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New To Costa - can anyone help?


crowson1825
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We are experienced cruisers (NCL, Carnival, P&O) but have never cruised on Costa before. We are on the Fortuna later this month and we have a few questions?

 

1). What is the cost of laundry? Is there a self-laundry if not is there any laundry specials?

 

2). We have the AI package - how does this work with wine and water at dinner?

 

3). Where can you smoke on Fortuna - we have a premium balcony?

 

4). What time is embarkation at Barcelona?

 

Thanks in advance for your help

 

 

 

Thanks in advance

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1. There are no self service laundry on any Costa ships. There is a laundry, dry cleaning and ironing service available, takes about 48 hours, there is a same day service at 50% surcharge. Laundry prices, shirt €3.00, blouse €3.00, granny's nickers €2.00. About 2 days before disembarkation there is a laundry special 20 items for €25.00.

 

2. On your Costa Card (which will be waiting for you in your cabin, there will be printed "EXTRA" which shows the crew that you have purchased the drinks AI. If by chance it is not on your card, go to Guest Services desk and get it changed. When you go to your assigned dinning table, on your first night, shoy your card to your waiters and tell them what you want wine, beer water etc. and what type, you will then get it every night. You can always change your mind, i.e. red instead of white wine.

 

3. You cannot smoke inside the ship, unless there is a Cigar Lounge, you cannot smoke in the cabin but you can on your balcony. You will receive a daily program called TODAY which will state where you can smoke on the ship.

 

4. The embarkation time will be stated on your tickts which you should receive (via email) about 14 days before the cruise.

 

Any other questions - just ask.

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I'm also new to Costa and have a couple of questions.

 

Is it possible to buy a unlimited laundry package at all, so that you can send clothes when you want to the laundry? Or is only individual pricing (apart from the last days deal).

 

Is it possible to buy other drink packages onboard as the AI will be uneconomical for us. We don't drink alcohol, so a soft drink or coffee package would be useful but doesn't appear to be pre bookable.

 

We are cruising on the NeoRiviera so this may have different arrangements.

Any extra info on this cruise ship would also be useful.

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No unlimited laudry packages, only individual items or the last days special bag.

 

There are other drinks packages available that can be pruchased onboard:

 

Boys & Girls - 20 soft drinks or alcohol free cocktails €54.99

Mineral Water - 13 bottles €32.99

Coffee - 25 espresso €32.99

Coppuccino - 25 Cuppuccino €50.00

Beer - 20 Glasses draught beer €93.15

 

Also various wine and water packages.

 

Prices may have changed.

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Thanks for the info.

 

Don't suppose anyone has a laundry price list available?

 

One or two of those drink packages will work for us I think. Are they per person or can we share a coffee or soft drink package?

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See attached for price list - hope it is readable.

 

The above mentioned packages can be used by any number of persons.

 

Thanks again.

 

Laundry prices quite expensive, sadly. Oh well, will bring some washing powder to wash out the little things.

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Another question - We have been upgraded for our cruise next week for our cruise out of Barcelona from a Premium Balcony to a Suite. as this was a free upgrade do we get the suite benefits and if not do we still get free continental breakfast and other benefits of a premium cabin?

 

Thanks in advance!

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You will not get the suite benefits, but you will / should get the premium balcony perks i.e breakfast in the cabin.

 

Suggest you take a copy of documentation that shos you bought the premium category cabin - just in case of difficulties.

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Another question - We have been upgraded for our cruise next week for our cruise out of Barcelona from a Premium Balcony to a Suite. as this was a free upgrade do we get the suite benefits and if not do we still get free continental breakfast and other benefits of a premium cabin?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Basic breakfast in an upgraded cabin, not a full breakfast.

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  • 2 weeks later...
One more question for G.M.T.

Is there a proper dinner buffet (not just pizza, grill and sandwiches) on Costa NeoRomantica? On a cruise in the Indian Ocean. Thank you!

 

From my knowledge there is no evening / dinner buffet, just pizza (pieces there of). I am be wrong.

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Just got off the Fortuna upgraded to a suite and we got all the suite benefits! First Costa cruise (cruised many time with NCL, Carnival and P&O) won't be our last! I will post more details later

 

waiting for your review , i will board the Fortuna on the 21th :D

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Just got off the Fortuna upgraded to a suite and we got all the suite benefits! First Costa cruise (cruised many time with NCL, Carnival and P&O) won't be our last! I will post more details later

 

Im looking forward to your review very interested in Costa cruise

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Forums mobile app

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I will try to highlight the differences between Costa and the normal lines we use – Carnival and NCL. I do not have much time so I will split the review into sections. Food first......

 

Boarded the Fortuna on a Sunday morning in Barcelona. There were very few people boarding as this itinerary boards passengers in Savona, Civitavecchia, Marseille as well and so we were on board by 12:15.

 

We purchased a Premium Balcony but were delighted to find we had been upgraded to a suite! I understand that others who have been upgraded did not get the suite benefits but we did! Butler, Wine fruit, free visit to the specialist restaurant!

 

Dining

Lunch buffet on the first day was great but I believe the NCL buffet has the edge. Please be aware unlike Carnival NCL etc breakfast and lunch times vary depending on the docking time that day.

 

There is no buffet open at dinner time – a pizza restaurant opens in the evening (9.30). Dinner sittings were 6.15pm or 9pm – there is no open seating etc. Most tables sit between 4 and 10 there is a limited supply of tables for two but I understand Costa try to sit people with same nationality/language together.

 

Breakfast was OK but the times were quite limiting usually the MDR breakfast finished by 9am and the buffet closed at 930 some days! On the whole Carnival and NCL have an edge here in both food and availability. We ordered room service most mornings which was always on time.

 

Lunch buffet was good - but I do not believe it is as good as NCLs lunch buffet. However the MDR lunch is superb, different menu everyday with four courses if you wanted!

 

We opted for the 9:00PM sitting for dinner and managed to get a table for two. This in my opinion is where Costa beats Carnival and NCL – service great and the food was excellent! Not large plates of food but 5 courses of great food. There are not many choices per course but we never had a problem finding something we really liked.

 

Dislikes – Only one really – the coffee in the restaurants was not good. However as we had the ‘extra’ package we ordered specialty coffees which was superb!

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Thanks

 

Will be onboard next Sunday (10th) for 12 nights.

 

Can't come soon enough ! We are in a premium balcony, love to get an upgrade, when did you know, on check-in or before ?

 

Just reread your posts and you found out before so unlikely for us.

 

I had purchased the AI drinks package but got a refund because I learnt you get points for spends on your Costa club for onboard purchases but not prior. I assume you can buy it as soon as you board at any bar ?

Edited by bobstheboy
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We had a quarantee premium balcony so we only knew 48hrs before our cruise what cabin we had - we got lucky!

 

I don't know for certain about buying the extra package on board as we bought ours before boarding. There were tables set out in the mainbar with the wine and other packages so I would guess you can.

 

Any other questions let me know!

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Thanks

 

Will be onboard next Sunday (10th) for 12 nights.

 

Can't come soon enough ! We are in a premium balcony, love to get an upgrade, when did you know, on check-in or before ?

 

Just reread your posts and you found out before so unlikely for us.

 

I had purchased the AI drinks package but got a refund because I learnt you get points for spends on your Costa club for onboard purchases but not prior. I assume you can buy it as soon as you board at any bar ?

 

ill embark in Rome on the 21st , i think we will share the same cruise ship for a very brief amount of time , i hope you enjoy your trip

Edited by screenplayguy
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Part two

Drinks Package (extra).

This was exceptionally good value 25E per day. We are not big drinkers but as it includes specialist coffees, fresh fruit juice we made use of it at breakfast and lunch as well as at dinner and in the bars. Apart from the one time we used the specialist restaurant where we bought a nicer bottle of wine we drank the house wines in the MDR and found them Ok.

There is an extensive list of drinks including cocktails but be beware it only includes draft beer, house wine and glasses of water (NOT bottles)!

Entertainment

We found going to the show before dinner a bit unusual but we soon got used to it. The dance and singing troupe did three shows during the weeks cruise and were among the best we had seen on a cruise ship. The rest of the shows were not to our taste (mime, juggler, magician) they were obviously enjoyed by the large amount of children on the ship. I must stress that language was not a problem!! There were plenty of venues with live music around the ship to suit everyone. Unlike some P&O cruises we have taken we were very pleased that you could find a seat whenever you wanted! As we expected the casino was smaller than we are used to with few table games and slots but it certainly did not cramp our enjoyment – please note the casino is NON smoking.

Excursions

We didn’t take any organised excursions so I cannot comment on them. We walked around Valletta as we know Malta very well disembarkation/embarkation was very simple and if you are able to manage steps you were in the center of Valletta within 15 mins.

Again in Cagliari we walked around the pretty old town. Please note there is a free mandatory shuttle bus to the port entrance but this was well organised and no problems apart from some of the passengers inability to wait their turn in boarding. This was not the same in Civitavecchia the port bus (again mandatory) was mobbed and the lines were very long. Savona was easy five minutes to the old part of town. We did not disembark in Marseille as the weather was poor.

 

Overall after reading some bad reviews about Costa and the Fortuna we went with an open mind and found that we had a great time. Service was superb, food in the main dining room was excellent. In my opinion there are no bad cruises just some better than others – we have found that P&O isn’t our favourite. Somethings on NCL and Carnival are better namely the Casino and buffet. However we really enjoyed our first cruise on Costa – you have to understand that this is tailored predominantly to an Italian/French and somethings are different than an US based cruiseline.

 

We will definitely cruise with them again!

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Part two

Drinks Package (extra).

This was exceptionally good value 25E per day. We are not big drinkers but as it includes specialist coffees, fresh fruit juice we made use of it at breakfast and lunch as well as at dinner and in the bars. Apart from the one time we used the specialist restaurant where we bought a nicer bottle of wine we drank the house wines in the MDR and found them Ok.

There is an extensive list of drinks including cocktails but be beware it only includes draft beer, house wine and glasses of water (NOT bottles)!

Entertainment

We found going to the show before dinner a bit unusual but we soon got used to it. The dance and singing troupe did three shows during the weeks cruise and were among the best we had seen on a cruise ship. The rest of the shows were not to our taste (mime, juggler, magician) they were obviously enjoyed by the large amount of children on the ship. I must stress that language was not a problem!! There were plenty of venues with live music around the ship to suit everyone. Unlike some P&O cruises we have taken we were very pleased that you could find a seat whenever you wanted! As we expected the casino was smaller than we are used to with few table games and slots but it certainly did not cramp our enjoyment – please note the casino is NON smoking.

Excursions

We didn’t take any organised excursions so I cannot comment on them. We walked around Valletta as we know Malta very well disembarkation/embarkation was very simple and if you are able to manage steps you were in the center of Valletta within 15 mins.

Again in Cagliari we walked around the pretty old town. Please note there is a free mandatory shuttle bus to the port entrance but this was well organised and no problems apart from some of the passengers inability to wait their turn in boarding. This was not the same in Civitavecchia the port bus (again mandatory) was mobbed and the lines were very long. Savona was easy five minutes to the old part of town. We did not disembark in Marseille as the weather was poor.

 

Overall after reading some bad reviews about Costa and the Fortuna we went with an open mind and found that we had a great time. Service was superb, food in the main dining room was excellent. In my opinion there are no bad cruises just some better than others – we have found that P&O isn’t our favourite. Somethings on NCL and Carnival are better namely the Casino and buffet. However we really enjoyed our first cruise on Costa – you have to understand that this is tailored predominantly to an Italian/French and somethings are different than an US based cruiseline.

 

We will definitely cruise with them again!

 

Thanks for the info. Fresh juice at breakfast - did you have to order this in the buffet or was this in the MDR ? Looking forward to some nice pasta and risotto !

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