We had a fun family cruise aboard the Costa Mediterranea over Christmas week. It's a great ship with a wonderfully Italian flair. While English is the primary language on board virtually all the cruise staff speaks Italian and many of the activities will be in Italian/English. French and German are also widely spoken on board.

This was our 16th cruise, the third on Costa, so there were no surprises in terms of cabin, on board activities, food, entertainment or life at sea. I'll leave that to other reviewers on here to elaborate on.

I do have a couple of tips to offer. Costa is great in offering a "self-assisted" departure from the ship. Which means you carry ALL your bags off the ship if you want to make an early flight out of Ft. Lauderdale. It's a great option if you're physically able to carry your bags. My suggestion, which the industry seems to frown upon, is to take all your bags TO your room day of departure. It can take several hours for the bags to make it from the pier to the cabin. My wife and I took four bags on board, all on wheels, and we were unpacked in minutes. Read more