Having never been on a cruise before, the decision to take Costa Deliziosa was based more on its itinerary than on the ship itself. However, the travel agent told us the ship was new, so our expectations about the ship and the places we were about to see were quite high.

We have travelled to the port of embarkation - Savona - by car and managed to find it reasonably easy, considering that the Italian motorways seem to think it is not necessary to mark Savona (which is still a bit of mystery to me). However, once we found the port the process of embarkation was well organised and did not take too long. The luggage was taken from us at the car and delivered to our cabin. The price for parking the car at the port was 110 EUR for 11 nights.

Once on the ship, the lobby and other areas have a distinct kitschy feeling to them - a lot of red, gold and similar. Tasteful it was not. Since the ship has many lifts, getting to the 8th floor was not a problem. The cabin was spacious and as described, with a good size balcony. The cabin steward appeared almost immediately and inquired if we were OK; indeed, he was one of the bright sides of the journey. Always able to help, cheerful and courteous. The lunch in the self-service restaurants was a taste of the things to come: crowded to the point where sometimes it was difficult to find a table. No drinks were included at lunch, which meant we had to pay for every bottle of water or coffee. We have chosen the second sitting at dinner, meaning we started at 9.15 and would usually not finish before 11. The choice at dinner was good, and the service courteous if not always the quickest. However, it is definitely not the gastronomic experience they advertised. The entertainment sometimes provided at dinner had a distinctly Italian flavour to it, and after a while it is a bit much. Read more