Our Neo-Riviera cruise, A middle eastern delight.

Wehave just returned from a back to back middle east cuise sailing onthe costa Neo-rivierra for a total of 30 nights. The first week wasspent sailing around the UAE and then a 23 night crossing from Dubaito Genova in Italy. The following is our opinion on this cruiseexperience. We try to be fair with our viewpoints on every cruise wedo, other passengers on this cruise may have a different opinion thanours.

Flight,pre cruise stay and embarkation.

Weflew to London for a couple of days before the cruise and then tookan overnight flight with British Airways from London heathrow toDubai. The evening hot meal was a choice of meat or veg curry and wassuprisingly tasty. Breakfast was a dissapointment, just a cereal bar,juice and tea or coffee. Entertainment system was good and flight wascomfortable for the 6h.45m flight. I had assistance at the airportand immigration was fast and efficient.

Weused the Dubai metro to get to our hotel and bought a gold NOL card.The first class carraige at the front of the train had room forluggage and was not as crowded as the other compartments. It was veryeasy to use and cost 25 Dirham,with a 19 Dirham credit included.

Ourhotel was the Novotel Mall of the emirates suites, 2 metro stopswithin easy walking distance. The hotel was clean and welcoming,allthe staff were friendly, our suite was large and comfortable and itwas made available as soon as we arrived,which was a nice unexpectedtouch. Breakfast was very good,with an international selection aswell as a few local dishes.

2days later and we checked out, we took a Taxi to the cruise terminalat about 1pm. We dropped off our luggage and filled out the healthquestionaire and were informed that boarding would begin at about 3pmbut our cabin would not be available until 8pm. A small selection ofsandwiches and juice was made available while we waited.

At3pm embarkation started and there was only a few people. The gangwaywas very steep and there was no way that i could walk it and so asecurity/immigration officer came down to take my passport and photoand i was escorted through a seperate entrance,i was made verywelcome and directed to the buffet on deck 11. Our cruise card couldnot be collected until 8pm but we just showed our printed ticket toshow we had the drink package and that enabled us to get drinks.

TheCosta Neo-rivierra.

Asmall ship that was at first confusing to get around. The easiest wayto navigate was to remember that the vast majority of places could beaccessed by walking along deck 6 and make your way around from there.

Mostof the inside entertainment areas were on deck 6 with a few on deck 5, 7 and 12. Decks 11 and 12 were the buffet and outside areas.

Buffet.

Wedid'nt use it that often, the meal we had on embarkation day here wasvery nice with a nice selection of dishes including curries etc,however all this changed for the crossing where the selection becamea lot more suited to the Med palate. There was always a choice butIMHO you cant really make a ships buffet look appealing. At peaktimes there could be difficulty in finding a seat,but this is true ofany ship we have been on. Breakfast in the buffet on this shipincluded hot as well as cold selection. There was NO free pizza onthis ship but a grill serving burgers, hot dogs, fries and salad wasavailable, i tried a couple of burgers and they were good.

Theonly real complaint i had of this buffet area were the drinkstations, they could become a bottleneck. My major problem here wasthat some passengers would fill thier personal water receptacles fromthe public stations and on many occasions i saw passengerscoughing,then drink from the bottle and then fill this same bottle –small wonder that diseases soon spread. You can't blame the ship forthis blatant abuse,there are big notices on the dispensers and evenwhen i pointed the notice out to an offender,he became verballyabusive and a ships officer had to intervene.

MainRestaurant Cetera and St Tropez.

TheMain restaurant is called the Cetera and although we didn't eathere,we had a look around and it looked very nice.

Becausewe are Pearla diamente members,we were allocated the St Tropezrestaurant which is used for suite and pearl members and is openevery day for breakfast,lunch and Dinner. Most of the meals servedhere are also served in the Cetera restaurant with the exception of achefs menu and we could have steak or king prawns as a no cost alwaysavailable item.

Themenu on the whole was definate regional Italian with a fewexceptions.

Onthe whole the food ranged from good to very good,i only had to send 1dish back because it was served cold.

Lobsterwas available at a 15€ supplement. I had it and it was my firstwhole Maine lobster complete with the lobster crackers (to get in theshell)It was messy to eat but superb.

Everyone,from the Maitre`D to the asst waiter were incredibly efficiant andfriendly,nothing was too much trouble for them. A special thanks tothe team led by Tamara. Amanda, Jin Jin (papardelle) Sylvester andJessica, you are all stars and will be missed.

Barsand Drinks.

Onour first week we had a pio gusto drinks package included. This gaveyou quite an extensive choice of both alco and non alco drinks. Weare not huge alco drinkers, Donald enjoys an occasional glass of wineand i like my non alco cocktails. My fav on this line is the virginbanana colada and the pink panther. The pink panther tasted the samethroughout the bars but the banana colada could change so vastlydepending on who made it. It tasted so disgusting in 1 bar that i hadto send it back,the second time it was better so i don't know whathappened.

Onour 23 night crossing, no drinks were included,so we bought a 40 nonalco package at 110€ and a 25 cappacino coffee pack at 85€ incservice charge. Most of the bar staff were very friendly and we neverhad to wait long before being served. Anjean, Deryl, Leah andMichelle quickly learned our likes and dislikes and were such goodfun to be around. Our thanks to you.

Entertainment.

Theusual daytime quizzes,games,dances etc during the day and music anddancing in the bars and lounges in the evening as well as thedifferent theatre shows. We found the entertainment and shows to be avery good standard. The entertainment team were friendly and workedhard.

Wedid hear some people complaining that there wasnt much to do butthese were N.Americans and they freely admited that they like everyminute of every day filled with organised activities.

Excursions.

2of the 5 excursions we had booked were cancelled due to lack ofenglish speakers. They are fairly expensive but on the whole offeredreasonable value for money.

Wedid the safari on sir bani yas island. I was dissapointed not to seethe giraffes but like the guide said, sightings can't be guaranteed.We did see cheetahs, gazelles,deers, ostrich eagles etc.

TheDhow cruise in Muscat was very relaxing,to be fair theres not anawful lot to see other than the rugged coastline.

Theancient etruscan civilization from civatavecia. Nice to look aroundand learn about these people. Supposed to have a typical etruscanmeal included but don`t be fooled, meal was nice but i doubt theetruscans ate chicken, sausage chips and salad.

Frontdesk/customer service

Frontof house staff, we feel often have the most difficult job aboard.They have to deal with passenger complaints and queries and Costaships have a very large mix of different nationalities on board,thiscan result in quite a culture shock,especialy amongst the englishspeakers.

Someof the complaints we heard were quite ridiculous and could have beenavoided had the passenger done just the simplest of research or useda modicum of common sense.

Whyfor instance would you complain because the tea used on board is notyour favourite brand, why argue that you wont pay the compulsoryservice charge, saying the service you received is not to yoursatisfaction and you've only just got on board. Why should theyrefund your internet account after 3 days usage because you have nowdecided that this package wasn't for you. I heard all of this andmore. The answers given were clear and dealt with in a precise andfriendly way. Whenever we walked by we were always greeted by nameand asked how we were with a smile.

FellowPassengers.

Lotsof different nationalities on board, Italians, Dutch, French, German,Swiss, English, Russian, Spanish, Australians and Americans etc.

Weonly encountered a handful of rude passengers. For the first timeever on a Costa cruise we easily interacted with a group of Italianpeople. This may have been because several spanish words are similarand we have now gained more confidence speaking Spanish. We had sucha good time with this group especially in the restaurant. We also meta delightful couple from Oz, Malcolm and Beverly, Thanks for yourcompany and also to Yvonne and Hubby,we'll be in touch soon.

Theship and disembarkation.

TheNeo riviera was kept spotlessly clean and was just a nice size for meto move about with my mobility problems. There are a few areas wherei had to be extra careful, sometimes moving from a carpeted area to apiece of flooring caused me to go off balance.

Staffwere very accomadating at the fire drill and whenever i went ashore,and assistance was always given to me when needed, i never had to askfor this, it was all done with a smile.

Wearrived back at Genova Italy at 8am and were told we could stay onboard until 5 pm and have lunch if we wished. Our train to Milanwasn't until 2pm so we stayed on board and had a bit of lunch andthen disembarked. Because of our Perla diamente status, luggage wascollected the night before and would be shipped home to us in Spain,so we only had an overnight bag to carry. I was once again assisteddown the gangway and the chap took my bag and carried it to theexit,where we were shown the way to the train station, an easy 10minute walk away. Both Donald and myself were very sorry to leave andwe both agreed that this ship has now become the favourite in thefleet so far. We have now arrived home and have booked to go back onher in 2019. Thank you to everyone on board the wonderful CostaNeo-riviera, we had a wonderful time. :D

Bazboy, welcome home. Glad for you that both cruises wroked out so well for you.

You have booked to go on neoRiviera in 2019, what are you doing for 2018?

Thanks for posting!

We took BA from San Francisco to Barcelona via London, and it was like a tale of two airlines...On the TA flight we had great food and service, just like you did. On the intra-Europe portion, after a long delay, we had to pay for everything (even water), only credit cards accepted, and many of them didn't work. I would say half the plane never even had the opportunity to get something.

What I liked about the buffet on the Mediterranea was the variety of choices. In the MDR, it was always great pasta followed by so-so meats in our opinion. The salad offered with the meal was just some pale lettuce and tomato. The buffet however had many nice salads, and of course you can take tastes of things to see what might appeal to you.

I think sea days are a matter of personal preference. It seems like chairs by the pool are always hard to get (any cruise line), the gym is crowded, etc. I really don't like them, I always feel its not a good use of a vacation day. So, I liked just having one on our recent cruise. But, I know many people enjoy just being to relax and do very little on their sea days.

Hi Bazbov

Looks as if you had a great cruise. We've not been on the NeoRivera yet. There is a Med cruise later this year that looks quite nice.

We had the worst food ever on our flights to and from Mumbai travelling with BA. We both love curry but this was inedible and over heated. Must say that I was not impressed with Emirates recently either. Everyone I spoke to before said how good they were. I beg to differ. Same old stuff: No we've run out of the beef you'll have to eat more chicken". Blegh! I actually like chicken but not 2 meals in a row! I even tried their vege food. It was even worse but you get served before the other passengers. I might try the diabetic food next:evilsmile:.

Still planning our Diadema trips. 4 weeks today!

Happy cruising

Alicat

Bazboy, welcome home. Glad for you that both cruises wroked out so well for you.

 

You have booked to go on neoRiviera in 2019, what are you doing for 2018?

Hello and thanks G.M.T. For 2018 we are just going to do last minute availability but are looking at doing the same dubai cruise as we enjoyed it so much.

Hope all is well with you and that you've got cruises planned. :)

Thanks for posting!

 

We took BA from San Francisco to Barcelona via London, and it was like a tale of two airlines...On the TA flight we had great food and service, just like you did. On the intra-Europe portion, after a long delay, we had to pay for everything (even water), only credit cards accepted, and many of them didn't work. I would say half the plane never even had the opportunity to get something.

 

What I liked about the buffet on the Mediterranea was the variety of choices. In the MDR, it was always great pasta followed by so-so meats in our opinion. The salad offered with the meal was just some pale lettuce and tomato. The buffet however had many nice salads, and of course you can take tastes of things to see what might appeal to you.

 

I think sea days are a matter of personal preference. It seems like chairs by the pool are always hard to get (any cruise line), the gym is crowded, etc. I really don't like them, I always feel its not a good use of a vacation day. So, I liked just having one on our recent cruise. But, I know many people enjoy just being to relax and do very little on their sea days.

Hiya ej. Thanks for the reply. I'm fortunate enough to love sea days so we do tend to opt for cruises with as many as possible. We are looking forward to the Meditaranea in September.

On the neo-riviera the salds in the buffet always had more choice too and if you asked to have a salad in the restaurant they just bought you a plate of 2 different types of lettuce and dressing. you had to specify what you wanted in the salad and then they brought it. Happy cruising.

Hi Bazbov

 

Looks as if you had a great cruise. We've not been on the NeoRivera yet. There is a Med cruise later this year that looks quite nice.

 

We had the worst food ever on our flights to and from Mumbai travelling with BA. We both love curry but this was inedible and over heated. Must say that I was not impressed with Emirates recently either. Everyone I spoke to before said how good they were. I beg to differ. Same old stuff: No we've run out of the beef you'll have to eat more chicken". Blegh! I actually like chicken but not 2 meals in a row! I even tried their vege food. It was even worse but you get served before the other passengers. I might try the diabetic food next:evilsmile:.

 

Still planning our Diadema trips. 4 weeks today!

 

Happy cruising

 

Alicat

Hello Alicat. Many thanks and yep we enjoyed the cruise very much.

Lol about the airline food and good luck with the Diabetic menu :D. Hope you have a wonderful time on the Diadema. Happy cruising.:)