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Costa Cruises

Barcelona

Dubai

Marseille

Genoa

Rome (Civitavecchia)

Santos (Sao Paulo)

Valencia

Savona

Europe - All

Europe - Western Mediterranean

Mediterranean

France

Italy

Spain

Middle East

Oman

Transatlantic

Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

South America

Canary Islands

Brazil

Israel

Terrible

Very Good

Average

Excellent

Poor

Costa Mediterranea

Costa Magica

Costa Deliziosa

Costa Fortuna

Costa Diadema

Costa Pacifica

Costa Serena

Costa Fascinosa

Costa Favolosa

Costa neoRiviera

Costa Smeralda

Costa Toscana

Costa Firenze

Excursion 

Ketchikan

We thought it would be fun to do this cruise. The places we arrived were nice. The cabin with balcony was very good. Food and drinks tasty. But, the crowds at the lifts and in the lifts, the crowds when leaving the boat and returning to the boat, the queues at reception and the fact that bars were regularly closed, which meant that the bar that was open was very busy. And you have to wait a long time for your drink. I think this is scandalous! I'm on vacation and don't want to worry about anything, but all this has certainly caused irritation! The food in the permanent restaurant was good, although it was assembly line work because you had a 4-course menu in half an hour!  It seems luxurious, but it actually isn't.

It's just like any all-inclusive holiday, busy and with antisocial visitors who think they can brag about an orphanage.

Too busy, way too long lines!

Malta (Valletta)

I am an experienced cruise traveler but I have never had such a bad cruise experience. The food was very poor, cold and dried out. At the buffets you were not allowed to serve yourself, but the staff had to do it and there were far too few staff. You were not allowed to get drinks from the bars but had to wait for service. and there was too little service. therefore I could not use my My Drinks drinks package properly. At every place where the Costa Toscana stopped, guests came on board and disembarked. This caused a lot of unrest and hustle and bustle every day. The communication to guests was very poor. There were far too few places for guests at the shows. I could hardly ever sit there. there were far too few seats in the buffet restaurants. This was honestly my worst cruise ever. I complained but without any result

Worst cruise ever

Went on the Costa Toscana on a med cruise 19th August 2023 with my husband and three teenage kids.

It was not a pleasant experience and, given the price, we are bitterly disappointed. It’s not a luxury experience even though some of the decor is upmarket, we just felt hassled most of the time.

First big problem - overcrowding. Buffet heaving busy like the rush hour underground. Tired looking staff, long waits for drinks, for most things. 4 small pools for 6700 people. Long queues for water slides. Shows overcrowded, I had to sit on the stairs to be able to watch one night. Not enough seating in the shade. 

Second : Noisy. Always noisy. The chatter of all those people is normal but add to that the omnipresent piped music, the frequent very loud tannoy announcements (same thing repeated in 5 languages each time so they are looong) which you can hear in your room (making sleeping past 9am impossible). Absolute cacophony. Restaurants are often next to the shows so you can’t easily chat during a meal.

Third : The all inclusive package …isn’t. The extras for basic items just keep coming so it feels very mercenary and there’s some pushy sales tactics too, especially round the photos they take of you. 

Not included - water with your evening meal at your included restaurant.  Water at the sports area or in the gym.

- cleaning cost of the room. Mandatory €11,20 pr day per room.

- internet. That costs an extra €120 per person for full access for a week. You can’t take just a day, it’s a week or nothing. You can’t share it between the family, it’s per person’s devices. My 12 year old son’s phone they refused to count as one of my devices.

- use of the snow room

- drinks outside of the buffet restaurants during their opening hours. Any alcoholic drinks. Cocktails, champagne, I’d expect but no vin de table with meals.

Next - very limited activities for teens. There’s a very small sports area, one shared space for the basketball, volleyball and football, they have to take it in turns. Teens aren’t allowed access without a parent accompanying. That means sitting watching your kid train or play 1 v 1 because if you go to the pool they get chucked out. No gym access for under eighteens with or without parents. My 17 and 15 year old boys were gutted.

Finally - maybe a coincidence, didn’t feel like it. My husband and I ate some fresh fruit from the buffet and almost at once started with violent stomach upsets. Put us out of action for a day.  Ordered room service water,  took 2 hours to arrive.

Plus point, Shout out to Brian our room steward on deck 12. Lovely guy, really helpful.

Terrible time on the Costa Toscana

Costa Toscana.. where to start.. lots to discuss

For perspective purposes, I've never cruised the Med before, but I have cruised Alaska, Mexico and the Caribbean. I've traveled on NCL, RCCL, Princess, Carnival, Disney (and now Costa) on various 3-9 day itineraries so I consider myself to be a fairly seasoned cruiser in terms of expectations.  I've traveled with little babies and now with young adults over 21 so I've literally experienced all types of cruising.  I'll shoot everything straight to you as much as I can.

Why Costa vs RCCL or anyone else? 

I considered both as we needed a Sunday departure.  We had a party of 5 and the initial expense had Costa coming in a total of $2000+ less expensive with a few different ports than RCCL (Sardinia vs Mallorca for ex).  Costa caters to a more European crowd in the Med (about a 90/10 split EU people to US people) while RCCL is much more US focused (I heard it's something like 60/40 US crowd).  We had never experienced a predominantly EU type of crowd and were curious how it differed.  

Embarkation

Getting on the ship was a typical experience with no real hiccups. This particular Costa route allows passengers to embark/disembark at every stop along the way for various lengths.  You want to start in Barcelona and end on Barcelona?  great!  You want to start in Rome and end in Rome?  great!  You want a 4 day cruise to start in Sardinia and end in Marseille? we got that too.  I think this is how Costa manages the passenger flow but it's still very interesting to experience.  Again, it was not good or bad, just different.  It didn't impact our cruise at all.

I'll start with the ship..  Toscana is gorgeous.  She's new (May 2022) and you can tell because everything is clean and sparkly and awesome.  While it's the largest ship I've been on (5000+), the way they have broken up the spaces throughout the ship it never feels like you're with 5000+ people.   There is no common boulevard, there are ships sprinkled throughout two floors which is nice.   The elevators are fast, plentiful and very easy to use. 

Fun Fact.  Everything is listed in military time. Don't think that 1830 is 830pm..and believe you can head back to the boat by 7pm otherwise you'll miss it completely..  1830 is actually 630pm ;)

Rooms

We had two balconies that connected (yes the dividers open easily with permission) that were spacious and well defined yet a typical space configuration. Not much diff than anything else I've been on and I've only had exterior balconies.  The bathroom shower was actually large. Im 6'0 185 and didn't feel like the shower head was at my neck which is an accomplishment.  Lots of usable space in the room. A large TV is mounted on the wall with a selection of Spanish and Italian shows plus 1-2 english language networks.  No ability to stream Netflix or anything on the TV if that's what you need.  We don't watch TV in our room ever so it didn't bother us at all. 

Bars

There are at least 4 that we visited, with several more "areas" with live music in the evenings.  The Heineken Bar has a small stage and also serves great American bar food (wings, burgers, nachos, etc) all at an added price.. more on this later.  The Ferrari lounge area and the Sports Bar were almost always empty, more than likely due to the "go go go" of the itinerary. The Aperol and Compari bars were super cool.

The best bar for leaving port and where it cranks every day is on deck 6 "the infinity bar". A DJ spins tunes from 5-8 and it's a huge outdoor party.  Great fun if you can grab a seat and great appetizers as well (for a fee).  This is a MUST do attraction.

Pools

There isn't a traditional single large outdoor pool area.  They claim there are like 16 pools but they count a hot tub as a pool soo.. .There are four main pool areas with three being outside the rest being hot tubs..  One of those is adults only with no music.  The main pool area is under a dome and has hot tubs surrounding it.  This is where the bulk of the kids and families go. There is no water park although there are two water slide/tube things. Super crowded with long lines but with only one sea day, didn't really matter to me.   If this cruise had multiple pool days I would have had an issue because by 930am ALL deck chairs were taken and there were a boat load of deck chairs.  

Food

Dining?  two services for three meals in three diff dining rooms and two times.  There were also several buffets.  There was no Lobster night or baked Alaska or Steak night or Escargot night.. They leave those to the added fee specialty restaurants .

Speaking of food.. Costa's strategy is to provide solid good meals at sit down services and in the buffets.  That being said, if you want a hamburger at 4pm?  you'll pay $4.. you want a poke bowl?  $5.  You want french fries?  $3.  You want a slice of pizza?  you 'll buy a whole one for $9.  My experience on US based carriers in the past was that all of this was included, but maybe this is the way of the future. In any event I think the quality was better when we paid for it so we didn't mind at all.  The wings in the Heineken bar were incredible.  :)

Multiple specialty restaurants to choose all at an additional $30-$65pp up charge.  We had a rough sea day which impacted our specialty restaurant night. 

Booze

Multiple drink packages to select from.  Costa bases this on the average drink cost.  the base booze package was relatively affordable but no "name" liquors.  If you're good with a rum and coke vs a bacardi coke or a whisky coke vs a Jack and coke then you won't have an issue. 

Itinerary 

We embarked from Barcelona and visited, Caligari, Naples, Rome, Genoa and Marseille.  Each port was a FULL day (9+ hours) and each port we docked in the port with NO TENDERS required.  Getting on / off the ship was fast and easy with ZERO lines which was amazing to experience.

Caligari 

This is the southern port on the Island of Sardinia.  Great little seaside town with lots of history.  Take a little outdoor taxi tour for an hour from a local and then head to a beach.  We went to Poetto Beach on a 95 degree day.  It was packed but great fun. The water was super clear.  Would I go back?  not sure, but nice to experience.  You walk 5 mins off the ship and you're in the city center.  Super close and convenient. 

Naples

Did a pizza making class and then just walked the city.  Lots of shopping and a cool traditional Italian town.   Again you literally dock in the city center and walk right into town after a 5-10 min walk.  Super close and convenient.

Civitecchia (Rome)

Ah... the one they don't tell you about.  The port is a working port.  If you're not on a Costa excursion you have to take a taxi to the town of Civitecchia which is a 10 min taxi ride, THEN you get on your train to Rome (50 mins), THEN you're in the central terminal of Rome to begin your day :). ALSO, contrary to what Costa will tell you TAKE YOUR PASSPORT with you to EVERY PORT.  If you plan on buying anything and collecting the 12-18% VAT savings you'll need to show your passport.  Bonus, the Rome police wander throughout the train station and hassle tourists at random asking for passports.  If you don't have it on you, they are very threatening.  Almost like experiencing the Federales on a deserted road in Mexico.   That being said, Rome is Rome and it's a must see.

Genoa

Again you dock right on dry land. The problem is that Genoa is just a city without any real charm.  It literally didn't have any reason for being there as a tourist place until like 1992 when the city leaders decided to build an aquarium (like Long Beach CA).

That being said, DON'T stay in Genoa!  Hire a private driver (not through Costa but once you get on dry land).  For $50/hr they will take you to PORTOFINO and Santa Margherita.  This is MUST SEE and DO.  Portofino itself is a fairytale that will blow you away. One of the few places where instagram pics don't do it justice. 

Marseille

Need to take a taxi into town and this place is melting pot with an interesting history. That being said, no need to visit there, grab a taxi or take the train to Aix du Provence (I think I spelled this right).  OR stay on the ship.  Marseille is just a place. Not sure why they didn't go to Nice or Canoe but whatever.

Overall I'd give this a 4.25/5... Would I do it again?  yes :).. Enjoy!

Costa Toscana... The REAL review... 

This was our first  cruise and was surprised how much we enjoyed it.

The food was excellent, breakfast lunch sometimes and dinner, just chose a quieter restaurant and it changes the whole experience.

For breakfast and lunch you can choose your restaurant from the many available, for dinner you are allocated a restaurant and time from a choice of  3 evening sittings,if you are not happy with the allocated restaurant and time you can request a change, we were allocated a large restaurant  with many children with we swapped for a smaller more personalised restaurant with no kids.

The cabin was a good size with a decent balcony, very clean and comfortable, slept very well.

The ship was very clean,the service was excellent, everything was well organised.

Plenty to do on board, drinks package a must if you like a few beers/cocktails.

No negatives worth noting.

We can't recommend it enough.

Don't listen to any negative comments 

We are looking to book for next year

All round Excellent Cruise 

After returning from a vacation, we decided last minute to try Costa Toscana. Both my wife and I have worked in the Cruise Industry in the past. We wanted to share our experience with our 10yr old boy, to show him what cruising is/was like, for him to experience the things that we have experienced throughout our ship life careers. Most of the places we visited during this cruise, we have already been to, however, were quite excited to visit places that we haven't visited in the past 10 years or so.  

Great/Positive-Itinerary was great.

Good/Acceptable-most of the facilities were quite clean since it's still a new ship. Our stateroom cleaner.

Bad/What the heck?

-Transport from the ship to any one of the cities after docking was ridiculous. 19 euros per person for the shuttle in Marseille to get into City? We took a taxi with another family of 3 and paid 13 euros for each family.  To use the free shuttle, you have to walk 15mins in the hot sun and wait for another 30 to 45mins for the shuttle to pick you up. In almost every port, you will need to pay for a shuttle.  Either be an early bird to get out or wait until the craziness settles before your daily adventure.  

-Water.....is one of the most basic necessities of life. We are not pop/soda drinkers and seldom drink alcohol. So we HAD to purchase water during dinner every evening. In the morning/lunch/dinner in the buffet area, there was a sign that said "No refilling bottles with water".  I was quite shocked? They only had coffee in the morning, juices such as OJ, Apple, and Papaya juices in the morning. After that, no other options were avail to drink, only water and during those times only.  I bought fountain apple juice for 4 euro(the same as what's offered in the morning).  So if you are one of those who like to hydrate often, best to purchase a drink package.  But was disappointed that they were pretty much forcing their customers to purchase or go thirsty. This will only get worse as the heat rises in July and August. (@COSTA, I hope you change this as soon as possible-you can no longer use COVID as an excuse. Most cruise companies are trying to reduce the use of plastic bottles, and yet, for COSTA to make extra profits, you are forcing people to buy water in plastic bottles, doesn't really make sense does it?)

-SHIP....I read in one of the reviews the ship was beautiful and it was nice.  From my perspective, the ship was made and designed to make money. The Coliseum-looking platform had 3 different levels.  The ship carried 6k+ customers and yet there was only space for maybe 600?  Anyone who didn't arrive 30 to 45mins before, watched on TV instead. 

-Food....OK. nothing exciting.  Went to the specialty restaurant, "Michelin Star", which was not worth it.  Service in this area was excellent though. The "buffet" area was impossible, people trying to walk by, getting in line, pushing running into each other....again, all those people and they only have limited space available. When I saw a family of 4 standing up and eating since there were no places to eat. We are quick and within a few minutes, they took our seat. This should not be happening. This is an Italian-based company.....many European cultures is eating late, enjoy wine, talk and etc, yet they close all buffet food service at @9:30pm/21:30hrs.  I was scratching my head here.  My son came back 3 times during the cruise saying he is not being served.  2 times in the pastry area and 1 time in the fruit serving station. I told him to be visible and his presence known, but still nothing.  I followed him 3 times to see, 2 times he was visible and made sure that they knew he was there, but 2 out of 3 times, they ignored him and went to the next customer.  I was quite angry and approached the crew asking, why he skipped my son.  One crew didn't provide any answer and the other, he just smiled and said sorry.  Disappointed in both the crew and fellow cruiser behind my son.  Just needed a simple gesture saying my son was next in line. 

-Crew....I understand that this is a new ship and there are a lot of new crew members. After speaking with several crew members and knowing that my wife and I also worked as crew on ships, they were more open and discussed how hard it was to work. They don't get off often at all, with maximizing business by getting new customers every port day, many don't have opportunities to get off the ship, just get rest when they can.  Crews are doing 8 to 9mth contracts but were told many opt to stay until 11mth, to make extra money. What's an extra 2mth, when they've already been on for 8 to 9mth. It was obvious one of the things that were lacking was proper training/motivation.  One of the waiters informed me that if I was to give a review of 10 stars, he would get extra time off.  I was expecting the usual line of "getting promoted", but no, he was almost begging for this so that he can have extra time off.  Yeah, yeah, some of you will say, "If they don't like it, they can quit" and you are absolutely right.  But it's not that simple for them to just quit and leave, since they are supporting many of their families back in their country. It was quite obvious to see that many crew members needed additional training in etiquette, cultural learning/awareness etc. 

-Pool/Jacuzzi.....Jammed packed, mostly with kids. I am a parent so I was ok with it.  But if traveling without kids, good luck trying to enjoy either pool or jacuzzi. Only on a sea day, does security enforce kids under 16 to get out of the hot tub.  every other day was free for all.

Overall experience

-My son met a few kids from Spain and Ukraine, so he had an enjoyable time. At least he was able to experience and have some good memories of cruising.  We had more positive experiences off the ship, instead of being on the ship. We met a few fellow travelers from Norway and US.  One of the things that we all agreed on was that, we would not travel on Costa again.  We hope to try Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruises for our future cruise.

I do hope Costa rethinks their strategies on customer service experience and employee training, instead of seeing just money/profit.  If they are ok with this, it is what it is.....but in the long run, they will always have negative reviews.  But most importantly, have water available for customers to refill before getting outside in July/August. It's almost inhumane not providing this to people leaving the ship.

New ship, not necessarily best experience

We are experienced cruisers, first, we worked for Celebrity Cruises for over 5,5 years, and then we took cruises with several American companies, and for the first time decided to go with the European cruise line. It was ok, but I wasn't impressed I should say. The feeling was that the whole ship was designed just to make money and not for the guests to enjoy the cruise. 

The buffet area is so small for 6000 people to eat that people with kids were eating standing. But right outside of the buffet area, tons of cafeterias and bars with lots of seating areas empty where you have to pay for everything you order.  

Speaking about the buffet, the food was like a students' cafe,  it was ok, but again not too much choice and not very delicious.

The main dining room, doesn't exist, there are several restaurants where are you appointed for the cruise to dine, and again the menu was different each night, but the food wasn't great. 

Usually on cruises, after dinner passengers go to the main theater to watch the show. The theater didn't exist on this ship. Instead in the midship there was so called colosseum distributed on three decks, with super tiny sitting areas, with poles around so besides that it was impossible to find a seat for the guests to watch the show and the poles areas were covering the views, so even if you find a seat there, you will not see anything anyway. So the guest was going to grab a seat a couple of hours before the show. And so many people were standing around trying to see anything. And again around that area tons of bars and restaurants are empty because you have to pay.

The shows were strange, and the crew performing was good, but the shows were strange, didn't have any connection between the performances, no storyline, not interesting to watch.

And one more thing, we are former crew members of one American company, and we went on several American companies to cruise, I have to say that overall in the world we are speaking about saving the planet, less plastic, etc, but on this ship and I am sure overall Costa company, you have to buy plastic water bottles to drink water. Only free water was for breakfast and lunch and dinner at the buffet, the rest of the time, no water station is open, during dinner at the restaurant, no water, just buy bottles.

So that is very disappointing, the company should overthink this policy, 6000 guests buy bottles of water during the cruise, that is a lot of plastic!

The crew just seemed super tired and wasn't very well trained. We reminded several times to the waiters to bring drinks or ketchup etc. I honestly understand why they are tired because another reason that was totally surprising to me is that the ship has embarkation day every day. So the new passengers keep coming on board every day, imagine the crew has to do safety drills every day, change bed sheets every day and so on, no surprise they are tired of all the things they normally could be doing once a week (safety drill for guests and for example change bed sheets). Again it's all for maximizing the earnings for the company. 

So overall the company is interested only in money making not in the comfort of the guests.

Costa disappointed 

Just back from a great week on Costa Toscana, Booked this cruise whilst onboard the same ship when it was in Dubai.  Booking onboard gives you a discount off the cruise fare price, rather than Onboard Spend which other cruise lines offer. At the moment it is 10% so can be a quite significant discount. 

With Costa on most of their cruises you can board at any point it stops at generally, so I chose to board in Marseille, as flights were best suited for this board point for me. One benefit of this is that there are not usually thousands of people all trying to board the same day, yes the main board ports will be busier of course. When I arrived there were no queues and I was processed very quickly and was onboard within 10 minutes of arriving at the port. 

The lifeboat drill can now be done electronically via the app as with most other cruise lines.  

Toscana is the latest delivery and Costa's Flagship in the fleet, she is stunning from the outside to look at with a wrap round promenade deck which you can walk all the way round. There is lots of outside seating areas including some very quiet and secluded ones towards the bow. At the back is the Infinity bar which is just the best bar to relax and watch the sea go by. 

Internally the ship décor is a big step change from the older Costa ships, Toscana I would describe as more beach inspired with bright vibrant colours, don't expect subtle colours on the stair cases or in the cabins. 

Without fail, all the staff I came into contact with were genuinely friendly, and were always happy to chat when they had time. All the staff speak English and Costa have a Language Host onboard who can help with the more complicated queries for those that the bar or waiting staff can't help with. I would say that it is very impressive for most of the bar and waiting staff to speak their native language, plus English, and enough Italian, Spanish and French to get by with for their positions. 

Toscana has a suite restaurant which was outstanding, sometimes the menu gets a bit lost in translation but the ambiance, service and food were superb.  

The main shows are in the Colosseo which is over 3 decks in the middle of the ship, this seems a victim of its own success and in order to get a good seat you need to be there at least 30 minutes before the show starts, however the shows put on there are fantastic, very energetic and the staging / effects of the venue are outstanding.

Amazing Toscana Aft Suite

We just got back from our first ever cruise with Costa Toscana in the Med and we had a really wonderful time, The boat is amazing. You can fully walk the top 2 decks and the 7 and 8th deck you can walk almost all the way around. This means the views and outside space no matter what time of day are breathtaking.

We had a balcony room, mid ship. It was really nicely decorated, practical and the ouside space was more like a terrace than a balcony. With a sun lounger, table and two chairs. The beds are very comfortable and the design is well planned.

The food was generally very good. We would have preferred a few more options in terms of alternative milks and some more cereal options (there were only 4) . Our restaurant at night was La Maremma and the standard was always very good. We had a nice booth and it felt quite "high end".

We werent really into being inside for the shows but what we saw seemed to be of a high standard.

Cons: the staff seem a little inexperienced in general. They were nice but I think they could definitely step the service up. Noone was rude apart from the manager in the Vigneto restaurant who made us feel very bad about asking if we could have dinner there as an alternative one night.

Also, it´s sometimes difficult to get a drink. The bars seem to open and close in short period of time so you need to head to other parts of the ship to get a drink and then of course, there are queues.

The Green bar (healthy)seemed never to be open.

They could also do with bigger pools. They are really just splash pools and get very busy with kids.

Embarkation and disembarkation were smooth. The staff operating on these parts were always very smiley and professional.

All in all, we would go again. Its a good price point for cruise and we didnt feel like we really wanted for much. The outside spaces alone make this cruise worthwhile.

Wonderful time

I just went on my first cruise on the Costa Toscana and I loved it! Great food, fantastic crew and a beautiful ship. 

The ship is very new and feels very luxurious. It's a big ship, so I needed a few days to know my way around.  

Everywhere in the ship are interactive boards where you can find all info about decks, daily programm and restaurants. You also can find all this in a very usefull app. This app has also have a chat, so you can chat with people onboard because you're connected to the local wifi.

The buffet restaurant was a bit crowded for breakfast/lunch, but you can also choose to go to one of the other restaurants for breakfast/lunch where you can eat quiet. 

A lot of entertainment on board and a lot of things to do. 

I just came back, but I'm already planning my next trip!

Loved it!

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