We booked Costa Pacifica for 10 night Mediterranean cruise for our wedding anniversary. It was our first cruise and i would say that it met and sometimes exceeded our expectations. Value for money was great and with few exceptions everything was awesome. Cleanliness overall was top. Reaching places on the ship was easy after we discovered the interactive screens. Sadly, always some of the elevators were out of service. With the exception of our dinner waiter who was later then other waiters, the staff was very helpful and friendly. Food quality and variety for us was exceptional. Many serving buffets and hours. We loved sea fruits, bakery, grills, pastas and desserts. We dinned in My Way restaurant. The menu was different each night, with 3-5 options for each meal, italian cuisine at it's best. Daily and evening events, some free, some paid. We were clearly explained that this is an italian ship and although we enjoyed the italian atmosphere, we felt that some events were for italian guests mainly. English is the second language here. Theatre shows were ok with some good singers, decent dancers and great acrobats. Some comedy also. Internet packets are expensive like all cruises, but there are some social packets and even one option to pay for minute. Excursions were worth it, some a little expensive but it was the best option. We booked northern part of the Lanzarote, Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife, and the 9h all around Funchal (fabulous experience). We chose to visit Marseille and Malaga on our own and it was a good plan. We absolutely loved the condition of the ship, the design and decorations. Everything reflects a musical theme. Recommend it. Read Less

Boarding: boarding in Kiel took hours. I’m new to cruising, but it seemed rather disorganized with little possibility for seating. The terminal in Kiel was an uncomfortable , utilitarian facility. None of the screens were working, Costa Personnel were walking around with signs to tell people which groups were boarding. Ship’s decor: the ship has a musical “theme” which is so tasteless and kitschy and dated. One can see that the ship isn’t the newest. There are plenty of signs of wear and tear. The Casino takes up a lot of square meters so I suppose it is a big money maker for the ship. Cabin: we booked two premium balcony cabins. The balcony was fine, two chairs and a little table. It was a relief to be able to escape the never ending noise of the ship. Except that our cabin on deck 6 was right over a bar. So at 10 pm when we were ready to go to sleep because of a busy day in port, the music in the bar was so loud that our cabin was shaking and one could literally sing along with the songs if one was so inclined. But we just wanted to sleep! Only possible with earplugs for all 10 days!!! Shower had a flimsy cloth curtain that was not adequate to keep water from dripping all over the bathroom. And a few nervous moments when we were getting dangerously low on toilet paper. Our toilet didn’t always flush. The mattress was hard and uncomfortable. The pillows were lumpy and synthetic. You can only choose softer or down pillows in suites. The cabin steward was super polite and did a good job cleaning and tidying our cabin every day. The spa: definitely worth the €135 Euro spa pass. A very fine spa with 4 different steam baths and a super jacuzzi. And a sun room with a great view. There are only adults which is a relief as all other pools and jacuzzis are full of children. The jacuzzis are from 16+, but this is not enforced by the personnel. Small children in warm bubbly water...I’ll let you guess what it must be full of. My husband and I both booked hot stone massages that were wonderful, but the relaxation was destroyed when both our masseuses turned our massages into a sales pitch for foot cream (€30), neck cream (€40), 21 day detox cure with vitamins and tea (a bargain at €180), and 20 packets of bath salts that are almost as good as a massage (“only” €10 a packet, much cheaper than a massage”). It was very difficult to convince her that I wasn’t interested. She definitely didn’t take polite no thank you’s. So all the stress that was massaged away was right back again. I’m sure they are pressured to sell products. She tried to schedule me for another €100 massage, but you can be sure I wasn’t going to put myself through that again. I’ve never experienced that in a spa before. Fitness center: very well outfitted, also for 16+ but full of kids playing around on the machines. No personnel was present to enforce this. Several “health” seminars are offered, but they always end in being a sales pitch for insoles or detox vitamins. Food: absolutely inedible. Our assigned table was in New York, New York. Nice waiter, but he messed up our orders every time. The food was cold, dry, tiny portions that barely resembled their descriptions. The salad leaves were wilted (brown around the edges) and the seatings took almost 2 hours plus. That was a lot of sitting for so little food. My 190cm tall 24 year old son had to eat in the buffet afterwards so he wouldn’t be hungry. So we decided to eat in the La Paloma buffet restaurant. Long lines, lukewarm food, and to top it off, my 22 year old son and I both got food poisoning which kept us up all night with vomiting and diarrhea. Luckily we had two cabins! I was very careful afterwards in my food choices. The only truly tasty food was the focaccia at lunch time. The breakfast buffet was full of sweets. The rolls were small and dry. The eggs were powdered and wet. Only two types of cheese and very limited sliced meats. The “orange” juice was anything but. You could also sit down in the NY, NY restaurant for breakfast. But the buffet is exactly the same as La Paloma buffet restaurant. Only difference is that the coffee cups are smaller and the tea is served with lukewarm water and there is linen and silver on the table. The joke is I lost weight on this cruise, who loses weight on a cruise?? The gelato was super, but you had to pay for it. Entertainment: the Italian lifestyle requires that most entertainment started at 9.30-10.30 pm. Well, we arrived early in the morning in port, so I don’t know how people could party all night and have a full day of touring the next day. There were theme nights every night that it appeared that every Italian on board had the required clothes but we had received no information prior to the cruise about which outfits were required for the various parties. The white gala night, the international night, the Italian night, the French night, the masquerade night, etc....not that you would have packed for so many themes if you didn’t know about it. So we felt excluded from a large part of the on board entertainment. Excursions: we booked two excursions, Danzig and Marienburg, and two days in St. Petersburg (grand tour). Both were very expensive but we had very good guides and the food was the only tasty food we got on the trip. The buses were new and air conditioned. Our guide in St. Petersburg was great. She could get us through thousands of Chinese tour groups with seeming ease. All other destinations we used hop on, hop off buses that you can catch at the harbor. This is a much cheaper option. Destinations: great, but 5 hours in Tallinn was inadequate. Why we arrived at 1 pm instead of 8 is a mystery. I suspect docking was cheaper after 12. And three huge cruise ships at once pretty much filled the town up. Personnel: generally very friendly. We had one very unpleasant situation when we arrived I Tallinn. Many passengers had headed for the exits as we all wanted to make the most of our 5 hours. Suddenly a large Spanish guy in a white uniform started yelling at us in a very sharp tone to go away before the announcement was made to wait one floor above. We had even been sent by other crew members to wait where we were waiting. It was really uncalled for. He started yelling at Spanish passengers too. It wasn’t a friendly and helpful tone. And we weren’t a mob, there were at the most 15 people standing there. There was a daily animation program but it was quite difficult to follow in 5 languages! But kudos to the crew for trying. The internet: super expensive, €107 for 3 GB and it barely worked. In the end I actually hadn’t used my full three GB’s because I couldn’t download or upload anything because it was so slow. The social media flat is probably a better deal. We were close enough to land that our roaming worked fine most of the time. All inclusive: our package included the pio gusto drinks package. Only silly thing, they wouldn’t provide a bottle of water. Those had to be bought. And you weren’t allowed to fill water bottles at the water dispensers. So lukewarm chlorine water from our tap was the only possibility in the cabin. We bought bottled water in port. To round it up: We would never travel with Costa again, but now we know what to look for on a cruise Read Less

Review Summary The question is...Would I recommend taking a Baltic Cruise on Costa Pacifica? I will reluctantly say “Yes”. The Cruise Ship is well worth the money spent. The destinations are absolutely exquisite. The only hesitation I have is the food as it was terrible. Embarkation Getting to the Port in Kiel Germany was very easy. The Cruise Terminal is ~1 mile from the Kiel Train Station (HBF). Plenty of shops and food establishments to peruse before boarding. The boarding process was abysmal. Massive amount of passengers being funneled into 6 check-in stations. It took ~4 hours from arriving at the Terminal to boarding the ship. Baggage arrived to the cabin later in the evening. Absolutely miserable experience. Ship Experiences Food and Dining Main Dining Room was mediocre at best. Presentation of dishes was average. Quality and variety was well below average. Little to no fresh vegetables and fruits. Buffet was nearly inedible. Same low quality dishes every single day. The breads and desserts were above average. Little to no fresh vegetables and fruits. Specialty Restaurants were no better. Drink Packages and Bars were above average. This is the primary disappointment. Was expecting good Italian Dining, yet received meals that were so horrible. In addition, four of our party became violently ill throughout the cruise directly related to the food. Onboard Activities The shipboard activities were outstanding. The ship was filled with activity daily and was one of the most exciting cruise ships I have been aboard. Entertainment All of the Performances and Entertainers were excellent. One the most exciting cruise ships I have been aboard. Children's Programs No children Service and Staff The Crew were outstanding in all aspects. Very friendly and professional. Ship Quality The ship is in great shape. While the decor is very brash, it fits the energy of the cruise. Appropriate Music throughout the ship. Cabin / Stateroom Cabin is above average with plenty of storage space. Tastefully decorated. The bed and pillows were average. Ship Tip Really think about how important the quality of food is to your cruise experience. Ports Of Call Kiel, Germany No excursion. Good port for Embarking and Disembarking Gdynia (Gdansk), Poland Average port. It is a young city so in a couple of years it will be a much better port. Shuttle to city center is ~$8 Klaipeda, Lithuania Wonderful port. Lots to see and do. Walk to the city center. Very inexpensive. Tallinn, Estonia Wonderful port. Lots to see and do. Walk to the city center. Very inexpensive. St. Petersburg, Russian Federation The Crown Jewel of the Baltics. Spend as much time and money as possible in St Petersburg. Extremely inexpensive. Must obtain a Visa prior to cruise or book an Excursion through the cruise line to exit the port. No exceptions. Helsinki, Finland Beautiful port but not much to see or do. Very expensive. Shuttle to city center is ~$15 Stockholm, Sweden Wonderful port. Lots to see and do. Shuttle to city center is ~$15 Disembarkation Couldn’t get off the ship fast enough. Disembarking is typical as with other ships. Received color coded baggage tags the night before. Pack and set your bags outside your cabin by 1am. Depart the ship at time coordinated by your color code. Bags awaiting you in the Terminal. Read Less

Our 3 main reasons for choosing a cruise were: 1) Relaxation, 2) good food, and 3) experiencing foreign cultures. Unfortunately we did't get any of it! Ad 1), The moment we entered the ship we found out that hundreds of young people were on board as well, and they had brought their own music, which they played loudly and constantly, especially around the pool-areas, so if you were more than 25 years old you'd have to go somewhere else. The noise continued into the evening and night when they entered the hallways, corridors and even pulled mattresses out on the balconies where they sang and shouted until the early morning. We had 3-4 hours sleep every night and after a few days we walked around like zombies and just waited for the trip to be over. Ad 2) The food was absolutely appalling! Breakfast were 3 kinds of cold egg-dishes with burned bacon and some old bread you could hardly chew - unless you washed it down with a thin, tasteless substance they called coffee or various juices, which had never been even close to a fruit. Lunch and afternoon tea were third-rate cafeterias, and dinner was the worst we've ever tasted. Soup, fish, meat, pasta - you name it - were cold and inedible, so in stead of gaining several pounds, which we normally do on vacations, we lost them! Ad 3) We had really looked forward to strolling around the sea ports, enjoying the local buildings and atmospere, but every time we arrived at a port, a security advice was put outside our cabin door, on which we were warned (and I quote): Not to wear watches, sunglasses, and jewelry. Not to change money unless it was inside a certain bank. Not to carry any id, unless it was a photo copy. And in the event of robbery we should not offer any resistance (unqoute). It left us with 2 options: Either stay on board the ship the whole time or pay a lot of money for Costa Pacifica's expensive tours. Needless to say, it has been a nightmare of a trip, and we can highly recommend not to book a travel with Costa Cruises. Read Less

Our cabins were EXCELLENT and we had pleanty of room. Hot water all the time, confortable bed and lovely view. The shore excursions are all great BUT extremelly expensive. We got better deals on each port by manuvering around by ourselves with locals. I personally found the decor of the ship a bit too much, but again...my aunt LOVED IT! The theme is music and violins and lots and lots of mirrors. There is a spa worth every penny, large gym, excellent staff and accomodations. There are great deals at their stores on perfumes, watches and jewlery. I loved the food and the amiable service by their restaurant staff and the men that serviced our cabins. YUNANTA was the Best!!!! The food quality was superb, the choices...endless and the taste BEYOND AMAZING. I just spent 7 days crusing Saint Martin, Catalina, Tortola, Martinica and Guadalupe (At Tortola they did not allow dominicans to desembark). My only problem with Costa Cruise line is the fact that they did not inform Dominicans before hand of the issues with British island of Tortola and their refusal to allow us to desembark. Their options for entertainment were not to my liking. The music and amenities were more fitting for older people (my aunt of 76 LOVED IT!). However, the staff in charge of such activities were always hipe, funloving, attentive and willing to show guests a great time. The entire staff of the cruise was really kind but not very good about giving the adequate information. We had issues with the information given since our arrival at the Dominican port at Romana. The staff contradicting information provided for several confussions throught our stay onboard. Nevertheless, I would still say that my overall experience on Costa Pacifica was VERY GOOD! Read Less

Recommended by friends who had been and we loved this cruise! Flew to Nice and used the Costa coach transfer to Savonna. Embarkation was very efficient and cruise terminal in Savonna comfortable. First stop was Marseille, the cruise terminal is about 10km from town centre with free bus shuttle provided by the port. In Cadiz the railway station is right next to the terminal. In Madeira, St Martin, St Kitts, Antigua and Martinique we shared minibuses or taxis - we were in party of 4 - for 25 to 30 USdollars or euros per person. In Philipsburg the water taxi is great to get you to the beach. Five days at sea were very relaxing with good activities . We enjoyed the Italian course with Marco and took part in table tennis "tournaments""- we had brought our bats. Food on the Pacifica was superb, our waiter Ramir very helpful and spoke good English. Got a delicious birthday cake for only 11 euros - and card from captain. The entertainers dealt brilliantly with all the languages, shows were good and plenty of live music and dancing in bars. We left the ship in Guadeloupe and disembarkation was quick and efficient. A great cruise and would definitely go with Costa again Read Less

Single traveler on 'Isole Del Sole' cruise with 'Costa Pacifica' from Savona. I chose this cruise to experience 'Costa Crociere', Madeira and Canary Islands with some more sea days again. Embarkation - The process from arrival at the terminal to my stateroom took about 2 hours, but I was repeatedly addressed in German, my native language. The stateroom was not yet ready at shortly after 01:00pm, but I already could store my hand luggage and grab my board card. Security Drill - It took less than 30 minutes and was held in Italian, English and German languages shortly before departure; movies in other languages were available on the TV in the stateroom the entire cruise. Cruise guests had to bring life vests from their staterooms. The Ship - 'Costa Pacifica' is a classic cruise liner, 9 years old, with a more traditional form, compared to newer ships. Interiors featured the theme music, with many colorful symbols and images in warm colors. There were always lots of free sun loungers on the very spacious sun decks, even in quiet areas. The cruise was outsold and the ship appeared crowded sometimes. 'Costa Pacifica' was well maintained and in good shape, given its age. Orientation signs on board were good. Crew And Staff - The crew was friendly, caring and attentive, always trying to talk to their guests in each their languages, a charming Babylonian language jumble. The stateroom stewardess made a good job and was always open for a small talk. Dining - There were different theme evenings in the main dining room, but I couldn't find a menu before entering the restaurant, and since I am a buffet type of passenger, generally avoiding long sessions in the main dining rooms, I did not visit the main dining room at all. In the evenings, the 'Ristorante Buffet La Paloma' was open from 07:00pm to 09:00pm, there were queues sometimes, since the buffets are arranged on long bars, not allowing guests to jump. Plastic table ware was used, but the offered food was among the best things on the cruise. Different variations of meat - including very good Bratwurst - and fish, a selection of pasta and different potato and vegetable preparations, very delicious small bites from the patisserie were always offered for lunch and dinner. Other deli was presented at special events at the main pool for example, as well as hamburgers and fries daily from 11:00am to 02:00pm. For 'La Merenda' from 04:00pm to 05:00pm, the restaurant was always very crowded, for good reason, the many different bites were very good; queues at the basket with freshly fried cinnamon rolls. On sea days, the 'Ristorante Buffet La Paloma' was crowded for breakfast; choice and quality was always very good, except for the fluid scrambled eggs. I had the 'Pranzo & Cena' beverage package, since only some beverages for breakfast and 'La Merenda' - coffee, hot chocolate and tea, plus juices for breakfast - were included in the cruise fare. The guest can get beverages at the end of every buffet line in the 'Ristorante Buffet La Paloma' at lunch and dinner, manually served by friendly staff, a full plastic cup with 250ml to 300ml out of cans or bottles. The 'Carta Costa' must be shown or handed over to the staff for paying therefore, any purchased beverage package is noted with its code on the card. Tap water was free, available from dispensers in the 'Ristorante Buffet La Paloma'. Hand disinfection was available at every buffet, but was not taken very seriously by most guests on this cruise. The dress code was casual, long pants were required in the evening. The Guests - Majority from Italy, followed by cruise guests from German speaking countries. Other remarkable groups were from France, Spain, UK and Eastern Europe. The cruise was like all Europe on one ship. From my observation - I saw people in wheel chairs and with rollators - the ship was very kid friendly, with different kinds of kindergarten like care, plus a dedicated pool and play area. Kids were involved in festivities and had their appearances as special guests. Shore Excursions - This is something I usually organize on my own. Disembarkation and Embarkation at ports of call was quickly without long waiting. The ship was always very punctual, but harbor stays were short. Guests were not allowed to bring beverages on board, but could walk in with even big bottles sometimes. Entertainment - The program offered something for everyone, with live music every day, plus the shows in the theater of course. There were also entertainment offers in other languages than Italian. Over all, the program appeared a little bit limited, especially on sea days. Shopping - Some few shops offered different things, from clothes to gifts, spirits and tobacco, as well as perfumes. There was no intrusive spa promotion on this cruise. The photo area was under renovation, temporarily moved to another location. Internet - I had purchased the Internet 500mb package, the internet speed was not so good, temporarily overloaded or even unavailable sometimes on sea days. Disembarkation - Cruise guests were assigned to disembarkation time slots and had to leave their staterooms until 08:00am, spending time until disembarkation with breakfast or waiting in crowded lounges. The baggage was easy to find in the terminal, on-board accounting was correct. Thank you 'Costa Crociere' for an again wonderful cruise with so good food, charming multilingualism and your warm Italian hospitality on bella 'Costa Pacifica'! Read Less

This was my first cruise with Costa (Baltic Sea 12 days), and honesty I was very sceptic about chosing this company (mostly due to the accident with Costa Concordia). We cruise a lot with our family and tried many cruise companies but Costa surprised me totally! The ship Costa Pacifica – it is not the biggest and most splendorous one, but clean and very well maintained, which is unusual for Italian companies. Costa was bought by Carnival some time ago and you can really see the American influence on their service. My favourite place on the ship was Amarillo Cioccolateria. The best coffee is being served here, and you get advised on coffees like you were in a coffee factory! Absolutely fantastic! The swimming pool had warm water, so that children can spend hours in it and do would not get cold. ( and believe me - they do!) Waiters – nice, helpfull, always smiling We were very also positively surprised with all the maintainance services on the ship. One evening hour toilette broke down, I informed the guest service, and within 30 minutes the problem was solved! Very tasty food. You have a wide range on vegetables, bread, meet, fresh made pastas (their pastas are fantastic – my daughter was eating 2 plates of it every day! And the cook preparing them always knew what would be the best for a child). Also the food in the restaurants during the dinner was delicious! High quality, various dishes, cuisines and we were served very quickly every evening ( we were there with 5 year old child, so it was really a priority ) Entertainment. Every evening there was something worth seeing. They have an incredible tenor who was on stage 3 times during the cruise and every time got a standing ovation. Absolutely brilliant! Also on the last evening the tenor sang in the restaurant during our dinner which was a lovely goodbye for all of us. Well skilled dancers and very interesting choreography every evening. We also enjoyed the animation team. They were on duty from 10 AM till midnight every day and honesty, they kept everyone entertained. Kids club – wonderful, patient ladies who can communicate in English, German , Italian , Russian and other languages. Our daughter just loved it there. Peppa Pig is present on the ship and you can take pictures with her for your children, apart from those taken by professional photographers. That was fabulous! Not like we experienced it on other ships, where you can see the Mascot once or twice during the cruise. Children could get engaged in various activities with Peppa almost every evening, and there was a beautiful Peppa Pig playground in the top deck with pool (warm water). We were there for my husband’S birthday and he got some free “stuff” from Costa (birthday picture, cake and offer for spa treatments). Also on the gala evening we got invited to the theatre for cocktails with Captain, which was a wonderful surprise. So now we are searching for another cruise with Costa, because this was definitely worth the money and the time we spent there. I truly recommend! Read Less

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Before the cruise I read a lot critical reviews about Costa but I just thought that Americans are to demanding and as an European I can manage with European customers and service. I was totally wrong. We have cruised before e.g. Princess Cruises and have loved every second. This time was different. Ok, I have to admit that the ship seemed quite nice and cabin was also proper and clean. For first hour I was satisfied with my choise. Then it began: We did not get our luggage to our cabin until around 6:45 pm and were late few minutes from dinner (7:00) even though we changed our clothes in a hurry. We were not let in anymore and we were advised to go to dinner buffet. That was something I have never seen in a cruise ship and we are not even picky. Plastic plates, nothing to eat, nothing. Normal 5 Euros lunch buffet for construction workes is fine dining compared to this one. I would describe it as a snack bar with unappealing choises. Then we noticed that there is also pizza available which would have made this dinner buffet somehow ok. Pizza, pay extra 4,25$. As going through the ship I also noticed directly that you have to pay extra for everything. We had a drinking package but not even water available in a cabin and you cannot get water bottle from bar. So, you pay to get water to your cabin. Ice-cream extra 1,5$ etc. At this point we were quite disappointed already but still tried to make our cruise comfortable. It did not work, the whole cruise was just pain. Customer service is slow, announcement spoken in bad english after many other languages. Many customers like us are not native english speakers but that is the only language we can use there, so it was hard to handle things because my english is not in excellent level and staff spoke even worse english. Still I could have lived with this food issue, bad customer service and all extra payings. But fellow travelers.... Loud, rude, unpolite. We spend the end of our vacation again in a AI-hotel in Dominican Rep. and were so thankful for civilized way other customers acted in a hotel. Customers were north americans and from Scandinavia. Not pushing in line, not shouting in big groups, always paying attention to other peoples presence and not just thinking of themselves. Read Less

We took this cruise for two reasons: the great itinerary (initially 6 port stops in 6 days, although the last one in St. Maarten was cancelled after the Sept. hurricanes), and the fact that it was one of the only cruise ships departing from the Dominican Republic where we were spending 3 more weeks on this trip. All-in-all, we weren’t disappointed. We expected that the other passengers would be mostly European, but we were flabbergasted to find out that we were the amongst the only English-first-language passengers on the entire ship! (we only heard English being spoken by any passengers between themselves once on the entire cruise). The passengers were about 30% Italian, 30% French (including many from Martinique and Guadeloupe, and some French-Canadians), 30% Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking (I think mainly from South America), and 9.99% Northern European, who mostly had to communicate with the service crew in English, who were mostly Fillipino, Chinese and Indian, and English was their only second language. Anyway, we didn’t view this as a disadvantage since it lent a decidedly European flair to the cruise, and this may have been the reason that they assigned us our own table-for-two at dinner. The Isla Catalina stop was basically a beach day at a very nice island beach just a few km off the coast of the D.R. near La Romana. The other four port stops were four very interesting and beautiful islands of the Lesser Antilles, St. Kitts, Antigua, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. We were not interested in beach, catamaran or scuba tours and wanted to see the interior, seascapes, and historical sites on these islands. We only took one Costa tour (in St. Kitts) due to the relatively short port stop, and we had previously booked the remainder of shore tours via the internet with private operators, all of which were probably better, longer, and cheaper than those offered by Costa. The food was generally very good, especially in the main dining room, where the dinners were six courses with fresh plates and the right cutlery for each course, and the service was excellent. It was mainly Italian with only limited pasta, with mainly fresh ingredients in imaginative dishes. However, beef and shrimp offerings were limited, and steak and lobster were never offered except for a significant additional cost, even for the gala dinner. The desserts at dinner, especially the chocolate ones, and also in the buffet at meal and snack times, were excellent. Every day they offered excellent small sandwiches, real Italian pizza, and those excellent desserts in the buffet. However, that was it for snack foods. The ship was very clean, with handrails and walls being wiped down often. The entertainment in the theatre was pretty good, as far as it went. The lead male and female singers, as well at the dozen dancers were very good, but most of the shows were limited to 45-60 minutes. However there was no show at all one night, and another night was wasted on “The Voice of the Sea”, basically a corny passenger karaoke show with judges (although this drew the largest crowd from the mostly European passengers – Italian culture at its finest!). However, we had recently taken an MSC cruise which, although no better in other regards, offered far superior, longer, and more varied theatre entertainment. In fairness, MSC seems to be head and shoulders above most other cruise lines in this one cruise feature. The bigger disappointment was the remaining entertainment in the lounges, where the singers and musicians were quite mediocre. In the main dance lounge, I kid you not, they actually sang that classic, great 1960s hit “Itsy bitsy teeny weenie yellow polka dot bikini” in heavily-accented English with a Latin beat with dozens dancing to it! Again, Italian culture at it’s finest! Drink prices were EUR 5-6 for basic beer/wine/liquor, up to EUR 10 for fancy cocktails. The basic drink package was EUR 188, so you would each have to have almost 6 drinks/day to break even. Like all cruise lines, they state that bringing alcohol on board is not allowed, but we put a bag of wine and a bottle of scotch in a plastic bottle in our luggage and it was not detected, saving us a few hundred dollars. Juice/water/coffee/tea was available free only at breakfast, but only water at lunch/dinner, and they had the audacity to put up a sign saying not to fill your water bottles with the free bulk water (yeah, right!). However, this is a remnant of European culture where one must never stoop to drinking safe tap water, but only expensive bottled water that costs as much as the wine or beer! As I said, the lower level Filipino, Indian and Chinese staff were generally hard-working, polite, and excellent at their jobs, but some of the mostly Italian senior staff were insufferably snotty. I asked one of them a simple question, which they replied in a haughty and rude tone, and then later it turned out the answer they gave me was totally wrong! One little thing, however, really showed their attempt to extract every Euro from the passengers: at the port stop in St. Kitts the ship docked at the commercial port some 3 km from the city centre where the two other piers were taken by other cruise ships. I would guess that the port authorities would charge more for the premium central piers, however its not unusual for a cruise ship to have to dock at a more distant pier and run a shuttle bus service to the town centre. What is unusual, however is to have the audacity to charge the passengers EUR 7 to take this shuttle! However, apart from these minor annoyances, this was a pretty good cruise, and is recommended if you want to see these particular ports and you can get the cruise for a good price. Read Less

for the ilands , the menbers off the excursions were not very patient whit people from quebec, everytime we ask for information they said read your paper you get at your room ,only 1 restaurent la carte and buffet all the reste must pay ,theatre show are done by 9pm then left whit there bars ship,there was entertainement was ok. was clean and cabin also the dinning the service was very good exelente waiters excursions were goog but expensive and everything in euro , one off our freinds was at the pool a italien lady took the long chair he ask for it back. went to explain to the people in charge they said nothing cold be done fellt very ognored,when we were leaving the cruize they ask how many people were loking foward to go home everybody put there hand up exept 1 ,then he ask wouls anyone like to spend another week on board only 1 person put her hand up, so i think you need to work on the social for quebec everyone was desappointed did not feel support was good Read Less

We picked this cruise as a package leaving La Romana in the Dominican Republic a one week cruise and then a one week stay at the Be Live Canoa in La Romana. At almost every port new travellers boarding the ship, and every time a safety drill onboard even as late as10:30pm at night blasting in our rooms even us who already did our drill on the first day. Food menu is basically always the same day to day. If you look for tea in the evening the hide it away, and you must ask for it. Who knows why? The state rooms are well kept, and ship is clean. We had a cabine on the second level and heard loud noises from the floor above us which were the fridge units for the dining area. At all times of the night heard shovelling noises and piling of boxes or so. Last day of cruise they offered us to sleep on the eight floor balcony room, and we did, sleped like a baby no noise. We should have complained sooner. I had my lounge chair taken away from me by an Italian tourist, him saying its an italian boat and they have sonority over us. Called security and argued for a while but he won, and me off looking for another place to sit. We watched him and his group to get off the chair but they never left. He had people relaying him to sit in my place. They can keep there ships. Never again will our group of 10 travel on any Italian ship including the Costa line. Does not compare in any way to Celebrity or Royal Caribbean which we both did years before. Read Less

The cruise in October was my 65th birthday present to myself and also the itinerary had great appeal, embarking in Barcelona. Interestingly , there were new passengers on a daily basis, so there were new faces most mornings at breakfast.I noticed at least 8-10 wheelchair bound passengers during the seven day trip, fantastic to have such provision for disabled people.For once , the British speaking passengers were the minority, which added to the fun we had. large Italian families travelling together in addition to other folk from all over the world.Offshore shuttles, for those of us not wishing to join booked excursions were punctilious and well organised.The office"staff' went to so much trouble to assist us on disembarkation day, we hade a late evening flight to Dubai, so they kept our luggage in the office and let us stay on Board until 15h00, they phoned the taxi company to change our collection time, all with a smile and such efficiency (Laura and Miekle) World Class Service indeed. Read Less

First of all Good prices - Wifi was too expensive and not properly received - The ship cleaned all day long and the pool well kept Our Cabin was properly done every time we needed by Ian Magdaraog - Astonished entertainment by people singing different languages - Good and various food for all tastes - Hospitality Service well managed with the help of foreign languages - Mainly Rodrigo with his smile - Very good and warm bar services - with smiling and friendly bar maids - mainly Remy and the blonde girl (forgot her name) The everyday shows were very good with different teams and the show delivered by the various people (non entertainment team) on the day before our departure was great- can't imagine such good talents behind the scene We bought various good excursions - value for money - To end : Very Good cruise to be renewed every time now and then when in need of rest Read Less

Sail Date: 08 September 2017 Destination: Europe - Western Mediterranean Embarkation: Kiel Just returned from a cruise, the Costa Pacifica.We chose this cruise for the itinerary and we were not disappointed. We enjoyed every port of call, stunning scenery combined with history and beautiful buildings. The Costa Pacifica is a lovely ship with lots to offer My husband and I are cruising enthusiasts. this was my first cruise. Being both retired we have chosen cruises to have the opportunity to visit different country but most of all to discover all the entertainment on board and to meet such wonderful and charming people on board. My husband is already a Costa Club member , the last time it was on Costa Victoria. The staff was as usual fantastic and really did all what they could to keep up the hospitality of Costa. It was an excellent and very amusing experience. We dined in the New York restaurant and the food was excellent as was the waiter service. We had a fantastic wine waiter called Boaquina Santos II who was excellent at his job. The food was really good and the service was amazing. The show in the evening was good. We have been so lucky to meet people such as Beautiful Cynthia Bulka, very good and warm bar maid services with the smiling and charming Lalremruati (Remy) (Cocktail Waitress), the very beautiful friendly blonde from Portugal, Zaenal Mustopa F& B server. These persons have really touched our heart with their kindness, great devotion and most of all with the communicating friendly smile, a great thanks to them who have make our day and night a real dream. I wish them all the best in their professional and personal life. Do not change anything, be always the same .You are wonderful persons. We watched all the dance shows in the theatre and the lounge bar, the Afro Arimba dance productions were brilliant. A big thank and applause to the beautiful fantastic singer Julia & the great and talented Saxophonist Roberts for their romantic song. The everyday shows were excellent with different teams and the unforgettable show delivered by the various people (non entertainment team) on the day before our departure was just fabulous, talented and surprising Just can't imagine such good and hidden talents behind the scene. Hospitality Service well managed and very helpful with different foreign languages - Mainly the smiling Rodrigo and the charming Laura Sini. A big kiss from Costa Pacifica Boutique to the beautiful and smiling waiter 407 Michele Pereire, excuse us for not writing well the name. We will not forget our two Francophone Hospitality Service Senior Specialists namely the charming and smiling Lisa Coppola and Julia Fouquet with their unconditional devotion. They were more than helpful A big thank to the very talented photographer Alexandre Bega and his team. We did various good excursions - value for money - A big thanks for the hospitality and animation team, the fantastic and talented Josuah. Wish him Good luck VIGO City Tour Visited a city in Spain and then Portugal. Was an interesting tour. CHERBOURG The trip to Normandy was our favorite excursion of the cruise. It was very moving, our guide well informed, and the museum at the graveyard very well done. Overall it was a fantastic cruise with great values. Read Less

We chosen this Cruise because it was an opportunity to know dfferent places like Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallin, Riga, Port of Kleipeda and Gdingen and Gdansk finally back to Kiel. The trip was great, the Staff amazing polited and helpful. The cabin was very clean, several times a day it was checked. The food floor, nineth floor was very clean and offered several meals and the quality was very good. The special restaurant was very goo also. We only did the Ship Excursion in St Petersburg and it was very well organized and well done! The great setback is the internet connection. It would be better and more correct to say there was NO INTERNET ON BOARD. Either you have a twenty fours hours package for five euros a day, which does NOT WORK PROPERLY. Or you have choices of packages of 250 MEGABYTES or 500MEGABYTES or 3 GIGABYTES. Prices hanging from 32, 47 or 109 EUROS per package. BUT then comes the BIG catch , which you find out later written in very small letter at the botton of the page ...remember to disconnect by typing logout... What happens if you do not do so, there is a stopwatch measuring your use and then your package is gone almost without using it. An absurdity, it seems done with really bad faith!!!!!! Who after each use of your phone, whatsapp, or anything similar connect and disconnect every time. PLEASE Sirs, either you do not offer this lousy type of internet connection OR offer a reasonable one which might be used in your favor to send family and friends how we are enjoying the Cruise. Read Less

Daily, each passenger is charged 10€ for "tips". On the first day, I asked what the tips went for, and I was informed that they were given to those people who provided services: busboys, waiters and waitresses, bartenders, food servers, cabin cleaners. GOOD! These professions are often underpaid and many people do not tip for those services. The day before my cruise ended, I asked one of the service people what they were going to do with their tips at the end of the cruise. (I don't want to get anyone in trouble, so I am making the job of the person generic.) There were slightly over 3500 customers and slightly under 1000 service workers. 11 days x 3500 people x 10 € = 385000 € ! So, I talked with one of the officers of food and beverage and asked where the money went. He smiled indulgently and explained that Americans view "tips" differently than Europeans. The money, he explained, went to the people in charge of the service workers! He further justified NOT giving it to any of the service people by saying that when they signed a contract, they KNEW it was for salary only. I told him that if I had known that my tip money did NOT go to the folks who provided DIRECT service, I would have carried euros around with me to tip those folks who served me! I talked to German, Italian and French cruise mates....and asked them what they thought the "tip" money was for and they explained to me that it was for those people who provide service: busboys, waiters and waitresses, bartenders, food servers, cabin cleaners! SO, they had the same thought as I. Fortunately, there was time to give the person who cleaned my cabin a tip. BUT, all those others didn't get tips and the person who cleaned my cabin told me that it is rare! (OF COURSE IT IS! PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE GIVING EVERY DAY!) The daily excursions were pricey and there were FEW (only 2 out of 11) that had head sets for each member of the tour group. There were often 3-5 cruise ships in the port which meant that there were hundreds, possibly thousands going ashore to see THE sights that made the town famous/important etc. Each tour group was 30-40 people and unless you were directly in front of the person (obviously impossible) you couldn't hear what was being said. The tour companies were hired/subcontracted by COSTA and when this issue was raised with the excursion folks on board, they explained that there was nothing they could do. When I spoke with the tour guides, they explained that the cost of head sets was too much for them....Additionally, the tour guides seemed to routinely get paid less than what I paid for the tour itself! (Another place to tip if you enjoyed the tour.) Read Less

We chose this cruise for its itemerary and price. It was a very good value. You need to understand Costa is an Italian/German line and there's not many English speaking guests on board. If this is a problem for you DO NOTGO ON THIS CRUISE, My wife and I enjoy being around people from around the world. If we want to only be around overweight people speaking English we can just go to the local Cracker Barrel. We had many interesting conversations with guests from all over the world. Unlike Americans, most Europeans can speak English in addition to their native language. Embarkation was a bit chaotic. We waited 2 hours or more in line checking in, On the flip side, disembarkation was very smooth and fast. The food was fine. Not as many choices as to where to eat as we are used to but pretty soon you figure out where to go eat during the day. If you can't decide what to order off the menu just order both choices. You have to pay for most anything, colas, ice cream, etc. The ship is called the Music of the Seas and it lives up to its name, with numerous bars with a variety of music. Our only complaint is that although most of the performers sing and play instruments quite well, they always accompany pre-recorded music. It sounds great having an orchestra behind them but I would prefer the music being all live. Evening shows were very good and good seats were usually available. We did not go on the ship excursions, preferring to arrange them on our own. We used Viator for tours in St. Petersburg and for biking in Tallinn and were very pleased. If you do go rogue and schedule your own tours beforehand in St. Petersburg be absolutely sure your documents are in order or customs won't let you off the ship which would be a major bummer. Overall, we thought the ship was beautiful. Staff was attentitive and food was good. We had a great time! Read Less

We have took cruise on Mediterranean, Caribbean and Baltic Sea about 8 times before. This is so far the worst Cruise. Worse in almost every aspects, hard to believe. Embarkation is chaotic and 1.5 hours queue. Buffet restaurant is very crowded, in the peak hours it is difficult to find a table, need to share a small table with other people many times. Formal dinner feels stressed, the food choice is very similar everyday. The food is so bad so whenever possible we try to have lunch/dinner in the cities we visited. Cabin is the smallest we have seen on a cruise ship, and decoration is tired, bathroom is not very clean. The staff/passenger ratio is lower than other boats we took. The shows in theatre is boring, far behind MSC, Carnival, not even to mention RCL. We only took one excursion in St. Petersburg, it is terrific, very crowed and unorganised. We would never choose Costa again. Read Less

This is our 15th cruise, we sailed with such companies as Celebrity, MSC, Carnival, Royal Carribean, NCL, Costa. This time we sailed for a cruise on the Norwegian fjords on the Costa Pacifica (04-07 to 15-07). This cruise surprised us so much that we decided to write a review in English. The food on the ship is horrible in general and the whole service, every day on deck 9, a choice of 3 kinds of meat (chicken, pork, beef) and 3 side dishes (mashed potatoes, rice, boiled carrots). Either other food is either missing or quickly ending, most of the days the food on deck 9 looks like the photo below. Tomatoes and other vegetables are missing, only 2 kinds of salad. At the same time on the whole ship surprisingly delicious desserts compared to other cruise companies. In the restaurant the food is no different from the one offered on deck 9, at the gala dinner you will be served 1 crepe and a sandwich with sausage and butter for a snack. The waiter simply forgot about us for 1-1.5 hours and then served meals randomly. I received what I asked with a probability of 50%, I had never before seen such a frequency of errors in the restaurant. The wait was very long, and they could not bring paid tea to dessert because of this ordering the dessert lost any sense. We were at the restaurant 3 times, after which we realized that it was a waste of time (in other cruises we went every day) On the ship free tea can be found only in the morning, and this is the worst tea that I have ever seen. After breakfast, all the vending machines with tea were closed. Sports court works 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening, to get a basketball you need to find a sports instructor that is almost impossible, in this connection, sports courts are always empty. The ship has absolutely nothing to do, the only worthy musicians most of the time performed songs in German, shows below the average, often without decorations, the casino is empty, in a nightclub until 3 am there were games for children. Near our cabin 90% of the time was a basket with garbage, usually it moves to the cabin where the cleaning takes place, this time it just stood at our entrance, the dispenser for shampoo is broken, soap is missing, extraneous hair in bed, for 2 days the plum in Shower and flooded the toilet.  But of course the biggest surprise was to see the cockroaches that crawled into the fridge with desserts. There were about 10 of them at the same time in one place, the big ones quickly ran away and the middle and small ones managed to be photographed and videotaped. Never before have we seen this on a cruise, after that we did not want to eat on the ship. We came to the reception and informed that we want to refuse the service fee in connection with the listed problems, and we want to receive an official response regarding the inconveniences in the cruise, to which a man with a mustache as on the package "pringles" said that it should be, answering - "no "To any of our questions. 200 euros is a small amount, considering the cost of traveling through Norway, but not paying a tip was a matter of principle. Upon returning from the cruise, we wrote a letter to Costa Scandinavia, to the manager "Paola", describing the situation exactly as in this topic, we did not receive an answer within a week, after which we wrote to the main office of "CustomerService@costa.it", they also did not Answered nothing. In a cruise on ships Costa does not need to go because of a lower price or an interesting route, because the inconvenience delivered in the process can spoil your vacation. P.S apologize for bad English, used an interpreter to leave feedback on the international forum. Images on link https://cloud.mail.ru/public/2XsS/hAq18FpHC https://cloud.mail.ru/public/5CXg/tZxDP8xmP https://cloud.mail.ru/public/HQNk/hTbLN5jAP https://cloud.mail.ru/public/7Tiu/UkCZpy7kj https://cloud.mail.ru/public/A1xV/RiaHpjHNA https://cloud.mail.ru/public/MPT7/cuPRCDsPt https://cloud.mail.ru/public/9bVd/Vp9ejFhfV https://cloud.mail.ru/public/8BXk/hGgKFgb27 https://cloud.mail.ru/public/9Vav/ob2inwBts Read Less

We booked this cruise for a wedding anniversary. 6 months in advance we booked the cruise. On advise of Neckermann Cruises we also booked all our excursions on line a few days later, what gave us on some excursions discounts up to 35%. We choose English for all excursions. When arriving it was well organized and we got on board: impressive and a very nice clean cabin with balcony that was much bigger than we expected: a big hotel room. On the bed there was a latter that we had to go to the excursion desk. On our last excursion in Bergen there was no English available and we couldn't even take the same in another Language. They cancelled this excursion and we had to book an new excursion. 2 days later we received again a letter for a problem with an excursion on which we had initially a reduction of 22%.. English was not available but we could change it to French. We had to sign a paper but that was at full price. Luckily I had print of all our excursion with the price we paid with me. I told them that I wanted at least the same deduction as the original one. Apparently that was impossible to book in their system !!! After some discussion we had a price that was only a few euro more expensive then the original one. We felt that this wouldn't be the last excursion that would be cancelled so we went to the hospitality desk and explained the problem. They called the excursion responsible and told he that it was normal they cancelled the initial excursion (with price discount) and booked a new one (without price discount). We said we did not agree because WE made no error. Reaction: If we didn't accept their proposal they would cancel ALL our excursions. THAT WAS A THREAT !!! When we received again a letter that the excursion in English was cancelled we said that we would not join another non-English speaking excursion. Their reaction: we booked it so we had to do another excursion. After some words they cancelled the excursion. The last day -1 of the cruise on board there was a meeting for English speaking people on the procedure with luggage on how to leave the ship. There were about 20! people. The Costa guide asked as a first question if we were all satisfied. I think she regrets that asked that question: After about 10 minutes she stopped the negative answers on her question (we said nothing) and she told us not to judge the cruise based on the excursions... Apparently there was on the first day a welcome meeting in English, that no-one present was aware of but that we have seen for other languages when we passed through the saloons. They had forgotten to notify the +/- 100 English speaking passengers on board. In that welcome meeting they would ask that all english speaking people would only choose the same 1 excursion per day, because of lack of English speaking people. INCREDIBLE! When we were on excursions with multiple languages on 1 bus/boat they first spoke the other langauge. The English speaking heard something like: The building that was on your right was... ) = Always to late. Another example was in Bergen where the guide did an explanation in French in a street. She told them they could walk around an to be back in 20 minutes. Then she explained it in English some 15 minutes and we could walk around and had to be back in... 5 minutes. It was always like that... Annoying. On board the performers were really Italian and Spanish oriented: They sung many Italian songs unknown for us while the Italians were having the time of their life. The HI-5 Band was the only band that played international known songs all the time. The saloon where they played was of course always overcrowded. These was our favorite band of course. The other performers was singing there texts in phonetically English! It often looked like a Karaoke show... The buffets and a la carte restaurant were very satisfying. !!! We strongly advise not to book this cruise if you are not Italian, Spanish, French or German speaking !!! Read Less

I just got off a Costa Pacifica cruise for a 11 days from Genoa Italy. First only had two English channels on TV. Second The entertainment was mostly cater to Germans with only ball room dancing. The few other bands where below mediocre to put you to sleep!. The cruise director spoke at the main shows in German catering to her own. The food was mostly for breakfast sweets and rolls. No oat meal, a bad tasting orange juice. Not a great selection of food. Lunch was no coffee. Main entrée was mostly Fish and Pork Chicken was to a minimal. When they announced Latin night music event they literally only played three Latin songs. On the whole cruise and this special event. In my opinion and other I spoke to this Costa cruise caters to Germans and is a racist cruise line. I felt trapped in a room with only two English channels on TV. And when you left the room the entertainment was mostly cater to Germans. I been on 18 cruises. And this was by far the worst ever. Remember English is the dominant language in the world. Your fellow guest where very rude and not nice at all. Shore excursion pamphlet where not in English. They didn't have them when I approached the desk. Read Less

So we left from Barcelona to Valencia, persecuted by a day at sea, but ... on 5 May, when entering Cagliari, there was a report of technical problems, but no problem, because everyone had to be at 17 o'clock (the normal departure time) back on board. Nevertheless, at 18 o'clock we got the message that all excursions of the next day, 6 May, were canceled and that the port Civitavecchia-Rome was removed from the program. Very disappointing, because our highlight of the cruise, the Rome visit, literally and figuratively fell into the water. Our disappointment was even greater when our planned visit to Monte Carlo (Monaco), from Savona, could not continue. Only at 10 pm on the "Diario di bordo" it was reported that the ship would depart on 7 May, around 3 pm and everyone should be on board at 12 o'clock. Every opportunity to do something on land fell away again through this early departure. It was therefore frustrating that the departure of 15 hours eventually became 18 o'clock.  So you will be "hostage" on the ship for a whole day (the casino is closed, the shops are closed, the excursion office is closed, there is no animation) and the worst of all, no information is provided! The only answer to the office desk is: "Contact your travel agency for complaints". In Savona we were only allowed to disembark at 3 pm, which was too late for a quiet trip. What had to be a beautiful cruise was turned out for us on a cruise with a lot of lost time, with a lot of bored walking around on the ship, and without any added value of cruising, so that more than half of the cruise remained far below our expectations! Compensation from Costa, purchase ticket of 50 Euro to spend on the next cruise. Customer service ZERO !!!! Read Less

we wanted to try a European cruise having sailed previously with p&o , fred olsen , cruise maritime ,Holland America please do not be put off by the many negative reviews food - contrary to the many negative reviews we thought the food was as good as ,better than most other cruise lines we have been with. Don't expect it to be English , the breakfast is very European , lunch has fast food options pizza ,burgers ,hot dogs ,as well as 7 or 8 cooked options , pasta ,extensive salad buffet , cooked meats ,cold meats , rolls nd cakes tea and coffee ,water and juice was available at all times in the resteraunts last buffet sitting is 6pm -8pm after which there is no more food unless you are on the late dinner sitting 9.15pm we had the piu gusto drinks package , non stop drinks including illy coffee , cocktails ,bear ,spirits and wine , waiters are very attentive and unlike some cruises never leave you with an empty glass, the waiters performance on gala night is something else and not to be missed - entertainment - grand rhapsody bar -ballroom and social dancing until 1am (with occasional hilarious adult games or dance hows between bands sessions) ricks piano bar - fantastic pianist/singer doing easy listinening rock a round the clock bar - live bands and shows lik abba and beatles wien wien bar - classic duo pool deck -regular late night party events (white night party is something special) disco on deck 4 from midnight (for the clubbers) cabin - clean and well presented overall a fantastic cruise ,great value we where also very lucky to meet some wonderfull people on our dinner table (margerat and lynn from scotland and norman and margerat from kent) Read Less