Several years ago I had a fabulous cruise with Costa (a few wrong things for me) but fabulous. I had not heard from them for ages and suddenly I got this offer and it was amazing. I was not even thinking of cruises at the time. It began in La Romana and ended in Sevona Italy....7 fabulous stops...though I only got off once where the town was right in front of the ship. I have mobility problems and can't deal with docking in some container yard and taking a bus to the town.

This is an older ship but there is NO ship at sea as clean and polished almost to the obcessive! I was so impressed, The quality of the decor features, while not my taste were "TOP OF THE LINE QUALITY" . The staff were totally amazing and really went the extra mile to look after my mobility. They changed my assisgned Dining Room so it would be easier for me to get to...what a great team I had. While the base price was as low as it gets you did have to buy a drinks package as you don't even get a bottle of water to take a pill in your stateroom. I also had to buy a WiFi package to keep in touch with e-mails...they were extremely helpful setting it up. WARNING this ship has gone HIGH TECH ... the menues photo's, everything requires a smart phone of tablet or a 12 year old to access. The ship was mostly elderly people not a bit interested in gadgets. I was so glad to set things up on my tablet. On the Lido there is a fabulous burger bar...small charge...there is also a fabulous Pizza bar...small charge but both the best food on the ship. Sadly the great Italian quizine of my previous Costa cruise is no more. They have three Food Stylists and all courses are very small....good for me, but they are much more about the look than the taste...BLAND EVERYTHING....on an Italian Ship? Sorry, soup was good but I wanted to get off at ports and buy them a selection of spices...I don't think they everheard of Oregano. Pity....and when things were familiar they were not very tasty. My stateroom hit all the marks for design...FUNCTIONALITY, FUNTIONALITY, FUNCTIONALITY. Everything served its purpose for use .... Glam design came second. I am Canadian (English) and sadlyat 85 I enjoy an stop in my cabin to watch a film and relax but other than NEWS which I was escaping, nothing was in English. Today its all about cleanliness, sanitation etc. and this ship was high above standard until a lot of kids came aboard at France and they were in the hot tubs swimming under water, filling their mouths with chemical water and God only knows what else and spitting it at each other. The parents didn't give a damn. Crew not allowed to say anything to them. They could all end up very sick especially when adults would spend hours in the tub drinking cocktails and never leaving to go to the washroom.

I think this ship is great at any price and there are a few things they need to spend money on to improve it. HIRE a SOUND TECHNICTIAN who doesn't think maximum volumn is talent. Often the music drowned out the singers. The Mix was dreadful and blasting in every venue and you could...in places hear more than one venue at a time. Turn it down guys is a cruise ship, not a Rock Concert. I'm deaf in one ear and need an aid in the other but but had to remove it as it was buzzing from the blasting sound systems...everywhere. "Volumn does not mean talent" I was in te professional theatre all mylife and believe me....this is so unnessary....it doesn't cost anything to just turn it down in degrees until its blended and still all its meant to be...at times you had no idea if the performers could really sing or not....so much reverberation. Read more