Costa NeoClassica GRAND SHOWS

Costa NeoClassica GRAND SHOWS

Dear experienced Costa cruisers,

We are planning to book a Costa NeoClassica cruise from Mumbai to Male & also the return cruise from Male to Mumbai.

Just wanted to know--

1) Did they force you to pay the COMPULSORY Euro 10 service charge per person per day or could you tip as you please?

2) Were the evening/night shows of Broadway or Las Vegas standard (like Celebrity, RCI) or much inferior?

3) What per cent of nights had GRAND SHOWS, or were the shows held each & every night?

4) Besides shows, what were the other organized ACTIVITIES, lectures, classes, games & programs?

5) How was the FOOD in the buffet & main dining room?

Thanks!

Costa NeoClassica GRAND SHOWS

Dear experienced Costa cruisers,

We are planning to book a Costa NeoClassica cruise from Mumbai to Male & also the return cruise from Male to Mumbai.

Just wanted to know--

 

1) Did they force you to pay the COMPULSORY Euro 10 service charge per person per day or could you tip as you please?

2) Were the evening/night shows of Broadway or Las Vegas standard (like Celebrity, RCI) or much inferior?

3) What per cent of nights had GRAND SHOWS, or were the shows held each & every night?

4) Besides shows, what were the other organized ACTIVITIES, lectures, classes, games & programs?

5) How was the FOOD in the buffet & main dining room?

Thanks!

Hello drsel.

Costa neoclasica is small ship cruising. We sailed on her from Mauritius to Venice in 2015. we enjoyed the ship and cruise but she did take some getting used to.

1) service charge is compulsory so NO opting out. The onboard service we have received has always been worth this charge and to us is worth it. Just factor it into the cost of your cruise.

2) for such a small ship we thought the shows were of a good to very good standard. remember they are catering to a very varied international clientele.

3) there was a show on every night,ranging from production shows to guest artists, crew show and passenger show. mainly singing, dancing, acrobatic, aerial, mime,puppetry. These were done to recorded not live music. However on our 30 night cruise there was only 1 show we found not to be to our taste. Remember entertainment like food is subjective.

4) There will be daytime fitness classes, dance classes, deck and lounge games, quizzes, learning to do a craft etc. Again please remember that the passengers will be multi cultural and English speakers are generally in the minority. That said, many of the ENT team speak english with an accent,and they will encourage you to join in. Our European Cousins are we find, much more eager to participate in things and do seem very loud, but go with the flow and you should enjoy it.

5) Food,again is subjective and may not be what you are used to,as on a British/American line. It is mainly aimed at the Italian Market so lots of pasta, fish etc. Don't expect gourmet cuisine. The food we had was of a good to very good standard. Buffet not open 24 hours a day and unless on a drinks package you pay for water and coffee after your meal.Someone recently posted 2 menus from a costa ship on this site, have a look at them, nearly all menus are offered fleet wide.

We hope you have an enjoyable time, Go with an open mind and take the opportunity to try different things. Happy Cruising. :)

With reference to point 1 - service charge, it deoends on the country where the cruise is booked. For Australia he service charge is included in the final payment invoice, for Americans they can reduce / cancel the service charge, for Europeans the service charge is compulsary with exception for Germany. Costa / MSC lost a court case last year where they said the service charge was compulsary. the court's verdict was if it was compulsary then it must be part of the fare price and stated on the final invoice. Also that the current situation was that the service charge as it stands it a voluntary charge that cab be modified by the passenger. Never heard of any German reducing the service charge on our recent cruise (neo ship).

I agree 100% with bazboy views about the other points.

Thanks, bazbov & GMT.

I notice Costa prices are hugely DIFFERENT for different continents & regions (for the same cabin, same ship, same sailing).

Any idea why this DISCRIMINATION?

Do other cruise lines (Royal, Celebrity, Carnival, Norwegian, MSC, Princess) also have differential pricing for different regions, or is it only Costa?

With reference to point 1 - service charge, it deoends on the country where the cruise is booked. For Australia he service charge is included in the final payment invoice, for Americans they can reduce / cancel the service charge, for Europeans the service charge is compulsary with exception for Germany. Costa / MSC lost a court case last year where they said the service charge was compulsary. the court's verdict was if it was compulsary then it must be part of the fare price and stated on the final invoice. Also that the current situation was that the service charge as it stands it a voluntary charge that cab be modified by the passenger. Never heard of any German reducing the service charge on our recent cruise (neo ship).

 

I agree 100% with bazboy views about the other points.

GMT.

In Australia we do not have service charges. With cruise lines they can put them are part of the package, but you can remove them.

Also on the ship, if you get poor service you can reduce them or removed at the Guest Service desk.

Think this would be the some with Costa

In Australia hospitality worker are paid well, So we only "tip" for great service. Not because someone just brought us our meal or cleaned our room. If they really look after us we tip very well [emoji898][emoji898]

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hi just retuned from costa neoclassica mumbai mali cruise the ship is slightly dated but still nice, staff very friendly , entertainment ok, our cabin was clean no problems, let them selves down with their drinks package we had the briadamo package it doesn't include water by the bottle so most people filled up empty bottles with glasses of water from the bar why not just include the water bottles ? also it doesn't include cocktails but it does include non alcoholic cocktails so you could order a spirit and put it in your cocktail if you want why not include cocktails in the first place ? itinerary of the cruise was very good, mumbai taxi for the day 20 dollars, mangalore check out fishing port, cochi don't get ripped off by kerala back waters boat trips taxis will take you to their own boat company they will ask you for 40 dollars each you can get trips for 15 dollars easy in cochi, mali watch out for scammers on sea front offering free hotel use

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I also did this cruise the last two weeks and loved it a lot. So for any more questions, just ask.

1) Having booked from Germany, i had to pay the 10 Euros per day and because of the really good service, it was really ok for me. For example, we had a question for our room at the service desk and later they called us to check if the Cabin Steward has brought what we had asked for.

2) 3) Well I liked he Shows, and compared to other Costa ships, i would say the Afro Arimba Dance Crew and the Solo artists were the best i have seen so far in 4 Cruises with Costa (Emerald Princess still was a little bit higher level). But Grand Shows? No. The shows are all played twice a day (19.30 and 21.30, 45 minutes) and the Afro Arimba Crew is on stage on 8 or 9 different production shows in 14 days, so better not expect Broadway level.

4) There are games at the pool and in the evening. A lot of live Music. Some parties. Latin Dancers with lessons, shows and social dancing. Bingo, Food and spa presentations, lotteries. On the Neo ships less than on other ships, but enough after all the sightseeing in India.

5) The choice is great. Even if you really like only 1/3 of it, it's enough to eat five big meals a day ;)

I think the best deals are available from italy. My impression is that it might be more expensive for Costa to administrate and entertain people from other nations and with other languages.

... why not include cocktails in the first place ?

You might not have seen it before booking, but there are several drinking packages. You booked the cheapest AI package, for if I recall correctly 3 € a day more you’ll get Piu Gusto with most of the cocktails as well. Only most expensive drinks are excluded. If you want to get the excluded top market package you should have a look at the most comprehensive package. Seen the price for the AI packages and the prices on board of Costa you should at least think about buying one. The very first time I calculated afterwards and I exceeded the price just with my extensive coffee consume. If you don’t drink cocktails at all Brindiamo might be a good package for you, but if you have one cocktail every second day (!) Piu Gusto is worth the higher price. If the way more expensive package Intenditore is worth the money for you is a difficult question. Download the information and find it out.

hi , yes we did know you could pay the extra 3€ to get the water added, but i just think costa have made unnecessarily complicated as it happened we didn't make full use of the alcohol package, but we did need a lot of water, surley it's cheaper to supply water than beer, wine , and spirits and as i said we got our water any way from the bar in glasses

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Hi Tarpave and LizaLaLiz

We are flying to Mumbai 3w today. Very excited.

Were the passengers predominantly European like in the Med on Costa and was the food the same Italian or did they serve some Indian food in the MDR?

Can you give me a brief idea what you did in the ports? Specially Male! What are the hotel scams you mention?

One last question: Did you use a fair amount of foreign currency or were credit cards accepted?

Thanks for any info.

Alicat

hi liza, the passengers were mainly european mostly italian,the food was good and did include indian food but only in the self service restaraunt and at breakfast aswell, watch out at the air port the money exchange is a rip off you only need dollars,we got a pre paid taxi be carful where you arrange this as some will rip you off, we paid 1300 rupees for north mumbai the hotel said we had paid more than double the correct amount, next day we a got a taxi for 1600 rupees for 5hours, in taxis they will ask if they can take you to a shop where that get good commission say no firmly, don't use any ships excursions much more expensive , ports, mangalore we paid 40 dollars for taxi for the day went to mangalore town , fishing port very interesting, and the beach, cochi, taxi for 5 hours cost 20 dollars visited chinese fishing nets, beach wanted to go on the kerala back waters but they wanted to much

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answer continued

re cochi, the kerala back water boats tried to charge us 40 dollars each later in the day we saw some for 15 dollars,

mali , 1st day went ashore in the morning had a look around, decided to go get our swimming gear do some snoorkling in the afternoon on villingilie island short public ferry trip from mali unfortunately we ran in to a guy who said we would be better off going to this hotel on humalie for a few. dollars it was a scam, if you want to go to the resort islands you might be better off using the ships excursion or book your own, but we didn't want to pay that much, so when you get off the tender if you turn left and walk 200 to 300 m there are boats which will take you to local islands we went to maffafushi 1.5 hours away we paid 30 dollars each and we were well looked after plenty of fish if you swim to the drop off, boats leave the sea wall around 10am to 10.30 am on the island to 3.45pm, columbo , walk out of the dock area you can get taxis for 30 dollars for 4hours or less done a tour of the city and shopping cheapest shopping in the bazaar out side the docks 10 min walk from the ship

mormagao , go to the elathant sanctuary 2 hours away, or bugamulo beach we just went do the beach we paid 20 dollars for the the taxi for the day he just waited in his car, back in mumbai we did elathanta island if you do this take some rupees or you get ripped off when you pay in dollars or pounds entrance to the caves are for tourist 500 rupees for locals 30 rupees or 10 dollars for tourist watch out for the monkeys they steal from you but good fun, hope this is useful and you will have a good time.

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sorry the elephant sanctuary was from columbo

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Hi Alicat, hi Tarpave,

yes, I was just about to say the same. Perhaps 10-15% Indian People on board, some russians, and the well known Costa mix.

Dollars were accepted nearly everywhere, Ruppees were useful to get a better price sometimes. Credit Cards and Euros don't help. Atms available everywhere, in Cochin you can change at the port exit.

For the Maldives we had preebooked a private guesthouse on Dhiffushi for 2 nights and loved it. Male has a not too bad beach but is sooo overcrowded and busy. Better take a speedboat or a public ferry to a holiday island with a bikini beach.

In all other towns we took a taxi or a tuktuk for a City tour. We always talked to more than one driver and took the nicer/cheaper one. In Mangalore, we also saw a cashew factory from inside, we liked that. In Cochin, the backwater tour was one of our Highlights. 1000 rupees per Person/4 persons on boat/2 hours. Later City tour open end, 15 Dollars per Person. In Goa, we first went to the Basilica and church in Old Town where we met the whole ship and later went to a beach. 60Dollars, taxi for 4 persons, 5hours. The tourist shops are a plague everywhere.

In Colombo we had a really bad tuktuk driver who tried to get much more Money than we had said before. He nearly became agressive. So sad, because Sri Lanka is usually great. Our friends went to Pinnawela with Costa and were happy.

Enjoy your trip, Alicat! The hungarian dancers are great, and so are the Paraguayos. If you have a cabin on Deck 5 even, let me know if you also get love messages and gifts from the cabin steward ;) Have fun!

one more thing to say after you have agreed a taxi price with a driver they sometimes give the job to another driver be sure to confirm with that driver that the price is the same before he drives off

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Hi Alicat, we did a similar cruise back in 2009 on the Classica (Dubai to Singapore) here are more thoughts:

Male, for me a complete waste of time. If one wants to see real paradise beaches then Seychelles is the place. But back to Mali, the fish market and adjacent flea market are interesting. If you don't take a ships excursion to the other islands, you can get a boat to them from Male, but not from where the tender boats land (there the touts are a rip off) walk straight throught Male to the other ferry harbour and get a boat from there.

The view from Male waterfront is either the airport or the rubbish tip on two islands take your pick.

In The evening we went to the Seagull Restaurant, lively place and not too expensive at the corner of Chandhanee Magu & Fareedhee Magu.

In Colombo we did the Elephant Sanctuary (the tour company we used is no longer in business), really enjoyed it, other that went to Kandi were very enthusiatic about it.

Now India, we used a local company that exceeded all our expectations, really great and worth every penny. The not only do Mumbai but also other India cities, contact Deepa Krishnan at http://www.mumbaimagic.com.

Have a great cruise, drink plenty of thet Costa rot gut wine to keep those wine snob mosquitos at bay.

Hi all

Thank you so much for all the info.

We have only booked a morning with Costa in Mumbai for the moment. I sent Mumbaimagic 2 emails and never heard back. The I sent an email to someone else and got a response from a different company. Ii looked them up and they looked great but it was $150 per person for 5hrs and I thought that was excessive. It was basically a private tour though because it would have been the two of us. I said we would be happy to share but she did not quote me other prices. Considering we paid $250 pp for 2 very full days in St.Petersburg last year I decided we'll give it a miss. Hubby is still keen to try and do some DIY and it looks possible but I am a little worried to try. However Tarpave has given so much info that it looks an option.

GMT, I'll work hard at keeping those mozzies happy!

Alicat