My first cruise and it did not scare me off from going on others. It did however cement our resolve never to cruise with Costa again. A bedlam of constant noise, either from the clientele (if you do not enjoy Italian style of communications... don't go! Just sayin!) or from the very frequent announcements. If if wasn't the daily safety drill (yes, this cruise is a rolling cruise... peep embark and disembark on every port, you can imagine the impact on atmosphere on board, very unsettled, felt like a ferry most days) it was crew only announcements (what an actual?) or super super bingo bingo et al entertainment war cries. There is no area for quiet chilling and since no blankets were provided relaxing on the deck with a book was not possible. Only place to get some peace would have been our cabin.... nearly lost my mind on the at sea day of the cruise!
Food was a mixed bag. I'm not going to dwell on the buffet horrors, the food was mediocre (and mostly cold) at best, the brutish feeding frenzy of the clientele was too much for me to deal with but luckily there was the sit down option. Dinners in Fiorentina were the highlights of our cruise. The early seating was the most peace we found on our cruise and the food was pretty good too!
Unbelievably coffee and tea were not available freely outside breakfast and the 4-5pm afternoon snack time.
The cabin was OK, good bed and a functional bathroom. AC switches off in the night so plenty of stuffiness to affect sleep, IF any otherwise possible what with the slamming doors and the noisy party peep returning in wee hours screaming.....