My wife and I chose to cruise on Costa knowing full well that they are an Italian line that does not cater to English speakers because we wanted to have a more European experience. We embarked in Barcelona directly from the airport after an approximately hour drive around the city while out transfer company (Eros Bus) dropped off other passengers who were not going to the port. Barcelona is a beautiful city and we would like to spend some more time that at a later date. Embarkation went smoothly and we found that all the staff people that we interacted with knew enough English to answer our questions and were very helpful.

Once aboard, we were met by the English speaking representative who invited to an orientation in English which was very helpful and she informed us that she would be available for a specified time each day to address any questions or concerns. I did see her several times during the cruise and she was very helpful. I should say here that she told us that there were about 300 English speakers on the cruise out of a total of about 3,800 passengers aboard. During the course of the cruise, we did not meet another American.

The entertainment was very good and plentiful, lots of singing and dancing. The shows were very entertaining and included singing, acrobatics, opera and dance. The Italians, who made up more than half of the passengers ( the rest being mainly German, French, Dutch and various other Europeans) kept things lively late into the night during the length of the cruise. Read more