how bad is Costa really?

Many of the problems are caused by lack of research on Costa Cruise Line by the traveler. Don't go in blind and then complain...

Exactly. BTW there's a great thread I just subscribed to about a cruiser's bad first time experience. I thought it was well worth reading and I'll attempt to post it here as soon as I can find it.

Here it is: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=48530623

The whole thread is interesting, IMO.

I want to sail from the Mediterranean and considering costa but as in today im not sure what to do since I only s ail with royal but prices are high when your itinerary has a port day everyday. 

4 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

I want to sail from the Mediterranean and considering costa but as in today im not sure what to do since I only s ail with royal but prices are high when your itinerary has a port day everyday. 

My family has cruised Costa 2x and also RC 2x.  I prefer Costa for value for money and the ports they tend to visit.  I read all the bad reviews of the cruise line and were bracing for the worst but I was really pleasantly surprised.  Honestly I think the negative reviews are undeserved and mostly written by English speaking Americans surprised by cultural differences in Italian service.  A few things to consider:

1) Language will be in Italian first and eventually they get to English.  If this really bothers you, don't go.  But my family loved hearing the staff encourage everyone to give the performers "applausi" and counting in Italian during group participation games.  Somehow that never gets old.  It's still a family joke.  
2) There isn't free pizza and ice cream.  
3) Food is a lot of pasta, fresh bread, cured meats, cheese; which I personally love.  I can't remember about steak on buffet but certainly there is enough protein to satisfy you.  My family prefers the buffet over 2 hour meals that require long pants, so I can't comment on the MDR.
4) You get to visit a European port city everyday.  Shore excursions are easy to DIY.  Come back to the ship and drink Prosseco and eat cheese and prosciutto everyday.  How great is that!
5) A lot of the people on the ship are from Italy and neighboring countries, but the staff will be mostly Filipino, Indonesian, Indian and the staff speaks fine English.  If your idea of cruise fun is small talk with strangers, maybe not the cruise for you. 
6) You might have to ask for bottled water and bring back to your room or fill up a water bottle here and there.  We had a drink package so just asked for water and kept it stocked.
7) It's like half the cost of other cruise lines and kids cruise for free.

Also for what it's worth I recently cruised on RC Spectrum of the Seas.  They've adjusted the service staffing to meet Chinese expectations and there are essentially NO waiters circulating in public areas to take drink orders or to clear dirty plates.  I watched some poor waiter walk around 30 minutes in a rare moment where they were taking drink orders -- no one ordered.  I felt like it was a DIY cruise where I had to stand in line to order every drink including Coca Cola.  So the cultural practices of the ship may differ based on the expectations of the majority of the passengers.