We chose this cruise because of the time it was going and the stops it was making. We had never been on a Costa cruise but thought it would be OK because we have been on many different cruise lines and they have all been good, some better than others in certain areas, but all satisfactory.
Costa was disappointing in almost every area. The web site did not work well and was frustrating to use and to book excursions. We could not download the on-ship app. We were told this was because of our US cell carriers. We found enough employees that spoke English to help us, but a majority of the announcements were only made in Italian. We could not get published information delivered to our (6) rooms on a consistent basis, which was important because we did not have the app. Information was unclear on where to meet for the excursions we had booked.
The buffet offered almost the same choices every day. It was not self-serve and would take quite a while to get food. You got a new plate for everything you asked for, so you could end up trying to fit many different plates on your tray. The plates were placed on the top of the glass guard and difficult to reach if you were short. The buffet would close at times during the day and would be closed off with crew members standing guard so more people could not get in line. We laughed about being on an Italian cruise ship and not being offered pizza unless we paid extra for it.