Italy at 8am and were told we could stay on board until 5 pm and have lunch if we wished. Our train to Milan wasn't until 2pm so we stayed on board and had a bit of lunch and then disembarked. Because of our Perla diamente status, luggage was collected the night before and would be shipped home to us in Spain, so we only had an overnight bag to carry. I was once again assisted down the gangway and the chap took my bag and carried it to the exit,where we were shown the way to the train station, an easy 10 minute walk away. Both Donald and myself were very sorry to leave and we both agreed that this ship has now become the favourite in the fleet so far. We have now arrived home and have booked to go back on her in 2019. Thank you to everyone on board the wonderful Costa Neo-riviera, we had a wonderful time.

Middle Eastern Delight

Rostock (Warnemunde)

We really did not expect this. The Italians were noisy, water was only available when the buffet lounge was open. We had to buy water otherwise. Nothing on the ship is for free. Even when we wanted to play table tennis we had to pay for it. The gym is quite small, so if we wanted to gym and it was full we had to wait for machines.Our trip to Istanbul was cancelled so was the Mykonos port cancelled. The cling on showers, the small cabins. Although Athens was nice we spend three days there, while in other ports we docked 8 o'clock in the morning and sailed again at 14h00. We had to upgrade and pay for an excursion, because there was not enough English speaking people. Do not doe excursions! It is a lot cheaper by bus or by taxi.The shows were not in English so as South Africans we could not attend it.

We sailed with Royal Caribbean in the past and Costa does not compare at all! 

Our cabin attendant was excellent! This was the only nice thing I can say about our trip.

This was money well wasted

It was the worst experience on a cruise liner ever!

We decided to join South African friends who were sold this cruise through an agent.  We were aware of the different languages but as there were 4 of us were not too concerned.  We had hoped there would be no children but there were a few under 5's who were impossible (bar 2!) screaming and running up and down corridors in the bar areas and public areas. 

Entertainment only in Italian, excursions - not long as suggested except Venice and Athens, the rest were half days and very rushed. Booked three and spent more time in the coaches then sightseeing.  We went to Agostoli and were coached to a town an hour away which was shut up already for the season except two small shops and had to spend an hour there when we could have spent it in Agostoli itself which had numerous shops open - just one example. Cheaper to get the hop on off bus for 16 euros for two days in Athens then spend it on an excursion in Athens with Costa!!!!!  Service staff i.e. restaurant and cabin were excellent, hospitality desk mainly Italian speaking were very abrupt ------

Sorry Costa will not cruise with you again, so disappointed.  If not for our friends would have been devastated. No tea making facilities in cabins, no access to tea and coffee unless breakfast and 5 o clock tea time ------ nothing after lunch or dinner!!!! No table water offered unless purchased and so extras added. Know by quite a few of fellow passengers as Costa Plenty!!!

Costa Plenty ......

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