We have been on quite a few cruises over the past few years cruising with Airtours, Holland America, Royal Caribbean and P and O and they have all been enjoyable experiences apart from this one with Costa. This cruise was more expensive than any other cruise we had been on and was very frustrating and stressful. We booked this cruise as did many other people because of the itinerary. We spent two days pre cruise at the Island Pacific Hotel in Hong Kong. This was a lovely hotel with superb helpful staff, great food and very clean and was a very enjoyable experience. Our representative in Hong Kong, Wing, was also excellent. We were picked up at our hotel at 3pm and told this was the best time to embark and so began the nightmare. We were in a queue in the Ocean Terminal for an hour and half due to a lack of checking in staff. Waiting in queue's seemed to be a way of life on this ship!On other ships when the passengers are boarding there is a member of crew o show you to your cabin, on this ship it was self service. Emergency Drill was horrendous and we received a letter accusing us or not attending. The passengers who embarked n Singapore did not have one. Customer Services and the Excursions desk were atrocious could not answer questions asked, gave wrong info and were rude.Tried to ring Customer Service, Room Service and Emergency number on the last night no-one answered so if you were ill you could be dead. Entertainment was rubbish with lots of people walking out each night. The best night was the crew show.Announcements took ages in different languages We also had a banging in the cabin which we never found out what it was. Our cabin steward was very good and helpful. Breakfast. The dining room at breakfast was awful. We entered the dining room and had to wander round looking for a table to sit at, there was no order and on the bigger tables half would have been used and still have the used crockery and cutlery on and the other half sat.We only had three occasions when we were shown to a table. The juice was terrible and the glasses containing it hot. The cereal dishes were also hot. The toast was wrapped in a serviette and as cold and rubbery.Twice we had to return glasses because they were chipped or cracked. One waiter did apologise for the chipped glass and this was the only apology we received for any complaint we made. Lunch. This was a little more civilised. A request for tartar sauce was made and arrived after the meal was finished. No mint sauce for the lamb. Ordered ham and brie the meal was served minus the brie. Dinner. The food was sometimes lukewarm and was badly presented. Waiters rarely filled the water glasses unless asked.A lady on our table found a piece of wood in her pasta which the maitre d treated as a joke-no apology but did come back with a large piece of cheese and a bottle of wine. Coffee was cold when served but when we complained we did get hot coffee for the remainder of the cruise. Jacket potatoes were a potato cut in half and often black. Carrots were black round the edges. Same veg served. One of our fellow cruisers ordered a steak which was completely raw and had to be returned a comment from another member of our table was - a good vet would soon have that running round. My friend ordered a asparagus pie as her main meal it arrived and was the shape and consistency of a fish cake there was nothing else on the plate, no garnish or veg. Shore Excursions. Unable to comment as they were so expensive we did them independently. There was no useful information given by the ship on the ports of call and the maps provided were useless. Self Service. Certainly could not be called a restaurant was more like a works canteen. It was badly laid out with food in different areas. Plates were plastic. The large mugs for drinks were frequently not washed properly. Frequently ran out of water for tea and coffee ice and milk. The warm milk container was filled with cold milk and you would pour what you thought was hot milk only to find it was cold. To say that this was an Italian ship the ice cream in the canteen was a joke.One day there was a fly on a plate which the chef was wafting off and which returned to the plate again I pointed it out to the chef and he said yes Ma'am but would not have removed the plate if I had not told him to if this is done in front of passengers one wonders what is done behind closed doors. Glasses for water were hot. Air Con. This was inadequate all over the ship, cabins, dining room, theatre were all uncomfortably warm and the lifts like sauna's Decks. These were dirty and dirty crockery and food were left there all day. Pools. These were small three strokes and you were across them. Water was too deep to allow you to stand therefore non swimmers were not able to use them. Hard Work. Everything had to be requested, shampoo soap etc Lipton's English tea was kept in a cupboard so every time you wanted to make a cup of tea you had to find a crew member to request one.