New to Costa, any advise?

Hello Forum,

we are 10+ Cunarders with a little baby girl. I want to celebrate my birthday onboard a ship and celebrating new year whilst cruising as well as celebrating our anniversary we decided to switch over to a different line, where kids can go for free.

After all it is the Deliziosa leaving Fort Lauderdale on 28th of december.

Can you please give us any advise regarding:

Dresscode

Drink packages (is it worth is?)

Sail Away Parties

Captains Cocktail Receptions

Formal nights

Thank you very much

Best Regards

Thorsten

Deliziosa is a similar design to Queen Victoria/Queen Elizabeth with a similar (not identical) internal arrangement. (I'm no great fan of QM2.)

MUCH less formal, I take my tuxedo but I'm definitely in the minority. If this is a kids-travel-free promotion, there's going to be LOTS of kids. Not sure how Squok Club and babysitting work.

Limited dining choices in the evening. Food is generally one star below Cunard, service can be very good depending on the waiter. Samsara is roughly equivalent to Grills, no dedicated lounge. I'm Gold Pearl, I get a special reception (similar to Senior Officers).

Cabins are almost identical. Costa's cabin staff are among the best in the business.

Nothing matches Queens Room on QV/QE, but main lounge is still pretty good. The cruise staff evening entertainment in the lounge is much superior to the lame "Balls" on Cunard. The music has been much superior to Cunard, although I'm told Cunard's has improved recently. The deck 3 lounge is roughly similar to HS/YC. There's nothing that really matches the Commodore Club.

No sailaways like Cunard (which I consider just an excuse to flog over-priced drinks). I don't use drink packages but others say they're excellent.

Just returned from the Costa Medittaranea, after a Cunard trip 6 weeks previously.We are Pearl members of the Costa Club, a waste of time as there are little benefits to be gained.

First item, I don't drink wine, so we asked for water at dinner. not available unless you buy a bottle.

After dinner tea/coffee , again ask for it , not offered.

Drinks package euros 25 per person per day, includes 15% cover charge.Includes most drinks, wine , spirits,beers as well as tea and coffee.Any other drinks purchases outwith DP incurs 15% cover charge.

Service at dinner appalling, 2 hours for 3 courses

No alternative dining for dinner, only the buffet which was paste/dessert with a cover charge.

Tea/coffee only available at breakfast time and tea time, around 4 o clock for 1 hour.Any other time it has to be purchased.

Breakfast offers a menu with cooked breakfasts, rest is cakes /meats/bread

Lunch spread over several locations in the buffet area.

In cabin dining? charge for delivery of 2 euros.

Euros 8.5 per day hotel charge , non revocable.

Entertainment, dancers/ singers. very loud music. All announcements in 4 languages.

Overall staff go through the motions.

Children every where,allowed to run riot in restaurant/theatre where ever.

Club restaurant, which has a cover charge of Euros 28. jacket required, no one bothers, tee shirts / jeans acceptable.

Gala night any form of dress goes, do not bother with a tuxedo, very few on view.

Having travelled many times on Costa this trip is definitely our last.

Just returned from the Costa Medittaranea, after a Cunard trip 6 weeks previously.We are Pearl members of the Costa Club, a waste of time as there are little benefits to be gained.

First item, I don't drink wine, so we asked for water at dinner. not available unless you buy a bottle.

After dinner tea/coffee , again ask for it , not offered.

Drinks package euros 25 per person per day, includes 15% cover charge.Includes most drinks, wine , spirits,beers as well as tea and coffee.Any other drinks purchases outwith DP incurs 15% cover charge.

Service at dinner appalling, 2 hours for 3 courses

No alternative dining for dinner, only the buffet which was paste/dessert with a cover charge.

Tea/coffee only available at breakfast time and tea time, around 4 o clock for 1 hour.Any other time it has to be purchased.

Breakfast offers a menu with cooked breakfasts, rest is cakes /meats/bread

Lunch spread over several locations in the buffet area.

In cabin dining? charge for delivery of 2 euros.

Euros 8.5 per day hotel charge , non revocable.

Entertainment, dancers/ singers. very loud music. All announcements in 4 languages.

Overall staff go through the motions.

Children every where,allowed to run riot in restaurant/theatre where ever.

Club restaurant, which has a cover charge of Euros 28. jacket required, no one bothers, tee shirts / jeans acceptable.

Gala night any form of dress goes, do not bother with a tuxedo, very few on view.

Having traveled many times on Costa this trip is definitely our last.

Just came back from neoRiviera and have to agree on everything. Except for no gala nights at all. They call it "casual" cruise. And bring credit cards that don't charge foreign transaction fees since you'll be charged for almost everything in euros.

Hi Thorsten

We had a fantastic time on Mediterranea a few weeks ago. The dinners were as good as the ones we had on Queen Elizabeth. The service was excellent and far friendlier than QE

We were on Pacifica for 19 nights earlier this year and had a fantastic

time there too

We like to take our time over dinner and order every course on the menu. We didnt have a drinks package as we usually buy, but could afford to buy a bottle of water every night as well as a glass of wine or two.

Coffee is always nicer when you buy from one of the bars - freshly made, unlike the Cunard stuff that had been in the pot so long!

Costa is an Italian cruise line - they do things Italian style

They are so much cheaper than other cruise lines so we do not grumble about paying for the extras. We always take a premium cabin and enjoy the extra benefits such as free room service,better position on the ship (midships for us), choice of dinong eg table for 2....

Lots of space in the cabins for families too

They reward customer loyalty a lot better than other cruise lines. We are now Pearl Gold after only a few cruises. The prosecco and fruit in the cabin is a nice touch as are the robes and slippers. The one free meal in the special restaurant on a night of your choice is really nice - available when you get to Pearl status.

As for the dress - what does it matter what other people are wearing. We like to dress well every night on holiday - just because others dress badly we dont follow their example, but it's up to them. Costa accepts this and lets people enjoy their holiday - however they want to.

I think it's the relaxed attitude on a Costa ship that makes us keep going back for more. Passengers dance all night in every venue and theres a happy atmosphere.

The hotel charge is on every ship now and is well worth what you pay daily. The best cabin stewards we have had on cruise ships have been Costa stewards. The cleanliness is second to none! They have to work very hard.

The drinks package is well worth it if you are spending a lot of time on the ship. You don't need to be an alcohol drinker - soft drinks,water, teas and coffees .....it soon adds up to the daily AI cost. If you buy the package make sure you order your breakfast drinks from a bar waiter then you will get nice fresh coffee or cappuccino instead of going to a machine to make your own.

I'm sure there will be a great atmosphere on your cruise as you have so much to celebrate!

Have a wonderful time and embrace the Italian experience. :):):)

Caryl

That sounds good. We are very excited about going on a cruise to far away exotic places.

We will celebrate my birthday, of course the new years eve and our anniversary.

Is room service only 2€ per order?

There are two cabin categories Premium and Classic. For premium cabins, room service and breakfast in bed (cabin) are free.

http://www.costacruises.co.uk/gb/suites-cabins/cabins-classic-premium.html

Capsall and G.M.T,

We have experienced some good times on Costa ships, however this last cruise was terrible.Whilst your comments about what others wear are accepted, surely old cruisers expect a little confirmation to decorem.Yes the Italians are laid back, noisy,mostly inconsiderate of others.

On checking the relevent prices of cruises, I think it is a bit over the top that UK passengers have to pay some 30 plus % more than the European passengers for the same grade of cabin.

OP doesn't have an indication of where they are, if they booked Costa USA then "waterusa" package is included. Since I always pay the service charge and add something for the cabin steward if they've done a good job (it's almost as much work to clean a cabin for a single) I've never really confirmed whether the service charge is mandatory on a USA booking.

Sounds like toonbear did book a Classic cabin. A competent travel agent should explain the differences and ensure that's what the customer wants before taking the booking. Yes, I've heard much whingeing about UK pricing.

I'm 66, I don't consider myself anywhere near too old for Costa. But the experience will be different from Cunard.

Dancer Bob,I think you will find a big difference between Cunard and Costa. We have used Costa as they tend to go to places other lines did not/do not go.We booked a balcony as we always do, our agent did not differentiate between classic or premier. As Pearl members of Costa Club we imagined , wrongly , that we would get some benefits, other than a model of the ship.

I now have a collection of 6, we will not be getting any more as there are very few places left to explore, after nearly 60 cruises what is left, except the Galapogos'.

OP doesn't have an indication of where they are

Bob, I think OP could be German, Thorsten is a German name. when you click on the the link in the first message you are redirected to a German wbe site.

I now have a collection of 6, we will not be getting any more as there are very few places left to explore, after nearly 60 cruises what is left, except the Galapogos'.

How about river cruising, e.g. along the Danube to the Prince Bishops of Passau.

Thank you all for your advise. I will get back to you with my impression after returning home.

I do rather like Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth (I'm no fan of QM2). But about a decade ago, I switched to Costa because Cunard's music had become so atrocious, and the quality of dance partners declined. I'm not refusing to go back, I've been told the music has improved greatly and I'm talking with several dance groups.

But Cunard's sales spams got so annoying with "....does not apply to singles" and ending up double or triple Costa's prices, I now look at Costa first, and almost always end up getting as good a deal as I can get anywhere else. The things you see people complaining about, they're (mostly) good enough for me, I can live with it.