Costa Smeralda Review

-- / 5.0
Editor Rating
37 reviews

Beautiful Ship, Terrible Cruise Line

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Costa Smeralda
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luv croosn
10+ Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Feb 2020
Cabin: Classic Balcony Stateroom

I have been on 17 cruises and this was by far the worst I have ever been on. I purchased this cruise thru cruise builders (never again) and therefore I don’t know how much the cruise by itself cost us. We are a couple in our 50’s and we brought our two adult daughters. But Costa tries to charge for every little thing. You should not go hungry on a cruise and we did. The buffet is open only short periods of time through the day and it is the same every day. The sit down dinner was so bad. Food was terrible, the food in the buffet is better. We were at dinner for two hours and still hadn’t received our dessert. We decided to give it another try and the food was worse the second time. We didn’t return. On all other cruises we have been on pizza and ice cream are free and available a lot of the time. Burgers and fries are also available for free. And there are lots of free food options. The saying in the USA is that you will gain a pound of weight a day on a cruise and none of us gained weight. We actually brought snacks back on the ship. The food off of the ship at the ports was amazingly good. I understand that Costa pays their staff the worst of any cruise line and it shows. You have the least staff of any line we have been on. Costa is the least friendly and helpful. No one asks if you need a drink or anything else for that matter. I saw a photo lady trying to take a picture of some ladies and she was very rude to them when they expressed how they wanted to arrange themselves for their picture. She said, “This is Costa, I have to do it their way” (she said it in a super rude way). I felt bad for the ladies. I would have told her I was not interested in pictures anymore. Also, I saw a man approach some ladies and tell them they could not play cards in the buffet area. He was super rude. We are on vacation and paid a lot of money. We should not be treated like children and spoken to rudely. We are also told we can’t take food to our rooms or out of the dining area. Are you serious? We needed to stock up for the sea day because we knew that the dining room food was terrible. I was told by two other people, after I purchased the cruise, that Costa was terrible and they would never go again. We now feel the same. The ship was amazing and beautiful. The bands in the main hot tub and pool area were fantastic. I wish we could have the ship on a different cruise line. All the overhead loud announcements, in our room, each day new guests arrived was over the top. There should be a better way. The rooms were beautiful. We did not make a connection with our room steward like we normally do. We did not ever formally meet them. Getting on and off for excursions was easy and good. Why couldn’t we give a credit card on file before the cruise. We had to take time out to sign up our credit card, after we got on the ship. That has always been put in during registering for the cruise when we put in our passport info and emergency contact info. Why do we have to wait to collect our luggage until after all the luggage is set out for each color (stupid rule). If they are so concerned check the luggage tags against the tags that are torn off. I guess in Italy people don’t use washcloths, that’s okay I just used the hand towel to wash my face. We usually get shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion in the rooms and there was just hand soap and one wash in the shower for hair and body, no conditioner. And there is usually a fridge with soda, water and alcohol for purchase and there was not even a fridge. This was not a big deal to us. With our package it stated USAwater meaning that we could get tap water for free, but we were also charged for this. We had a wonderful time at all of the ports. We made great memories with our daughters. But Costa won’t see us again.

Cabin Review

Classic Balcony Stateroom

nice

Port Reviews

La Spezia (Cinque Terre)

couldn't see everything in one day. only saw two villages, didn't make it to Pisa or Florence.

Genoa

Savona, we had the best food ever at this stop

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