Its our own fault. We had read reviews of Costa before we went and thought that as it was good value for money we would ignore the faults. How wrong we were. The first thing is the cabin is so small compared to other ships. We went to ask to upgrade only to be told by a very rude person that she must e mail HQ first, but will only do this if we 100% wanted to upgrade. We said no problem, but we wanted to see a similar cabin that she was now asking a further £1,000 for. No she cant do that !!! So £1,000 for what then ? we were met with a look that made us think we in the wrong. Ok we said lets do it thinking if we dont like it they could whistle for their money. Needless to say 3 days later when we enquired what happened the staff at the desk knew nothing about our request !!!! Costa Serena's guests are 85% Italian 10% French and an assortment of others who dont know better. The guests seem to hunt in packs of 8 plus children. None of them can say the following. Please, Thank you, or Excuse me. Getting out of a lift you take your life in your hands. The onward rush nearly consigns you to a life stuck between decks. Now lets do the food. This is served by waiters who have the look on their face that they would rather be elsewhere. We put this down to the fact that the tipping is already done, so why be pleasant? The entertainment would be first class at my granchildrens birthday party, but for adults, forget it. So to sum up for good value it is ok, But my suggestion is pay a touch more and use another cruise line if you are English.