Which ships

Hi thought it would be interesting to find out who has sailed on which Costa ships, doing what itineraries. Which was your favorite and why?

Mine in order of preference are

1) Deliziosa -Eastern Med- Greek islands out of Venice, ship is beautiful, less crazy and some how more harmonious in decor throughout. Masked ball was great, best excursion- Delos. Dancing great. Food a cut above

2) Fascinosa - Easten Med including Turkey, 1st cruise ship so fell in love with her even though mad decor lol. Best excursions, Ephesus , close 2nd Istanbul and Olympia. Food good, Dancing good but not as good as Deliziosa.

3) Serena - Western med- best excursion Pompeii , good spa- but much the same as the other two but had a weeks pass this time as this cruise was to relax after stresses of work. Too much of a party ship but did enjoy the Ibiza dj. Was a bus stop itinerary. Food and dancing not up to standard of the two above but feel this reflected the type of cruise it was.

Hope Favolosa is good in May

Good luck with getting replies.

A similar thread was started a few days ago - sofar no replies.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2313303

Good luck with getting replies.

 

A similar thread was started a few days ago - sofar no replies.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2313303

G.M.T. - That was the thread about being on Costa ships "pre-Carnival"

G.M.T. - That was the thread about being on Costa ships "pre-Carnival"

Sam idea.

I loved my first Costa cruise on Favalosa. It was exciting cruising to BA, Argentina from Savona and the atmosphere on the ship was happy.:)

2nd time was a 5 nighter in the Med on Mediterranea. Not so impressed and it was full of families

3rd cruise was on Pacifica from BA, Argentina back to Savona. Loved Pacifica but the weather wasnt great in March

Fascinosa was a 7 nighter in the Med and we had a fab time as we cruised with dear friends. Loved the ship

Mediterranea was next - a 7 nighter from Trieste to Trieste. Still didnt like the ship as much as the bigger ones...Fantastic cruise and the food was the best ever!

Magica was our most recent - Savona to the Caribbean on 28th November. Not impressed with the ship at all - old and shabby - the deck space was awful. We had added on an extra week taking us up to Xmas and we wished we hadnt bothered - the Caribbean clientele really dumbed the ship down and kids were running everywhere. We spent a lot of time chilling in our cabin!

Now Diadema is booked for my birthday next month. Cant wait - especially as we are now at Diamante level! Gotta love Costa :)

Caryl

Deliziosa and Luminosa are almost identical, if you like one you should like the other.

I agree, do not go on Costa during European school vacation or kids travel free promotions unless you really, really like kids. A lot of the negative reviews you read- check the sailing dates.

Thanks for the warning Dancer Bob!

Any general guidelines for the "European" school break times?

Am familiar with the US-are the European that different?

Thanks,

tnt

Thanks for the warning Dancer Bob!

Any general guidelines for the "European" school break times?

Am familiar with the US-are the European that different?

Thanks,

tnt

Can be different for different European countries, even from county to county. Generally in UK the kids go back to school first Tuesday or Wednesday in September. Get one or two weeks off end of October start November. Christmas they can break up anything up to a week before and go back sometime in first two weeks of january. They get a week off in the week including Valentine's day. Easter vid two and a bit weeks usually with Easter in middle but if Easter early like this year then some have it all right after Easter some later in April various dates. They have the last week of May off or though sometimes it's the first week in June. The 16 and 18 year olds have prom at this time and don't go back. The rest finish about 18th July although this varries. Scotland I believe finish end of June and start back mid August.

University students 18 plus start uni end of september early October and finish end of April or may .

But to be fair you don't see many English kids on board.

Mostly Italians as part of extended family groups who were well patented and controlled all the time and French.

On my first cruise was seated in mdr with an American Services Family posted in Germany, the young man, I think he was about 13 was impeccably well mannered.

As was the dutch 7 year old lad who joined us for breakfast in mdr last year.( he very much enjoyed the American breakfast.

Sad to hear the Magica is showing her age. She was our first cruise about 11 years ago. She was the flag ship then I think. The Concordia was still being built. There was a model of her on the ship. The first and last time I saw a crayfish tail on a costa ship and old dumbo here did not order one. My 11yr old daughter did.

The most fun we had was on the Serena.We are not party animals but it was just so festive. It was a January cruise and we had some really rough weather which did not dampen the spirits.

We think the newer ships have too many thorough fare bars. Been on Deliziosa twice and Diadema twice.

Neoromantica was OK but as it is smaller the bar entertainment is limited.

Also went on the Fortuna. Pretty much like the Magica and I think the best food. It was before they dumbed everything down to sameness. We had some curry dishes. Not as spicey as I would like but a bit of variety.

Going on the Pacifica in May from Savona to Hamburg. Very much looking forward to it.

Hello Alicat 58

I saw the cruise advertised from Savona to Hamburg and reverse. I think it's a good itinerary - different and interesting. I'm just disappointed the dates aren't convenient for us to go.

Caryl

Hi Caryl

Unencumbered by child who is at uni, we look at what's cheap, put the kitties x3 in the cat hotel and off we go. No issues at work because it's always outside of school hols.

We are thinking of going to Gibraltar when we are in Cadiz. I don't like those apes though. They look up to mischief.

Riana

Diana we are renovating a house at the moment so need to be home all summer. It's really getting in the way of our cruising!

I personally don't like Gibraltar, but always enjoy Cadiz. Have you been to Jerez? 40 mins from Cadiz, or Seville a bit further to go.

You're in for a great cruise

Caryl

3 Costa Cruises completed and 1 next month.

Pacifica - Kiel - Amsterdam - Dover - Cherbourg - Vigo - Lisbon - Cadiz - Malaga - Savona

Favourite Port on this cruise : Dover

Serena - Dubai - Muscat - Khasab - Abu Dhabi

Favourite Port - Muscat

Favolosa - Warnemunde - Copenhagen - Geiranger - Bergen - Kristiansand - Oslo

Favourite Post - Geiranger

Next up

Meditteranea - Trieste - Split - Kotor - Katakolon - Corfu - Dubrovnik - Venice -

Can't wait for Venice Sail in and Sailaway!!!!

Looking longingly at a Fascinosa or Diadema cruise for late 2016 / early 2017.

Tomvet- enjoy your next cruise- love that area

I really enjoyed Olympia from Katakolon , and Katakolon waterfront was pretty .

Corfu we enjoyed the old town area, went round the fortress and surrounding areas

Dubrovnik - first time we tendered near the old town and walked the walls and the old town area. Second time we docked in the port, so we enjoyed a quiet ship for most of the day- it was hot and sunny, mum and I mouched around the "market" in the port area- some good bargins on glasswear etc there.

venice is stunning from the ship, from a smaller boat and by foot. Are you staying overnight in venice or flying in and out on same days as embarkation and disembarkation?

Hoping to do eastern med agian next year ( Hubbies firts trip to Venice- he hates flying so looking at train from home town to Venice- 14 hours but its a sleeper train gets in to venice 9am ish)