A wonderful holiday,on the most beautiful ship I have travelled on.Immaculate and spotlessly clean,art works and sculptures to admire,and clever design.Our cabin was an ordinary outside,but so spacious and well equiped,and great cabin steward. Dining in the buffets,very good ,lots of choices,restaurants excellent,to be born in mind the number of people includind crew,to be catered for,I really can't imagine the skill neccessary in the galleys. Entertainment crew were amazing,keeping up that energy all day and evening,crossing the equator,never to be forgotten,what fun.Impressive theatre,good variety of shows. As a group of 8 people,we did our own thing ashore,using taxis,we enjoyed Brazil,Buzious,the smallest,was the most interesting and attractive. All the crew were very polite and friendly,happy to chat,though of course we were aware this was an Italian ship,and most passengers were Italian,we were very well looked after,and provision made for British passengers. So take no notice of people who only take time to complain,a holiday is how you make it. Read Less

We have done 5 cruises with Costa this was the worst.food was bland no water at table the waitress was the best thing about it.the cabin was very noisy as we were at the front asked to change but said ship was full so several days didn't get much sleep.cabin was kept clean but the cabin boy was not very helpful.days at sea were boring as not much entertainment put on.there were only 50 or so English so maybe that didn't help.entertainment was not up to much maybe the language was at fault.think we have had better cruises with Costa feel we shall look to other cruise lines.staff were very unhelpful only the reception were helpful.nobody dressed up much at night formal night was a no no.we also don't like paying the 11.50 euros a night would rather reward the helpful ones as not many staff deserved it.the intinerary was good that was why we choose it not again Read Less

I am sitting on my balcony in Cerrife, Spain on the Costa Delioza. The ship is beautiful! The ports are amazing! The Service is AWFUL. The Staff is Arrogant and Indifferent. The food is NOT EDIBLE! My dog eats better. I have taken a Costa Cruise before. It was pretty good. They have cost cut to the point to being the worst. When you have a problem. The staff just looks at you like you are a moron. They shrug their shoulders with a " What do you expect attitude." The ship is always late at starting anything. They are punctual, sometimes very early at closing something that requires work of effort on their part. You are really going to be be better served staying at home then going on a Costa Cruise. It is hard to imagine that in this day and age, something this bad is actually in the market place. The WORST! They are especially proud that they do not cater to Americans. Americans know better and would not stand for a third rate offering like Costa. They have also cut out any and all cruise frills. Want pizza, be prepared to pay. Want a hamburger? Be prepared to pay. Want ice cream, get your wallet out. They fail to make announcements of leaving a port. They do not sound their horn. They do make Sale announcements all day everyday. Read Less

We booked this cruise because of its destinations and reasonable price. Having been on Costa before on several occasions, we were aware of the potential problem with few english speaking passengers but this did not detract from our enjoyment. We travelled as a group of 8 younger pensioners into dancing and activities, all of which were excellent. Even the six days at sea from Tenerife to Buzios in Brazil were busy, dance classes, Stretch classes and the entertainment team were excellent. The decor of the entire ship was top class and the cabin, [an outside one for the first time] was well worth the extra. The buffet area was often a bit too hectic for us and we ate in the restaurant on most occasions. The food was certainly not as described by some reviewers and the menu changed constantly. We were more than happy with the quality and the service. We found that the shore excursions were way overpriced as is every cruise ship we have ever been on. Being fairly resourceful people, we just get outside the docking area and find a mini bus or similar and negotiate with the driver a price for where we wish to go. Invariably, the price is around one third of the book on board price. All in all an excellent cruise at a good price which is apparently going in reverse in March/April. Look for a deal!!! Read Less

Positive comments: Room steward was excellent but overworked, on other ships we never saw a room steward working every night at ten pm. The waiters were overworked but excellent The theater shows were consistently very good. Indeed they were the best shows we have seen than on any other cruise line we cruised with including Carnival, Princess and Celebrity. The animation team was very good. Negative comments: We only saw Max, the cruise director, at night for three minutes at the end of the theater show. No morning show on TV to announce the daily activities. In 26 days we met him once and his assistant we never met her personally. We were told that he was very busy in the office managing his duties. I expect that he would have had the same duties of cruise director as on other ships, but we saw all of them. The captain did a very good job in handling the ship in good and foul weather but he never communicated with the passengers. On other cruise ships we always had an announcement at noon by the captain. The persons at the tour desk were not informed and were not interested in finding information when asked for. They did not even know the location of the port on the Maya Coast and when we asked for a map they made no effort of finding the information. No lectures about the coming ports, thus we arrived in port and had no idea of what to expect. We are Canadian residents and we bought the cruise tickets in Italy. The first night at the restaurant they told us that there is no water on the table, only bottled water. Thus, we had to buy a water package since we could not have dinner with no water. When we boarded the ship there was no welcome, we were told to make our way to the stateroom. We had many sea days and no lectures. On other cruise lines such as Princess and Celebrity we consistently had very good speakers that every sea day lectured on topics of general interest, such as astronomy, famous explorers, economy, forensic science, use of radioactivity in science and health, etc. Given the high number of sea days on this crossing we were expecting such lectures but none were offered. The Diario had notices not to hoard the chairs near the swimming pool and on the decks with the warning that the towels would be removed if the chairs were unoccupied. However, with the Costa line policy of cutting positions there were no pool personnel, as there are on other cruise lines, so it was impossible to enforce. The only personnel near the pool were the bar waiters and the animation team. Neither group was interested in enforcing the no hoarding rule. Costa Club should have contacted us as first time users of Costa to a meet and greet and make sure we understood their policy and point system. The manager of the customer desk had no customer manners. As mentioned above we were surprised of the fact that there was no drinking water at the restaurant at dinner and that we had to buy bottled water. When we questioned her on the night of December 2, 2015 she told us, quote: ”Avevte pagato cosi poco per la crociera che vi aspettate anche l'acqua a tavola ?” (translation, you have paid so little for your cruise that you expect water at the dinner table ?”). We paid what we were asked to pay and nobody told us that water was not included. No buffet in first cruise, from December 2 to December 21. That meant no alternative to a seat down meal . When other cruisers boarded in Fort Lauderdale, the hotel director had the buffet opened at night as well. It was our dream to travel with Costa for their excellent cuisine. Very disappointing, sometimes we had a hard time knowing what was on the plate, a lot of sauces covering dishes with no flavor. The vegetarian choices were not much better. Finally quality for money: Costa's strategy seems to be to charge a reasonable daily fee to fill up the ship and then charge for everything possible to increase their profit. This strategy might work out well for Costa but most cruisers from different nationalities were not happy with the outcome. We often heard the comment that people would not come back. If Costa lowers the quality, then people would not come back even at a low price. Read Less