I decided to put in my 2 cents to help the English speaking people who may want to join the Costa Cruise. Before booking this cruise, I read many horror stories about this Italian cruise line but decided to come anyway to see what it was really like.

My mom and I took this 11 day Costa Concordia Cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean which started on January 20th, 2009. We took a train from Rome Termini (cost was 4 euro vs around 120 euro if you take the taxi) to Civitavechia (last stop). The train ride was about an hour and someone came to check out ticket 2 stops before arrival. We asked how much longer it would take to arrive but he didn't speak English. Luckily, there was a very friendly man sitting next to us who translated and gave us information on what to do later after we get off the train. We were pretty lucky because he turned out to be the Maitre d' for the restaurant on the cruise.

Upon arrival, simply exit the terminal and turn right and walk toward the port where there is a McDonald. This is a short 2 minute walk and you will see a free shuttle bus that will take you to the ship. The check in time is from 1 pm to 6 pm so if you arrive around 1-3 pm, you should see lots of people walking toward the ship with no baggage....these are the crew.....so just follow the crowd. Read more