Costa Fascinosa Review
Worst cruise I have ever been on! BY FAR!!!
Rating by category
Additional details
I have been on several cruises, from multiple companies and this is by far the worst one I have ever been on. We disembarked a day early and thankfully we did because 6 days was long enough! The ship isn't that nice, though it's relatively new it already feels dated. The staff were miserable and not nice but I don't blame them because they work such long hard days and get yelled at all day by pushy, trashy customers. The dining options were limited. The buffet was open at terrible hours as was the breakfast. Customers in the dining halls were pushy, rude and didn't know how to wait their turn for anything!! The common areas were overcrowded and the amount of smoking was horrendous! The customers didn't adhere to the guidelines regarding smoking and the halls, elevators and even our room reeked like smoke! Disembarking at the ports was a nightmare. Again, everyone was pushing and shoving to get off. It was SUPER disorganized. Once on the port, we had to pay to take buses, organized through the cruise which was poorly communicated and very expensive. Everything on this cruise was poorly communicated. We had no idea what was going on half the time, it didn't hel that most of the announcements were only in Italian!!! The day we disembarked we were given ZERO information about the process. We had to stand in line at the information desk just to find out how to disembark! Like I said I've cruised with many other companies and have never had this disorganization issue. The entertainment is awful and again only catered to Italians. The food in general was subpar. All in all, this cruise was royally awful. Don't bother booking unless you're Italian. But even if I was Italian, I would save my money and book elsewhere! I basically hated every minute of this cruise.
Cabin Review
Inside Classic
This cabin was average. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. The shower was terrible and you had no option for ironing unless you paid to have your items cleaned and pressed.
Port Reviews
Savona
We stayed at a hotel right on the port and we loved it! It was super convenient and the hotel was really nice! We had dinner on the port the night before and it was really quaint and enjoyable. There isn't much around there but it's nice.
Rome (Civitavecchia)
I had been to Rome before so I knew the city was quite far from the port. We shared a taxi with 4 other people (6 total) for 25 euros each and he took us all around Rome. It was nice. The taxi has wifi and air conditioning so we enjoyed it. When you get off the ship prepare to be harassed by multiple people selling you tours! If you stay right in the port, it's also a nice little town.
Palermo (Sicily)
When we got off we were taken aback by how dirty and unimpressive the port area is. We almost walked back onto the ship. We were being yelled at and followed by very aggressive men trying to sell us tours. One followed us across the street and finally convinced us to book something with him. He took us to Mondello beach which was stunning but very busy. We stayed there for 5 hours and then he came and picked us up. We paid him 25 euros each way. We were glad we went to the beach because it was insanely hot and Palermo looked like a dump.
Ibiza
This was by far the worst port. When you get off the boat you have to take a bus into the city. Once in the city there wasn't much to see so we took an hour bus ride to an island. Once there we had to take another bus to a beach. The entire thing was a huge hassle and waste of time. We wasted almost the whole day trying to find a beach and it wasn't even that nice. We wished we had booked a tour.
Barcelona
We disembarked here. We booked with a company to take our bags from the port and bring them to the airport 8 hours later for us for when our flight was scheduled. It was super convenient and very easy to use. We jumped on a hop on hop off tour for the day and loved it. Barcelona is amazing though and you need much more time there to explore!