Having chose this cruise for its destinations, we where surprised to find that this ship was exceptionally old and the food was exactly the same. The food in the buffet was unappetising and always luke warm and most times cold. The lack of hand sanitation was incredible, every other cruise we have been on there has been hand washing stations all over the ship, not on Costa! Yet there are signs and displays saying about washing hands etc, though no facilities. No waiters to take your drinks order on Piu Gusto package, if you didn't drink wine or water you had to go to the bar your self. The dining room was ok but the food wasn't much better and the noise as several times the staff and crew decided to do impromptu dances etc and to celebrate the captain or crew making a grand entrance that ruined dinner. The crew very rarely smiled and the poor waitresses in the bars etc mainly all philapino bless them working 15 hour days and hardly any appreciation though the captain and crew expected us to do a song and dance for him doing his job as they where. Also this is a multinational boat be prepared for exceptionally loud announcements in several different languages, the last being English so if the boat was going down we would have drowned! Dining the food was often repetitive and luke warm or cold, the waiters did their best with the tools they had. Activities we did not take part in any though there was some dotted all around. Cabin staff where ok but only came once a day. Most of the staff where ok but the odd few did spoil it by not even being able to smile. Entertainment was ok but also a bit repetitive as with a lot of other things. the bulk of the passengers where italian as its an italian line. Alas some passengers where quite rude and abrupt which spoilt the whole experience The worrying thing is Costa will not read this and wont respond so it will just continue, this was like going from first class to economy! Read Less

I cannot fault the staff, who always wore a smile, however such a lot would appear to have changed since we last sailed with Costa, though that was on the Mediteranea. This ship was really tired and I could not believe that there were only two ladies toilets in each location for a ship of 2500 passengers, with one almost always not working. There is no waiter service in many areas of the ship, which I find a massive problem being disabled and unable to carry glasses easily and the food and coffee, was always tepid.. Entertainment was very good, but there was none on the last night, which was a disappointment as we were only on for 7 nights. Organisations was lacking in many areas including the tour desk and the photo shop, which was almost a free for all. Our cabin 80225 was an excellent size for disabled and consisted of a walk in shower room, as well as an additional toile, though I would not consider there were any other disabled facilities throughout the ship and certainly not the toilets Read Less

Price and Itinerary were the reasons picked. I was quite scared after booking after I read the bad reviews about the Victoria and all of Costa's ships. I found the bad reviews not to be true at all. I guess I was on board with civil travelers. Lots of Italian speaking, but they all seem to be having a great time. Fun atmosphere. Cabin was clean and adequate and always made up. Friendly cabin staff. Food: I preferred the dinning room for breakfast. Good menu and also a self serve buffet and coffee, juice, milk available. Quiet. We were off the ship for lunch, but enjoyed the deserts and sandwiches at tea time from 4-5 pm. We had early seating and having assigned seating made service quick and we liked our waiter. He worked very hard. Food choices were kinda weird for me, but enjoyed trying new things. We did not spurge on the added price options. I was concerned about paying for water, but we had USA water on our card and always offered water with meals. We do not drink, so we did not buy or need a beverage package. But everyone seemed to have plenty to drink. So I would say the food was as good as most cruises I have been on. Entertainment in showroom was good. Happy we only had one sea day, because there was nothing to do on the ship and NO Movies! I missed having movies, even if I had to read subtitles, would have been OK. So I would suggest that you pack a small DVD player and movies in your bag if you have room. Venice port was amazing. Be sure to be up on deck when you leave and see Venice. We also got up early on day we returned and saw Venice at sunrise. Again best view of the city is on top of the cruise ship. All the ports were amazing. Bari/Alberlobelo Italy, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Venice!!! 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

As part of my aim to cruise with as many different cruise companies as possible in 2019 it came to the turn of Costa. I will have to say my expectations were low in advance of the cruise, mainly for three reasons. My previous experience with an Italian based cruise line, MSC, had been appalling. Secondly the cruise was cheap - did that mean I would be getting what I paid for and, thirdly, there have been some very mixed reviews about the ship on here. Embarkation was typical Mediterranean chaos but it was reasonably quick. Registering payment card for onboard spend was easy at the self-service terminals on board. As we were planning to spend most days ashore we opted for a seaview cabin and it was satisfactory with a nice large porthole style window. The cabin was a reasonable size with plenty of space to walk around. Both the bed and pillows were very comfortable and that is praise indeed from me as I'm incredibly difficult to please when it comes to pillows. Initially we only had one pillow each but a quick chat with the cabin steward soon resulted in a couple of extra pillows. The steward was very good, almost OCD when it came to tidying - charging cables left on the desk were always neatly arranged on our return. Paperwork was also neatly stacked etc. and most days the valance across the bed had been arranged in some neat sculpture. The bathroom was good and although very small the shower head was detachable. Water temperature was just about hot enough. There is no night time turn down service but that's more a luxury than necessity. Food fell into two categories. The main dining room was good with five courses available for the main evening meal. Food was hot and of a good standard. Service, on the whole, was good although one night there was a problem with the tablet used for ordering and they had to resort to paper, which slowed things down a bit. The final night of the cruise they played Italian opera with some audience participation - not normally my scene but it was actually good fun. Most days we had breakfast in the main restaurant, although the first morning we diod regret our decision. There are breakfasts from around the world available and we made the mistake of ordering the "full English" The only edible part was the scrambled egg, the rest was inedible as everything else had clearly been deep fried and it was like eating an oil slick. Plus the "bacon" was the appalling streaky variety, cooked to within seconds of cremation. The other days we stuck to the extensive cold buffet which was good with plenty of variety. By contrast the buffet was disappointing. relatively small with limited choice and many items appearing every day, so not a huge amount of variety. Also, in contrast to the main dining room, the food quality was variable. Minute steaks for example were very chewy with a lot of gristle. Buffet opening hours were more limited than other cruise lines. What was exceptionally good was the use of ropes to funnel passengers through the serving areas, greatly reducing the amount of pushing in which can occur. Other cruise lines take note. We had the Pranzo and Cena mealtime drinks package included in our fare but upgraded to the Brindiamo package for €10 a day each. We are not great drinkers by any means but the package also included tea and coffee so it was worth the extra cost. Dress codes are optional. On the "Gala night" probably no more than a dozen men wore dinner jackets. It's a shame but that's the way it is with some cruise lines Three of the four shows in the theatre were from the in-house entertainment team with two lead singers to the fore. The female singer was superbe and the male singer had a good voice as well, however many of the songs he was given to sing were not suited to his voice, which did not do him justice. The other show was an exceptional acrobatic show - the standard of which would give Cirque du Soleil a run for its money. There were plenty of activities throughout the day with an enthusiastic entertainments team - although having to use half a dozen languages all the time did slow things down. Costa Victoria is a smaller cruise ship, around 2,000 passengers but for me that is a major plus - I prefer the smaller ships to the new mega-ships which are, sadly, becoming the norm. Built in 1996 she is also a little dated but that, also adds to its charm. The staff were generally friendly and attentive, without being in your face. The captain was conspicuous by his absence, appearing only for the obligatory photo call - something I still cannot get my head around. Why do people queue to have their photograph taken with the Captain then pay an extortionate amount for the photograph. If I catch a bus or train I don't queue to be photographed with the driver, so why do it on board a ship. I'm happy to admit my initial concerns about Costa were wholly unfounded. Would I sail with them again - absolutely. Read Less

Cruise was chosen primarily for the itinerary and because we had travelled with Costa before. Although not 5 star, Costa has generally offered good value but this time there were cutbacks apparent which changed all that. Firstly, it seems that staffing has been reduced. For example, no poolside or buffet bar services offered - apart from the short period at breakfast, supplying coffee etc. Also, only one cabin visit from the steward per day which meant having to reuse wet towels for a morning shower. There seemed to be fewer staff around generally which might have been the reason for slower bar and restaurant service - and as a result this may explain the tepid or sometimes cold food being delivered to tables. The Cruise Consultant confirmed (sadly) that these changes were across all Costa ships, not just this one. There was a lot of pressure to buy the drinks packages, which we tend to do anyway but far fewer people seemed to be PAYG for drinks. With the reduced staffing it was much more difficult to get served and we began to wonder whether this was engineered to reduce the drinks bill for those having bought packages. Also, talking about the drinks package, we were on board for nearly 4 weeks and at dinner and lunch we were served only two different white wines and two red. It got rather monotonous after a while. Finding a table for a buffet lunch was a challenge to say the least. Queueing was the norm - at the buffet and bars, the information desk, to see the English host, the Costa Club rep, even the Cruise Sales rep. A friend, went back to book their next cruise but walked away because the rep allowed someone to queue jump. Additional quick points: No chance of getting into the gym - far too small At the quiz, shabbily presented - girl with a mike - and poor English. Embarkation - bit of a farce, but that's not unusual with Costa Disembarkation - they blamed Port Authorities for a long delay, but it was Costa that evicted us from cabins at 8am Informstion Desk - visited twice and twice given incorrect info Despite all the above comments, I do want to emphasise that overall, staff were trying their best, still smiling and obliging. They seemed to be hampered by trying to serve more people in less time. This seems to be more of a management issue - or dare I say, a profits issue. Overall, I do feel reviewers should rate cruises with some consideration of the price they have paid for the their cruise and I have done so. Previously, I have been more than happy with the more laid back approach to cruising proved by Costa, and found it to be good value. Now, I feel it's gone too far. Read Less

We have cruised on many cruises ships over the last 30 years, sometimes twice a year and all cruises have been amazing except for Costa. We used Costa 3 years ago and said never again. However we were looking for a cruise and having been all over the world decided to opt for a different costa ship as the itinerary looked appealing. The attitude of the majority of the staff was appalling. we literally had to plead for English Breakfast tea bags, and butter. Please, thankyou and smiles were rarely used. The food was not good, the portions were small and always luke warm. We used the upstairs buffet mostly, this was not much better but at least there was more choice. We got talking to other cruisers and found that a lot had sickness bugs which leads to my main concern -----THE SHIP HAD HAND SANITISERS WHICH NOBODY WAS ENCOURAGED TO USE. Worse still a lot of the time they were empty. When we pointed this out we were met with a shrug of the shoulders. Passengers often used their fingers to pick up food from the buffet and filled their water bottles from the water machine. Oh and by the way be careful if you ask for a bottle of soft drink as we sat and watched the staff filling up bottles with the bits left over. we returned many bottles that appeared full but the seals were broken. There were many other bad points, but just please think twice before you spend your money on a costa cruise. Read Less

My hubby and I are not seasoned cruisers and the only previous cruises we’d done were only 4 days each, 25 years ago. We booked this cruise because of its length (28 days) and its interesting itinerary. Only after booking did we read the reviews and some were not very flattering. Well, I don’t know what the complainers were expecting because we were blown away by the entire experience. Boarding at Port Lois in Mauritius looked chaotic at first glance but went very quickly and efficiently. We were even given a fruit drink while we waited - all of 20 minutes. Our sea view cabin was on Deck 4, was very comfortable and we were very well looked after by our steward, Agnad. The only thing that I did not like was the bunks hooked up on each side of the bed but once used to them I stopped bumping my head! Obviously the cabin could take a family of 4. We booked late which is probably why we got the cabin with extra bunks as many other cabins did not have them. We upgraded our drinks package from pranzo and cena to brindiamo. It was well worth it as it included limitless tea, coffee, mineral water by the glass, beer, wine, soft drinks and other alcoholic drinks that were not above €9 each. We were assigned to Sinfonia Restaurant - first sitting and our table companions were all South Africans like ourselves. Costa try to at least place you in language groups even if not with compatriots. The food was amazing and our waiter, Talekar, the gentlest young man with exquisite manners. Not only was he attentive to our needs but he always asked about our day and made sure we were enjoying our cruise. The Sinfonia was also open for self service breakfast with the option to order egg dishes or salmon. But if you just wanted to grab something quickly the buffet breakfast was also available but you might struggle to find a spot to sit. We found sitting on the stern deck was the best option both at breakfast and lunchtime. The buffet food was very varied and you could always find something to suit your taste. Of course the Sinfonia was also open for lunch. This cruise was not during School holidays and most of the passengers were over 60. There were perhaps a dozen pre-teen children on board. Activities on board were varied - I enjoyed the stretch classes, water aerobics and walking offered at various times of the day on the Pool Deck. The animation team were in charge and they were awesome. Then during the day there were craft classes, cultural quizzes, Bingo etc. at all times there would be a place you could go to listen to live music. In the evenings the theatre shows were outstanding. There was also a casino but we didn’t ever use it. Costa offer a variety of shore excursions. They are pricey but excellent. We chose the least expensive ones at most ports and were never disappointed. The guides were excellent and if something went wrong you could rest assured that the ship would not leave without you. However, don’t be afraid to explore on your own if you’re on a tight budget. Just make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get back on board before the ship sails! Photographers are all over the ship and the photo packages are over-priced. If we were able to just get the digital copies at a reasonable price we would have gone for that. I feel it’s an enormous waste to print huge copies of all the photos that most people won’t buy! The Costa Victoria is an older ship and does not have the glitz of the newer cruise ships. Call me old fashioned but I like that! There were less than 2000 passengers. Everyone was friendly . The staff were amazing. The cruise director, Daniela was charming and fun and had a word for literally everyone in their own language - she speaks five fluently! I can49not recommend a Costa Victoria Cruise highly enough. We enjoyed the dining, dancing, shows, daytime activities and the shore excursions. We loved the food. We made wonderful friends and it’s a holiday we will never forget. Thank you Costa Victoria! Read Less

We sailed from Mauritius to Venice, we picked this trip because of the itinerary I did look at some of the reviews before we went, but unfortunately I was too late to cancel. A lot of what I have to say has been said elsewhere, so I will confine my self to the main points, i.e. cabin, food, staff, general wear & tear of the ship. The cabin was tiny, with no room to stow our suit cases, the safe was also very small with only enough room to stow my wives jewels, also set so far back it was an effort to open & close it, the shower tray & curtain didn't meet, so the first time I had a shower I flooded the bathroom. as for the beds, in this day & age you expect foam mattresses not ones with the springs sticking our, our cabin steward did his best. Next door there was a French couple, my wife speaks good French, the walls were so thin that she could hear every word they said, which she then translated for my benefit, Food, others have commentated on the standard of food, regardless of where you eat was equally terrible, The variety of the food on board was good, just that the cooks didn't know how to cook it, 9 times out of 10 it was served up cold, the meat was so tough I thought the knives were blunt. My wife & I used to run a hotel, we had regular inspections by the catering standards board, one of the things they always were hot on was that all food must be served at 60º F (15.55ºC) this is an EU regulation. on many occasion I pointed this out to the staff & they said yes, yes we will put it right, next day they were serving cold food again, the ship has a motto (Taste don't waste) the majority of the waste was due to cold food. The staff seemed to think it was alight if they put it in a bane-marie, you can not reheat food in a bane -marie. It didn't matter if you eat in the main restaurant or in the buffet it was just the same. Water this has been covered by other reviewers, I will just add a foot note that no other cruise line makes you pay for water. They do not serve coffee after dinner, you have to go up 5 decks to the buffet to get a cup of coffee, they only serve hot milk at breakfast & lunch, so it's. stewed coffee with cold milk or do without. while on the subject none of the dinning rooms have a sommelier, you have to ask for the wine list, which is handed to you with very bad grace, as if to say "why haven't you bought a wine package" For some reason all music on board must be amplified which means where ever you go on the ship your ears are assaulted by Jungle music, they even amplify the concert grand. The evening entertainment was supposed to be top of the range acts, at best they were feeble at worst vulgar. On the qustion of dress code, Gala Nights (formal nights on a proper cruise ship) I packed a DJ, waste of space passengers came to Gala Night dinners wearing any thing from jeans normal trousers, some of the ladies made an effort but not many, out of the 2000 odd passengers you could count the number of DJs worn on one hand, However Costa do like to confuse its passengers, they throw special nights, like red & black night, or Italian night when you should wear red & green, this is all very well but they do not tell you any where, web site or Costa club when the nights or even how many there will be, There have been some comments in the reviews that the staff seem surly, I feel this is due to passengers not being able to give gratuities to the staff that have served them well, whether you like it or not 10€ per person per day will be added to your account. The price of the cruise may look cheap, but add on all the extras, like paying for an invitation to the captains cocktail party, having to buy more than 1 photo I believe its 4 or 5. The ship has been nicknamed Costa Packet. The ship is past it's prime, perpetual maintenance is the order of the day. Tired & tatty. This is an Italian ship, but it doesn't have the Italian flare, unlike MSC also Italian but as different as chalk from cheese. To sum up, if you are an english speaker, don't sail with Costa. I likened Costa Victoria to a 50 holiday camp on water, i.e. Butlins, some one piped up that that was an insult to Butlins. Read Less

This was a 31 day repositioning cruise from Reunion to Venice and the main attraction was the itinerary around the Indian Ocean and the Eastern Med. The Victoria is an old ship and the decor, compared to MSC ships can best be described as ‘drab’. This was my first Costa Cruise so I had an open mind. The usual mix of five languages with French and Italians being predominant - very rude and very ignorant. The cabins were comfortable and the showers were always hot with plenty of pressure. Food was very good. Never a bad meal. I did not use the buffet after witnessing people handling food directly, replacing food from their plates having changed their mind (I assume) and generally coughing all over it. The standard of hygiene was a genuine concern - the Staff did nothing to enforce cleanliness and, as others have commented, hand gel containers were usually empty. Almost all passengers were affected to varying degrees with a severe cough and chest infection which the staff did nothing to prevent or restrict. Passengers that were clearly very ill and should have been confined to their cabins were allowed in the dining rooms - happily sharing their germs to all and sundry. Security was also very poor - the ‘Security Team’ inspired absolutely no confidence. Entertainment was generally good and the majority of the bar and restaurant staff worked very hard and always with a smile. My cabin steward was hopeless but he was probably the exception. Shore excursions were, basically, a rip off. Extremely poor value for money. Drinks prices in the bars were high - much higher than in a shore bar and with a 15% service charge. The daily service charge of 10 euros was mandatory. Pizza was available at an additional charge - on an Italian Ship! Because of the hygiene and security concerns I would never consider a Costa cruise again. Read Less

Visiting unique ports of call like Madagascar and the Seychelles the Costa Victoria was fine. The staff on the ship worked very hard and managed well dealing with the incredibly variety of languages spoken by passengers from so many different countries. Entertainment was first class and probably better or at least equal to the best on any of our previous cruises. The food supplied was very good but not outstanding with extra charges for things normally included on a cruise like ice cream (not even supplied with the desserts in the dining room) and pizzas ( on an Italian ship!!) As a European registered ship paying minimum EU wages it was consequently understaffed compared to some other cruise lines paying lower wages. This was evident in the dining room, bars and cabin care. No waiters or bar evident in the theatre either. Excursions (in such an impoverished part of the world) were very expensive but were generally very interesting and worthwhile. We suspect that staff would make extra efforts if the gratuities were not a compulsory automatic addition to the ship account. Another oddity was the daily debit of our credit card rather than the usual procedure of settling the bill at the end of the cruise. This made it difficult to dispute the bill or cancel a reserved excursion (if, for example! It became apparent that it required more physical ability than expected). However - we are confident that the totals at the end of the cruise were correct. The ship was in excellent condition and was constantly being varnished and painted. Read Less

We didn't have high expecations after all bad reviews on ths website. But by the end it was a very nice surprise for us! It was an excellent cruise as we could stay almost three days on Seychelles, we spent three days on Madagaskar and two days on Reunion! Crew on the ship was just perfect, entertainment team was unbelievable (entertaining for 24 hrs a day!), teather shows were excellent!, food in the restaurants very good (Club restaurant very professional!) - and some very very nice wines! Yes, gym was too small and some equipment broken, that could be improved. Internet was also very slow, we bought 3000Mb package, but we could use only half of that, that could be improved also. Some shore excursions were ok, some could be better, but it is everybody's choice. We had a rented car on Seychelles and Mauritius. CONCLUSION: Vivat Victoria! We will definetelly go again with Costa! Read Less

Excellent itinerary - The pearls of the Indian Ocean including Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Reunion. We are frequent travellers from Norway and we have been on cruise many times with Cunard, RCCL and Celebrity. We were rather surprised to read about the bad critics made by other travellers. We decided therefore to write this review in order to give other points of view regarding Costa Cruise. Although the Costa Victoria is old, she is very well maintained and very clean. The overall organisation and logistics on board are outstanding. In my view at same level as the other companies we know: RCCL and Celebrity. The security is taken very seriously and the service everywhere is excellent. The food is better than average and one will always find something he/she likes. Very large variety of menus. However, after 2 weeks, one loose appetite, which is rather normal. We "upgraded" our meals to the restaurant Club Victoria for 5 days at an additional cost of EUR 25 per day including breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant is more elegant and smaller. The service there was more personalised and sitting place/time flexible. Activities on board are good. Dynamic teams entertain people on deck. In my view, there are a little bit too much activities on deck, but it probably suits younger people than me. There are quiet places many other places on board when it gets too noisy at the pool deck. The shows in the evenings were exceptional nearly every night. Bravo to the dancers! The fitness room needs to be refurbished. The size is too small and not adapted to the large number of users. The cabin (with balcony) is not very large but comfortable. The beds are good. We did not use the excursions proposed on board because we are used to take local taxis or other transportation means when we are on land. Excursions sold on board are too expensive. The spa and massages are far too expensive as well. But overall we will highly recommend Costa Victoria and the itinerary in the Indian Ocean. High value for the money paid. Read Less

My wife and I chose this cruise for its itinerary, its cost and not the cruise line. We had read a variety of differing reviews and were expecting to have some problems with availability of free drinking water and hot drinks. We encountered no such problems as both were readily available in the self service restaurants throughout the day and late evening. Staff were approachable and friendly given the fact they had to contend with so many different nationalities. Once we had recognised we were aboard a ship reflecting the United Nations we embraced the opportunities to interact with our fellow passengers who reciprocated in a similar manner. Fellow passengers were friendly and it is to be expected with so many people in a confined space there were some occasions when people acted in a discourteous manner. Embarkation was the quickest we had ever experienced and everything was available for us to use once we were aboard. Disembarkation proved to be a similar experience and because we were going to hotel later on in the day we were able to stay onboard enjoying the benefits until no later than 12 noon. Our outside cabin was comfortable and clean. We had no issues of disturbance from entertainment sounds even though we were below the Concorde plaza which had live music until the early hours. Lifts were plentiful and efficient. However, our cabin was on deck 6a and to get to it we had to climb down a flight of stairs from deck7 which would be challenging for anybody with mobility problems. Staff easily changed our assigned dining time to our preferred time. The menu choice in restaurants and buffet was varied given the large numbers of diners.The Sinfonia restaurant provided a more relaxed environment for breakfast and you were able to order items from a menu additional to the buffet. On our 14 night cruise there were two Gala dinners and dress code was optional, black tie, suit and smart casual. We were not able to find out before embarking on the cruise what the dress code was going to be. Additional to the two formal nights we had a white night and an Italian red white and green night, all of which were optional. The daily diary,delivered late evening, was full of the days activities, timings and venues. We participated in some and watched others entertain us and fellow passengers as is usual when cruising. Entertainment in the the theatre included a variety of genres and overall it provided a pleasant experience. Visiting the Seychelles for 2 days enabled us on the first day to tour the Island using the local buses from the central bus station in Victoria for 7 rupees per journey. On the second day we used the services of one of the many tour touts ,outside the port gates, to provide us with a days tour to to the marine reserve, Moyenne Island, snorkelling and Creole meal for 90 euros each, which was cheaper than the cruise line. During our 3 days in Madagascar we used the excellent services of Madagascar Excursions to provide us with 3 excursions offered by the cruise line but at a much reduced price. In all the ports we visited taxis were available to negotiate a price for an excursion and we heard of no one being disappointed by using them. In Reunion Island we chose to hire a car from Avis, who have a pickup location five minute walk from the cruise terminal.The location also provides rentals from Budget. We chose to tour Reunion using a car because it gave us greater freedom of choice. We booked the car knowing we had to find overnight parking which we were pleased to find was available in the cruise terminal char park. In Mauritius we secured the services of Mauritius taxis, operated by a Mr.Charles, to provide us with an 8 hour tour of the south of the island for 83 euros between 3 persons. Both Mad’Ex tours and Mauritius taxis can be contacted by email. Overall we thoroughly enjoyed the islands we visited acknowledging we have only had a snapshot of them. Read Less

We booked this cruise mainly due to the itinerary and this was our first taste of a Costa cruise. I did not have high expectations of Costa after reading the reviews here and so was not disappointed!!. Our cruise was in February 2019 visiting Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Reunion. . My review is about the ship and not the ports visited. What is the first thing you associate Italy with and would presume an Italian ship would deliver??.....Pizza and Ice Cream!!!. What a let-down… Ice cream available at a cost from a small freezer cabinet at the back of the buffet on the rear deck in the style of a Cornetto. Pizza only available from one of the specialist outlet at €8.50. What a lost opportunity for them to incorporate an ice cream bar like other cruise lines and serve some of the amazing Gelatos you find in mainland Italy. Also, instead of serving beef burgers and chips (everyday) at the pool bar, this area could have served slices of pizzas, at, I’m sure, a lower cost than burgers. Arrival: This was one of the quickest embarkation we have experienced(Mauritius). N.B. Debit cards cannot be assigned to your account, only credit cards. Also, if you usually pay your account at the end of the cruise by cash, this money must be deposited within 48 hours of boarding. Drinks packages: These are a nightmare to work out…I believe there are about 30 different types. Here are a few: 24 Cappuccinos €75, 24 Expresso €44, 12 x 1ltr water €36, Brindiamo (beers, juice, coffee, wine by glass, shorts) €28 per day per person. Piu Gusto (as Brindiamo but includes some cocktails) €33 per day per person. Intenditore (total freedom for any drink up to €9 each) €46 per person per day. Coffee and water packages can be taken by one person per cabin but beware drinks packages must be taken by all persons in same cabin over 18 years old. We drink very little, and so only went for the water package and purchased drinks as and when we wanted them. We found the prices were not as high as some cruise lines i.e. €5.50 for glass wine, €3.45 for Coca Cola, €5 for a draught beer. Prices mentioned here includes the 15% surcharge. Minibar drinks not included in the drinks packages. N.B. No water or coffee is served with lunch or dinner in the MDR. Coffee, tea and water by the glass is available free in the buffet areas from approx. 6.30am to 9pm. Food: (Lack of hand sanitizer used by many passengers and no staff enforcing this) Buffet: Oh, what a let down. Same old, same old….. The buffet deck has 4 different food areas, but the choice changed very little day to day. No hot plates, so by the time you got to your table, the luke-warm food was now cold! The tea urn supplied during the evening in the buffet is very poor. I think they show the teabag to it as it was so weak. MDR: Breakfast and lunch is open seating with Dinner being served at 2 different times, depending on which dining room you are allocated. The 2 sittings are 6.30pm and 6.45pm and then 9pm and 9.15pm. Breakfast in the MDR was part self service and a few set items on the menu…again this was a fixed menu for the whole cruise. Beware some items are pre prepared and kept refrigerated, so arrive cold and solid. Coffee and tea available, but had to ask for a teapot otherwise it’s just a small cup, which takes ages to get a refill. Lunch: again very little choice and at best luke-warm food served. Dinner: A very basic 3 star affair and they know how to put you off eating too much!!...on entry to the dining room they display each of the meals on a plate in a cabinet, talk about a turn off. Any drinks, water etc is not free at the table, unless you have purchased a drinks package. I think this is the first cruise we have ever been on where water is not served free of charge with a meal ( I can get it free in the buffet, but not the MDR!). Formal nights/Gala nights were no different to any other night. We also saw people arriving in t.shirts etc to sit in the dining room. When I challenged the waiters to this ,they just shrugged their shoulders and said they couldn’t do anything about it…memo to myself: if I go on a Costa cruise again I will only pack casual clothes. Speciality dinner in Club Victoria…DON’T DON’T DON’T!!!! For a special offer of only €14 per person (this price is only if the lead person of the cabin books, otherwise the cost is €28pp) you can have a ‘gourmet dinner in an elegant environment’. We tried the restaurant one evening. The seating and décor is very well laid out but the food was nothing special. We took the menu with us to compare it to the MDR……guess what. IDENTICAL!!!! Word for word the menus read the same, even the wine they suggested with the meal. So for an extra €28, We ate the same food as if we had eaten in the MDR!!. By the way anyone who would prefer to eat in Club Victoria for the whole cruise, it will set you back €330 pp. Cabin: We booked an inside cabin. Our first cabin was 80527. It was the average size for a cruise ship. It had a hanging wardrobe with a few huge hangers locked onto the rail..grrrr, why oh why do they have to do that. Also it means there is very little room to hang more than about 12 items. There were also 4 drawers, 3 shelves, safe, fridge etc. Bathroom was a corner layout. Soap was in a dispenser in the shower and a small bar of soap on the side of the sink. No other toiletries were supplied. That evening we went to bed and then realised there was massive banging going on as much as 27 times in 15 minutes. By 2.30am my husband got dressed and went to reception, to be told it was ‘normal and just the waves outside’........it was flat calm outside!!!. With barely any sleep, in the morning, we asked our cabin steward to come in and listen..he agreed something was wrong. Complained again to reception and they sent an engineer. Again he agreed and even said he could hear it in his cabin. Anyway after a few more calls and meetings, they moved us to another inside cabin 90534…oh bliss, no noise. There is no turn down service in the evening and no chocolate on the pillow! There are no launderettes on board any Costa ship. In addition there was no washing line in the bathroom. To have a shirt laundered by staff was approx. €2.50. Shops on board: There was not much choice unless you like watches!. 3 watch shops, 1 handbag shop, 1 clothing shop and a general store. Toiletries were very limited in the general store. There was the usual sea day sales bonanzas going on. The best was the ‘scrum’ at these events, which seemed much livelier due to mainly European passengers!. Sunbeds etc: Usual complaints regarding sun beds being commandeered by passengers with towels left on them, unattended for hours on end. Again staff did not do anything about it. We had some passengers pulling sun beds across gangways and again staff just walked around them. Maybe staff don’t do anything as they are forcing you to buy time in the quiet area..€10-14 pp per day!! Tours/port transfers: Tours costs as usual were much higher than if you did them on your own. I only did one tour, on my own, by the ship (2nd day in Reunion). We did visit all places mentioned but due to the traffic congestion, time was cut from the stops, so we still arrived back at the same time. For all independent travellers there is no information or maps given out. Any port transfers to town were charged approx. €7. Generally…the staff are very friendly and helpful. We felt the staff were much happier than on other cruise lines we have cruised with. I wonder if this is due to the automatic tipping system that cannot be cancelled. On Costa it is called Hotel Service Charge at €10 pp p.n.. Finally, would I cruise Costa again??..never say never, but the itinerary and price would have to reflect another Costa cruise! Read Less

The itinerary looked good and so I booked the cruise allowing Costa to book the flights. This was a big mistake, you cannot trust them. I normally book my own flights and allow for possible flight delays by staying overnight the night prior to boarding. I was due to fly Manchester /Paris Charles De Gaulle changing for flight to Mauritius. They allowed 85 minutes to change planes, anybody knowing this airport would think this tight. This ultimately was not a problem as the first plane was cancelled as my taxi arrived to take me to the airport. I rang Costa who told me to go to the airport and they would contact me . I was left for about four hours without contact, finally with the office now closed for the weekend, I received a call from India in broken English. I could not hear in the busy airport, so went to hotel for Friday night and rang India for instructions. I offered to go home or go on the next cruise with compensation. I was offered to fly me to Seychelles and miss the first 3 days of the cruise, the unnamed hotel was with food , a drink with meals and no entertainment. It meant one day stay in place of 3 days fully inclusive on cruise, I said that I would prefer to stay on the ship and return from Seychelles, so that I would get what I paid for. I would go on the shorter cruise if compensated. I was assured that the compensation would be made onboard. Once onboard, it was left until the day before I left to be told my cruise was not being extended and my compensation was €50 a day. I find this to be grossly undervalued plus all the stress. Upon my return, the offer of a €100 per person off a future cruise was derisory. Entertainment was boring with few entertainment staff working hard. Tours are very expensive and poorly organised. Madagascar very dissapointing. Cruise operating in rainy season did not help. I dined Ist sitting on a table for 12 in Sinfonia Restaurant, they brought another chair so 13 could sit there. This squashed everybody and annoyed next table waiter, who kept telling me to move my chair in. He was friendly, I asked him for a spoon and he told me to ask my waiter. The cutlery offered was often bizarre, a knife and fork for spaghetti. The food was terrible and displayed with pride as you entered the restaurant, it looked unappetising and nobody waived a magic wand when it appeared on your plate. The portions were small,poor quality and often served colder than desired. A doctor sat with me shared my concerns as the restaurant became half full, I developed diarrhoea for five days, so I moved to the upstairs buffet. This is self service and first night a Chinese girl vomited on my table, this could happen anywhere, however I had my suspicions. Every night half the dishes were lukewarm. I never saw anybody with a thermometer and I reported it to a supervisor. He went and spoke to chef, he came back and said that chef would do me some hot food if I wanted it. Says it all Costa have lost control on this ship. Please and thankyou are not used on this ship. Smiles seldom and rude waiters tolerated. This cruise shows the low level now tolerated by Carnival. I was a Perla member with Costa and will not cruise with them again. Read Less

maybe at the outset I will refer to the fact that unless the economic situation of Italy reflected the situation that took place on the ship :), but quite seriously we start with the fact that we had the opportunity to be your guests and regret that the conditions that prevailed on Victoria were terrible, I think. that such ships should be removed from use. Everything old, crackling, perishable. There was a haos on the ship, no one knew anything. People working at the reception were forever uninformed. Excursions offered by the shipowner were up to 300% more expensive than in private companies that were in the port, it's embarrassment :). Drinking and eating was terrible, it was hard to choose anything from what was offered in the dining room for everyone, generally hideous food. No wonder that paid thematic restaurants functioned very well, since the hopeless food was for everyone. We also do not understand the situation related to eternally loudly playing music, which instead of bringing some peace and relaxation during the journey caused irritation and anger. Is there nobody thinking about you? After all, the ship had only one pool and it was necessary to take into account that there are young and old people who also wanted peace and relaxation, and not listening to taunting animators and stupid jokes, was Costa so low down? You count for a service of 10 euros per person per day, as a service when during the whole stay none of the service staff asked us whether we would drink something or do we want something? Mockery!!! Costa today represents a very low level, I suggest that you think hard about buying a cruise from this company, in our opinion definitely "no" Please, finally, fix the toilet, because it's hard to run around toilets generally available on the ship, it's not this epoch, time does not go back only goes forward and Costa goes backwards !!!! Read Less

Taking a cruise on the Victoria is like going back into the early days of cruising, with the exception that the food was for my wife and myself was inedible for the most part. Although the ship underwent renovation in 2018, I found it difficult to see where the improvements were. The ship is dated and worn and stains and wear are evident everywhere I read the previous reviews and I knew enough to lower my expectations, but obviously I didn't lower them enough. The itinerary is excellent and was the primary factor in booking this cruise. Two waiters, Omesha Kilpaldy in the dining room and Kenneth in the specialty pizzeria were outstanding. Other crew members were fine for the most part, but there were a number of instances where crew members were just rude. The majority of guests were French speaking, many of them from the islands, taking advantage of a cruise that leaves close to home. Often we were placed with people who did not speak English for lunch and breakfast. I used the best French I could muster, but in some cases people just didn't want to converse with someone who had poor French language skills. Things you should know: 1. Speaking French would be a real asset, as well as abandoning expectations you would normally have on a mainstream North American cruise line. 2. The water on the ship is not potable. There are four water stations in the buffet area where you can get water for free. There are lineups and the water pressure is so bad that it often takes a minute to fill a glass . Some machines did not work consistently. We had a USA water plan which entitled us to one glass of water each for lunch and dinner. Beyond that you pay 2 euros. You should know that if you go to the specialty restaurant or pizzeria (pay for items) your water plan does not count and you must buy water for 2 euros. 3. The specialty restaurant will offer the advantage of a quiet space to eat, but according to German English speaking acquaintances the restaurant is not worth the price since the menu is largely the same thing you get in the dining rooms. Looking for a North American pizza experience choose the Margherita which is the only pizza which has a tomato sauce base. Other pizza are oil based rather than tomato sauce based, but to be fair they were edible is not tasty. We went to the pizzeria four times, since the food in the dining room was as described earlier. Cost for a pizza and 1 dessert to share was 8 euros, but if you sign up for Costa Club you get a 50% discount. 4. The toilets would often fail to flush in the morning hours. You would press the button and nothing would happen. Then five to ten minutes later it would flush. Some times this led to embarrassment, even for spouses that have been married for over 40 years. The air conditioning system was excellent, but the set up is such that the person closest to the duct gets constant cold air blowing on them. 5. If you don't like crowds, avoid the buffet. Early in the cruise we sat at the larger table for four, an East Indian lady proceeded to take her dirty dishes from her table and place them on the portion of the table which was not occupied, which bring us to the point that, table clearing in the buffet is not as great as on some ships. Needless to say this was an upsetting experience. 6. Be very careful In Madagascar. According to Mauritius friends two ladies were kidnapped and held for ransom in Tamatave. A ransom was paid and the women apparently were returned to the ship. Leaving the port gate in Madagascar is placing yourself among hundreds of people, all wanting to provide transportation. Be prepared to negotiate a price that is considerably less than the asking price. Ships tours are very expensive, but in Madacasgar, I would probably choose the tours since the people are poor and there is a risk to safety. In Nosey Be once we fought our way past the throngs of tour and taxi drivers, we found a wonderful Christian man who took us on a great tour for a very reasonable price (less than one fifth of the ship price). We had to travel a kilometre from the port to find him in a local park. Antisarana (Diego Suarez) was a less pleasant experience with a tuk tuk driver who stopped the vehicle a kilometre from the ship and wanted to renegotiate the price. We were going to tip him 25% anyways. We told him we would walk from there, but if he wanted the tip he would have to take us to the ship. To be fair the police are corrupt and they extorted money from him at two stops. I offered to pay but he wouldn't tell me how much they extorted. 7. For those who like to travel on your own using public transport system, the best place is the Seychelles. Although it is challenging at first, once you know the system and purchase a schedule (main bus terminal) it is quite easy to tour the island at minimal cost. The beaches are beautiful. Anse Goulette and Anse Royal are excellent. Anse Royal is by far the easiest to get to with 5 buses on the route... Buses generally come every 15 to 20 minutes. Would I go on Costa again, not a "snowball's chance in hell", but it was the only game in town and despite the numerous frustrations, it was an interesting trip. Fortunately we did meet some wonderful people on board, Mauritians and Ukrainians. That and the two waiters I mentioned were the best things about the ship. Read Less

We had an amazing time during our stay on Costa Victoria mainly because of the nice friendly and helpful staff. We travelled with our 7 year old son who was treated like a Prince by all staff on the ship but mainly the animation team and kids club. Ferdy and Sara were exceptionally good with him, most of the staff is Italian nd most of the guests were French spraking but they all made my son included and welcomed. I was happy my son made so many friends even though he can only speak Polish and English, the language is not a barrier he loved his time in the kids club. The animation team work so hard, special thanks to Ralph who was the kindest person on the ship, Francesco the sports instructor and crazy Marco. The staff at the restaurant were incredible as well and made up for the bad food at times. Donna the waitress is so lovely and helpful always smiling. The exurcions are terribly expensive, it's much cheaper to get something on the land. WE MET SO MANY nice people on the ship and on the land and visited hidden gems and that's what we are grateful for. The food, drinks packages and service charges are things we want to quickly forget about ;) Thank you to the staff of Costa Vicortia who made our journey so special Read Less

We had read previous reviews and we must have been cruising on a different ship as the ship was beautiful spotless good furnishings and fabrics and the public toilets were kept spotless.The itinerary was 27 nights from Italy to Mauritius ports included Crete Suez Canal Jordan Israel Maldives Seychelles Reunion Island.We could not call at Oman due to a Cyclone so much value for money on this cruise even with gratuities and drinks package we paid half for a four week cruise compared to a two week cruise on other companies. All the staff spoke english and were very friendly. The food was very good five courses every evening in the main dining rooms so much choice and of a good quality . Water was available free all day in the buffet restaurant until about nine in the evening .You only had to pay for water lunch and evenings in the main restaurants.Our cabin was kept spotless as was all the ship cleaning was done 24 hours a day. There was so much to do during the day and every evening there was a show. The entertainment team were a credit to the company especially Marco and the rest of the team. The english speaking guests had their own dedicated english speaking customer service advisor as did french german and spanish speaking guests. The daily information newspaper was printed in English and other languages. The cruise was magical and we have no hesitation in recommending Costa and Costa Victoria this was one of our bucket list cruises we travelled a quarter of the world and received so much value for the price we paid. We will be looking forward to booking another cruise with Costa for next year. Read Less

The reason I decided to write this review is to warn those people who privilege the rest and sleep at night to dancing and partying (I am not judging here, cruises are the right place for such things, just claiming my share of pleasure-the night's sleep): this is an old ship and there is practically no sound isolation. My cabin ( 11101 if i remember well) was exposed to very loud music to the point things were trembling each night from 23 till 1.00. Earplugs were not helpful. In this ship it is either one is lucky to have one's cabin far enough from the epicenter or not. Hospitality did not offer any sustainable solution either. Having paid about 4000 euros for three persons in a suite for a week's time, I really think it was a pitiful investment. This was a real shame, because on the whole the total experience was not awful at all. The club restaurant provided very friendly personalized service accompanied by quite acceptable and sometimes deliscious food. I could say Edd and Err saved our expeprience on the whole. Excursions, inspite of all the efforts of the guides, were not at their best, because the poor guides had to speak up to 4 languages which resulted in repeating one thing like where to find the toilettes and where to meet up to 4 times...Very little space left for cultural information. Spa on this ship is a joke and not worth a try, a shame again because it used to be a good part of a cruise activity for me and family. Finally, a valuable info for coffee lovers: traditionnally, on all Costa ships I travelled coffee is a very delicate issue: my point is, the americano they are offering in general service, is below human dignity, while the one in the bars is too strong for a morning. Well, I could order a cappucino, but I do not drink milk... My personal solution was to pack a little french press coffee maker and the brand I am used to. It could serve for a good verbal tea as well. Hot water is something one can always count on Costa company! The last but not least-many thanks to our cabin butler Yan for his perfect service and friendly smile. Read Less

Chose this cruise because the dates and the embarkation port were convenient for me. That is the good stuff out of the way, and the rest was downhill. The fact that drinking water is not provided free on a cruise in such a hot region tells you all you need to know. in 21 days only one of the two ice machines worked and then only for one day. No water provided with evening meal and no tea or coffee afterwards. Menus poor and reconstituted potato used. Drinks packages were a complete rip off. Passports were taken on day one, and only a photocopy given out (too late to be useful in some cases). When we went to Langkawi we found that the duty free shops would not allow sales unless the photcopy was shown but we had not received ours. So after a hot and sweaty trip back to the ship - queueing at the info desk to receive a copy, then a further hot and sweaty trip back to the shop - I finally managed to buy some perfume, but the whole process took half of the day we were there. Then the final insult, a photocopy (second one) was delivered to my cabin half an hour before the ship sailed out. I was given the WRONG advice about the mandatory visa for India and so paid out £140 for a two year visa instead of a £40 short term stay visa. The disembarkation port was Savona, Italy, where the ship was going into dock for a 12 day maintenance period, but we still had to vacate the cabin by 8 am and then sit in the theatre until 11.30 waiting for our transfer coach. No laundries on board and the cabin laundry service was EXPENSIVE. Would never book with COsta again. Read Less

They say you get what you pay for, but even at the great price they were offering, you got a lot LESS that what you paid for on this cruise. As an adult I have been on more than 100 cruises and as a teenager my father was a cruise ship captain. This cruise was by far the bottom of the barrel. The crew is so over worked, that there is no way they can provide good service. The biggest thing the ship needs to do is get less senior officers and more workers. There are more than enough officers standing around doing nothing while there was a shortage of people to do the work They even charge for water. On every other ship we have been on, you could always go some where to get water, tea or coffee at no charge. If you want water at dinner, no problem either pay per glass or purchase a water package. The food in the dinning rooms and buffet was so bad that it forced you go to the for pay dinning rooms. The terms planning, organization, and logic have totally evaded this ship. Our tours (that we did not book with the ship) were great and we plan to visit many of the ports again on another cruise line. In the disembarkation talk the crew speaker spent over 10 minutes telling us why we should give them 10s on the survey because the problems were not the fault of the crew. In short, stay away from the Victoria and Costa in general. Read Less

We had chosen this cruise because of the nice weather and the price was ok for us. We did a cruise with Costa Neoclassica from Savona to India in November 2017 and that one was beautiful. All our cruises with Costa were nice. We exprerienced more than 10 cruises, but this cruise was a disaster. It was the last cruise of this ship Victoria, it sailed from Asia to Europe and to be refurbished in Marseille to sail in Europe in the next future. The Italian animation team was very much to loud, the whole day they screemed on the deck. The refurbisment was already started. The carpet was already pulled loose, the stairs were already disassembled and sanded, the tenderboats were already sanded, the ceilings already came down, the chairs were already re-upholstered. All day you heard knocking, sawing, sanding, carpentry and so on. The workmen in black and white suits were busy all day. The quality of the food was in the first week ok, but the last two weeks terrible, old frozen food, no variety, cheap food unmade. I think the freezers had to be empty before the cruises ended. The dinner lasted 2.5 hours, there was far too little staff, between the various dishes we had to wait half an hour. Food appeared that you had not ordered, or it did not come at all. At 8 o'clock in the morning most of the chairs were already occupied with towels and personal belongings. Passengers occupied the seats all day long, although sometimes they were not there for hours. Costa did nothing. For me NEVER COSTA AGAIN. Read Less

We selected this cruise because of the itinery and price. We wanted to try an asian cruise this time, and not that many options are available departing from Singapore. Royal Caribbean was much more expensive and had a less attractive itinery. Costa Victoria is old. Built in 1996, and is by current standards a small ship. This would however not have to be only a disadvantage. A small ship can have its advantages. Unfortunatelly that was not the case with Costa Victoria. The decor of the ship is just uggly and would really need an upgrade. There's plenty of space on deck, but not enough deck chairs forcing people to simply place the towels on the fake "grass" floor, and the "solarium" in the forward of the ship needs at least a jacuzzi or something to relieve the main pool area. We we're upgraded from an inside to an outside cabin which was a very nice surprise! The outside cabins which comes with only a porthole window. The cabin is very small and the orange colors are not pleasant.No seating are is available so oyu have to sit in the bed to view TV. The bathroom is fine though. The dining options available are the absolute basics. It's either the buffet, or the main dining rooms. The buffet has 4 parallel lines, but only one is serving the grilled meat/fish why all people needs to queue in this line. For lunch the poolside of the buffet is serving burgers. unfortunatelly not tasty at all :(. No pizza or ice cream was available at all which suprised me on an italian ship. The MDR has two seatings, no flexible time dining. The gala dinner was rather good, but most other days the food was below standards. We shared dinner table with people from Scottland, Italy, Russia, Ukrain and Slovakia (we're from Sweden). Exiting, but not practial since not all could speak the same language. There was about 25 other Swedes onboard the ship and some british/americans which would have been much better for us to dine with for language reasons. The "theater" is more like a normal show room in 2 levels. 2 of the shows, one italian tenor and one acrobatic show was good, the other dance shows was boring. When we embarked costa took our passports and said they we're going to keep it for the entire cruise. I tried to understand why, but no one could answer me. They just said "this is how Costa always do", however, I have been with Costa 2 times before and they have not taken my passport. The day before disembarkation we had to queue to get them back. I then noticde the passports had been stamped by Thai and Cambodian customs. So maybe this was the reason for collecting them, but it would have felt better if this information was provided to us prior to embarkation. Btw, we was informormed just days before the cruise that a mandatory fee of $40 per person was going to be applied for Cambodian Visa (also applicable if not disembarking the ship). This shold have been made clear when booking the cruise, or better, including in the cruise price. Cruising is always a pleasurable way to travel, and even with the bare minimum of the cruise experience the Costa Victoria provides I find it worth the money paid. But for sure there shold be a significant difference in price, or much better itinery if I would choce costa again for my future cruises. Read Less