We are regular Costa Cruisers, and have enjoyed many good trips on several ships. Our stay pre cruise was in the fabulous Meydan Hotel on the race course with wonderful food and accommodation. Wish we could say the same for the rest of our trip. We were in an inside cabin which was clean apart from a stained carpet.

We felt that this was not a happy ship, few smiling faces apart from our cabin steward and restaurant waiters The food at breakfast was usually cold and bacon seemed to be in short supply ,sometimes served from a plate and when it did arrive was either burnt or nearly raw It. was obvious that staff could not keep up with the demand .At lunch pizzas were cold. When ship was at sea it was impossible to find a sunbed or even a chair to sit on, obviously not enough for a full capacity of passengers. People seemed to be out very early in order to place towels on beds. This was against rules but no one in authority takes any notice.

The dress code was not adhered to and people were turning up for Gala Nights in shorts and T Shirts. We complained to the Maitre De who was very nice but was unwilling to make any approach to the offenders .He said that if he mentioned this the person would say he was harassing them and would report him to his manager. If this is the case it is a waste of paper giving passengers advice on dress code .We would also like to know who gets the tips as we asked a member of staff and he did not get anything. Costa are receiving about £140,000.That equates to £130 per crew member per full cruise plus service charges on drinks ..We wonder who gets that! We asked a few crew members and they said that they do not receive it. Perhaps Costa could confirm this. Lastly I will mention lack of handwash gel, and no supervision. Lucky not to have health problems as so many people did not use them. On arrival back to the ship no handwash was available.