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Costa Christmas ?


LIMPIT
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Hi,

I am an experienced cruiser (never with Costa) and have read loads of the Costa reviews, to sample the general feedback of the line.

We have a MSC 21 day Brazil/Translantic under our belt, so have some experience of the Italian/European style cruises that obviously differ from those that we experienced on Princess, Carnival and Celebrity.

I have seen a good deal advertised for a Xmas cruise on the Fortuna, out of Dubai, from 22nd-30th December, including direct flights from the UK using Emirates with private transfer to Port.

We are thinking of booking the Balcony Standard Grade on Deck 6, but have a few questions that CC members may be able to answer :

Should I book now, or wait to see if the price is reduced closer to the time, are Xmas cruises on Costa normally busy ?

Can we expect a high ratio of kids aboard (I am not really kid friendly when on vacation !) ?

Are Costa ships decorated for Xmas, and do they have any Xmas atmosphere, special meals, parties/shows on-board over the festive period, or just normal ?

After doing the same old stuff year on year at home at Xmas, we thought that we might try something different for a change, weather looks good with average day time temperatures around 26 degrees, so sitting in the sun with a cold beer at Xmas would be a new experience for us !

Ports of Muscat, Khasab and Abu Dhabi and of course Dubai (which we have visited before) look interesting.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi

 

 

did you book the cruise in the end?

 

 

We have booked the cruise also for the 23rd December , we initially booked an inside room which was a guaranteed room, we were going to wait until we got our cabin number in the hope that we would get upgraded room but were then advised that this may not be known until 2 days before the cruise so we decided to pay extra for a premium balcony as do not want to cruise around Dubai without being able to sit on balcony and see the arrival at each place

 

We have been on 2 Costa cruises in the past and have been very impressed

 

Its not a cruise that you can compare to the likes of Royal carribean or Princess cruises as this is a lot cheaper than the above but overall very good value for money

 

From looking at Youtube clips it is apparent that they do dress the ship up for xmas so that will be nice

 

 

We have never visited any of the ports so perhaps you can give us some advise on places to visit

 

In relation to children on previous cruises there weren't that many however we have a young child so the more the merrier for us to be honest

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Hi, yes we did book and we are looking forward to experiencing Xmas aboard a ship sailing around the Arabian Sea.

We have visited Dubai previously but not Abu Dhabi or Oman, so should be fun. We love Italian food/culture so looking forward in trying out the food aboard over the festive period.

We booked a Outside in the end (hoping for a upgrade) because we have a expensive holiday to Florida upcoming, but have been spoilt on our last few cruises with a balcony !

Where are you guys from ?

We are travelling overnight on 22nd and arrive in Dubai early doors on 23rd

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Hi

 

Although we have been on several other cruises we have never been to Dubai but has always been someone we wanted to go

 

Did you get a guaranteed outside room ? If that's the case then yes you might be upgraded but if you booked a standard outside and already have a room number doubt you will get the upgrade

 

My parents booked an inside on their last cruise with Costa which was guaranteed and they got upgraded to balcony which was good

 

We fly out from Heathrow on 21st and spend one night in a hotel . We are staying another two nights also after the cruise so we get to welcome in the new year

 

We are from Dartford in Kent what about yourself ?

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Hi, no we only booked a standard outside but thinking of upgrading.

We are flying out of Gatwick with Emirates, because check in isn't until 2pm and cabin availability not guaranteed until 8pm, we were considering booking a Hotel for 23rd and arriving in port on the 24th.

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Hi, no we only booked a standard outside but thinking of upgrading.

We are flying out of Gatwick with Emirates, because check in isn't until 2pm and cabin availability not guaranteed until 8pm, we were considering booking a Hotel for 23rd and arriving in port on the 24th.

We live in Rayleigh, Essex so quite close to you guys.

Things that we really enjoyed on our previous visit to Dubai were :

Visiting old Dubai, going to the Souks, crossing the creek on a traditional Abra

Visiting Dubai Marina.

Visiting Madinat Jumeirah

Visiting Burj Khalifa & Fountains at sunset

We have booked a private excursion at Khasab visiting the Fjords

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Yes would be worth upgrading and it's not generally too expensive to upgrade to balcony with Costa

 

The excursions sound good we are thinking of booking one in khasab also

 

If you have booked to start the cruise on 23rd and are thinking of not getting on until 24th may be worth checking that's ok first with Costa as although they are accepting new passengers on the 24th it's technically another cruise . I'm sure will be fine though

 

We have never been abroad at Xmas before so that will be different

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Costa confirmed upgrade costs today ; Premium Outside £90 per person. Standard Balcony £140 per person. Not sure if the benefits of a premium cabin are worth the cost (unless you receive a balcony upgrade) ?

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