2-12-04 As background, during the past decade I have had the responsibility and pleasure of writing numerous restaurant and hotel reviews. In addition, we have enjoyed personal cruising for more than 20 years, having had the pleasure of such about 50 times on lines such as Royal Caribbean, Holland America, NCL, Princess, Carnival, Costa and many others. Our stateroom preference has been and remains a balcony veranda, or suite with veranda. What follows is our opinion of our cruise which departed Fort Lauderdale on February 1, 2004.
While the cruise aboard the Costa Mediterranean in and of itself was pleasant, its one that we would not promote for the American marketplace. Little if any improvements were apparent in the ten years since we had last sailed on this line. Most visible change was that the dining room serving staff were now a mix of nationalities, e.g., Filipino, as opposed to Italian, which on other lines has been excellent. Late seating for dining was at 9 PM and not the 8:15Pm we had been told. We considered it lucky if indeed we were seated by 9:10pm. Service was erratic; noted that Europeans/Italians were often attended to first; that orders were not taken for at least 10-15 minutes after being seated; table not always set proper (lacking butter, cream and so forth); served pasta first one night, salad first another night, soup first another night...pitchers of cream for coffee were passed from table to table...... no consistency, and somewhat hurried service once food was served. Rolls & bread were on the verge of being stale; not crusty but stale! Grated cheese not offered unless requested for pasta dishes. Nor was the Bussboy attentive to needs.
To order a bottle of wine one must use the Bussboy as they had no wine steward in the dining room. Cafe Espresso or Cappuchino had to be ordered from the bars as it was not prepared in the dining rooms. One couple at dinner asked for "straws" for their drinks and they were brought a high-chair! Food itself was at best but "fair"..................the last dinner aboard was a total disgrace....... very poor quality as agreed to by the other 12 couples aboard from our Italian Lodge. At the early seating our group, confirmed in advance by the booking agent that they would be seated together, were placed helter skelter......... and the Maitre'd refused to make adjustments for such. Ourselves with another couple were the only ones from our group that elected for second seating. A complaint made by all Americans we met was the 2 formal nights. This was likened to overkill! (I cannot help but question if the quality of service is directly related to gratuities automatically being charged to ones shipboard account. changeable yes, but how many take the time to do such?).