We have always said we wouldn’t cruise with Costa, but when this deal came up we decided to try it. Thankfully, this was a short cruise and therefore the suffering was limited. The pros were that the cabin we were assigned was nice and quiet and the crew were very nice. Also, embarkation and debarkation were relatively quick. The cons are too numerous to list but they include an aggressive attempt to upsell everything, a 6 a.m. beer delivered to our cabin (and a couple of others), and the food in general. Costa has very little for vegetarians other than pity and disdain. I asked for the vegetarian menu and was promised one for the next evening. The next evening the waiter, a good man, gave me the vegetarian menu before being called away. When he returned, he took the menu away and told me it was only for people with allergies. It may have been a language problem, but I was not allowed to see the vegetarian menu again. One evening there was literally only one dish that was marked vegetarian and it was not a main, but a side of sauteed mushrooms. The buffet was not better, as the food was always lukewarm, including the salad bar. Our cabin, though the decor was dated, was comfortable and roomy, with plenty of storage including space for the suitcase under the bed. We had booked a balcony guarantee and received a premium cabin, 5192. We usually use a nightlight in the cabin, but the helpful gap between the door and the floor kept the room comfortably lit throughout the night. Fortunately, the head of the bed was not in a direct line with the door, so we were able to sleep. The incident with the beer came back to haunt us, as we noticed a spurious charge on our final bill marked “mini-bar”. We never, ever use the mini-bar, so we challenged this right away. At first we were told that a beer had been taken from the mini-bar, which we said was ridiculous since we had a drinks package and could get all the beer they would serve us. Then, after a 20-minute wait, we were told we had ordered a beer from room service. We mentioned the mystery beer delivery at 6 a.m. and after another 10 minute discussion, we were finally told it would be removed from our final bill. I asked for a copy of the new final bill but was told that it could not be done because Corporate had to approve it. We’ll see when the credit card bill arrives. The ship shows signs of age, and every trip to the public restrooms resulted in at least one unpleasant confrontation with a clearly non-functioning toilet. Which points out the greatest problem with this ship in my opinion, and that is the fact that 853 crew is not enough to create a comfortable and pleasant cruise experience for 2600+ passengers. We were happy we didn’t pay full price for this cruise, with our costs coming to just about 100 a day per person, but we felt really sorry for a couple we met who had paid 200+ a day per person. Read Less

As a third time cruiser on other lines many years ago- but a friend was taking me I was trying to save them money. What a horrible mistake choosing this old tugboat. From beginning to end there were so many things wrong. We got an inside cabin - actually not a problem in itself. The cabin crew were wonderful and attentive. The cabin was fine. The staff at the Hospitality desk were overwhelmed and it showed in their ability to serve in a friendly way. Almost everything was extra. We originally ordered the non alcoholic drinks package as neither drink. It was 96 Euro's for 40 drinks for the week for 2 people.we got a glass of mineral water at dinner in the restaurant..The package included; water, iced tea, non alcoholic cocktails, sodas and juices. Neither of us drink Pepsi products, nor peach iced tea or lemon ice tea, or juices or sweet non alcoholic drinks (non of this was spelled out in the drink package) or we would not have ordered it. We cancelled it and were refunded our money but made to feel guilty. The staff were completely disorganized in most matters. For shore excursions we all met in the theater and had to show our tickets to get a bag lunch. The crowds were huge and pushy and the staff had no idea how to crowd control. The same with the Buffet lines. People just pushed in front of you and grabbed meat off the platter and piled it on their plate and left and left you waiting patiently for a new batch of grilled meats. It was a free for all! Now for the food: It was terrible and unrecognizable. There were terrines of a ground vegetable dish that was reincarnated days later in another fashion as an appetizer. There were virtually NO fresh vegetables except for sliced cooked carrots at breakfast??? There was a small salad choice at dinner. Most of the food was unpalatable. No matter how many courses it was still not enough or good enough. The the came around the table and showed you a menu of additionally priced choices; lobster (which was so small 4 people I spoke with made the Maitre 'D take it off their bill. My friend is handicapped and was disappointed at the short amount of time on the excursion - time in the city - compared to the hours of getting there. 2.5 hours to Florence and 2.5 hours back and about 3 hours in the city. Same in Rome. Even able bodied people complained of the pace and it was on your own. We were dropped off quite a distance from main venues and with so many tourists it was difficult to see what you wanted -even the highlights. We tried to cancel our Marseille tour due to his not being able to tolerate the pace we were told in a very snippy and not compassionate way that in no terms were we able to cancel our excursion. However one of the staff told me it would be no problem to cancel. In fact several other passengers tour were accidentally cancelled and they were upset. We were told he needed to see the ship Doctor and pay 62 Euros to get a medical certificate to cancel and that would NOT include my ticket! Ridiculous. The "Doctor" looked like a washed up degenerate alcoholic. We left very upset. The entertainment was pitiful. This was a disaster from beginning to end. All the Americans we spoke with felt exactly the same way and will be filing complaints as well. Read Less

We wanted to take my Mum who is 84 to see Venice, Rome, Croatia, Montenegro and Athens for her first time. We always choose Costa for value for money. The crew do a great job. Can't fault bar service, restaurant service or care/cleanliness of cabin. The buffet food was great but the physical layout is annoying. Restaurant food fantastic. The ship is badly laid out. The bars and even the specialist restaurants are all thoroughfares making it impossible to relax as people are constantly streaming through. There is a huge upper outdoor deck away from the pools and children but no convenient bar up there if you like a cocktail while you sunbath. We had booked Samsara cabin giving inclusive Spa access. It was a sanctuary we used every day but facilities are co-ed which is very off-putting. Theatre shows we're all amazing and cruise director Sabrina fabulous. Embarkation in Venice would have been a nightmare if we hadn't had priority because of Mum's reduced mobility. Poorly organised and little space. Disembarkation was also a nightmare. They don't explain it in advance that there may be a long time between docking and getting to your taxi. One final point about Costa..... Wait until you are on board to book your internet package. The best value social media package is not offered on the web site and they won't let you cancel your prebooked package once on board to change it. If you take one thing from this review remember Costa offer FANTASTIC VALUE FOR MONEY. Read Less

Staff is from the Philippines and they could not care less about the customers. They are paid very little money so obviously job is not made properly. We had a baby with us and one time we were asked to leave the dining room since there was no place for us and the baby. Food was great on a few occasions but twice we had to go sleep hungry since the food was inedible. I asked the refund for the service charge but they said it was impossible. The bar is a nightmare! You go for a drink and it may take up to half an hour for a stupid drink which most of the time would be undrinkable. The barman stays playing around behind the bar waiting for time to go by. Hot water for the baby was a fight with them. They said hot water only in the morning. For god's sake I JUST WANTED WATER. We paid the piu gusto.... but you can't have a bottle of water! If you want the bottle its an extra 2.50eur. We paid over 200 each to have unlimited drinks. I can't call it a holiday. Staying home would have been a better option. First and last time with Costa. WELL DONE!! Read Less

bad food, long queueterrible service, bad singer, snobish crews, we had been treated like cattle or a customer service staff said to me " she don't like me" without doing service, at port boarding took 5 hours for off board procedure delay. New guests from Tokyo waited 2hours at port standing without chair, toilet. Slow start of evacuation drill. Guests were waited one hour or more in long queues. 2nd sitting restaurant started 9:30 PM. Many customers waited in long My room was smaller than other room 4.5 square meter with ship shape. One bed was normal single bed, however, the other bed was extra bed smaller and hard cushion. Food was bad. Good food was very few. My wife experienced swelling in her face. We spent very terrible holidays. This ship is new. most of crews were unexperienced. Officers were lazy. I do not recommend this ship. This ship worst ever. Read Less

This ship was chosen by a friend,we were a group of 8, because of price,doing research after cruise ended this became evident.We are from U.S.A.and have cruised Carnival to Alaska,Celebrity 2 years ago to Mediterranean and others and this ship was the least enjoyable.This line is owned by Carnival along with many others so when we saw that even water at lunch was extra unless you had a USA on your the back of your card. The standard formal night even charged $25 extra for lobster. The cabins were pretty standard,we had booked a balcony but the smell of cigarette smoke and overflowing toilets were in hallways or in room was an issue.Unlike other ships we traveled on this one picked up passengers at several stops during our 7 days on board so instead of resting in your room your got the alarms and intercom blasting for muster drills. The ship carried people from multiple countries so things were repeated in each language,and this continued on excursions the tour guides spoke in at least 2 languages.One tour was English and Spanish but the accent was enough that I had trouble understanding the english. Read Less

I'm not sure I can even describe how bad this cruise was (for comparison we've cruised Costa, Aida, Holland-America, Royal Caribbean, and Disney in Med, North Sea, Fjords, Carribean) and we were in one of the deck 11 suites. The friendly staff was incompetent and the marginally competent staff was rude. A main restaurant waiter literally argued with my wife about the salad dressing one night instead of bringing additional dressing as requested. Another waiter would not even acknowledge your request. You would have to ask multiple times for a drink or anything else. Food...that's a generous description. Nothing on board remotely resembled it's original state. It was virtually inedible. The ranch dressing at the buffet was watered down. It was more like ranch flavored milk. We would have starved without in port restaurants. Cabin service?? Nope. Can't reach anyone on the telephone. Cabin steward number times out after 10:00. Ran out of toilet paper one night and the bar tender on the deck 11 forward was the only one who helped. They installed metal strips in the hallway one day with silicon bonding caulk so noxious the fumes woke me up. The ONLY positive things I can say about this ship is that 1) because the beds were old inner-spring it was marginally comfortable 2) the layout of 11108 suite was nice with the floor to ceiling windows and large closet and 3) the staff at the deck 11 starboard forward bar were friendly and made a good cappuccino. Read Less

Our friend selected this cruise for his first cruise and first trip to Europe. We are faithful Celebrity cruisers so I use that cruise line as my baseline. The price of this cruise included the cruise cost, airfare, and hotels on arrival day and day of disembarkation. The Diadema is a fairly new ship that accommodates about 5000 people. People are able to embark and disembark at any of the ports, I believe. For Europeans with families this probably makes it a fairly cost effective cruise. That being said, there were way more people on this ship than on Celebrity. And there were way too many kids. The atmosphere just seemed chaotic. Kids on the dance floor at 11 pm is not my idea of a good time, for example. There are no adult only activities on this ship. The ship is very nice and clean. Cabins are only cleaned once a day. The food was mediocre at best and the choices at the buffet were rather limited compared to other ships. The staff did their jobs competently, but were not the friendliest. We are used to the “welcome back” and smiles that the Celebrity crew provides at all times. Our waiter in the dining room was great, however. A bit of advice if you are booking on the Diadema: beware of the 9th deck. The buffet and pool are over some of the cabins and the noise from these areas is unbearable at times. Chairs were scraping the deck above at all hours. Better to book on a lower deck unless you enjoy being awake half the night. The thing that I liked the best about the cruise was the itinerary. I’ll be sticking to American cruise lines and smaller ships in the future. Read Less

Ship is very beautiful and well laid out - enjoyed the central elevators. Service staff was exceptional - excluding the Excursion Desk (unless). Very disappointed in the food served - the Italian influence was missing - I have traveled in Europe and did not recognize this reported influence - a staff person reported that being a repositioning cruise the quality was diminished. This was Basic Transportation - pure and simple. During our 19 days we got sick on day 5 and remained sick for the next 4 weeks. Everyone on the ship had or have had this virus. Other than Purel stations placed in the buffet area little or precautionary measures were visible. I did email to Costa Customer Service about my experience - got a letter back that in summary said they would use the feedback for future travelers and 'To Bad - come back again sometime' - Never again Read Less

I first chose this cruise for the ports it was stopping at, what a mistake, the embarkation at Singapore should have told me what was to come ... how can it take 4 hours to board a ship ! .. the room was good, a good size with a shower room and bath room ? .. that’s the end of good I’m afraid. From the 3 film loop the tv was set on, a girl can only have so much of x men (7 times) to the 2 pea size “swimming pools”, 5200 guests on board, max capacity per pool 38 .. hahaha . The food was very poor, repetitive and cold, the fixed service charge per head outrageous as they still charge service on everything bought on the ship. And hygiene was sorely missing, they even removed the hand sanitiser from the front of one of the restaurants at one point.. no butter for a few days, no orange for a week .. staff who seemed poorly trained and uninterested. Worst entertainment I have ever experienced. They just didn’t seem bothered with the brits on board Sorry Costa , not for me ever again Read Less