For the price we paid, and the excellent itinerary I give Costa a big thumbs up. We have always wanted to visit the east coast and view the fall foliage and have been perusing the Canada/New England itineraries for some time - none seemed perfect. Costa, however offered an 11 night voyage with 2 overnights in New York and one overnight in Quebec City as well as ports for 10 of the days. Because the Atlantica was berthed at the Manhatten pier, we were able to walk to many of the sights in mid-town Manhatten without having to pay a hefty hotel bill. Unfortunately, I don't think they will be repeating this itinerary, the word was they had difficulty filling the ship since many North Americans do not care for the "European experience" on board.

There are some differences with Costa that could be found irritating to some, the announcements were in five different languages and on board purchases (including excursions) were in Euro. Menus were a bit different, catering to European tastes although there was plenty of food we were familiar with.

The service staff were excellent, our room stewards and waiters were the best we have ever had, so no complaints there at all. I had no difficulty with the pursers staff, all my enquiries were politely and efficiently handled - it was also amazing to watch the staff converse easily in five languages. Read more