I wish I knew- Back from our first Costa Cruise

We just returned from our first cruise and I wanted to share with you some things I wish I knew before we went. I will not write full review- just some tips that I hope could be of help for you. But pls read first the background data, as some things might not be applicable for you.

Background:

- We are couple in early 30ies, without kids

- Traveled in June 2016 with Costa Faschinosa from Savona (Western Mediterranean)

- Reached Savona by car

Parking in Savona:

Perfectly organized- you literally leave your car in front of the boarding building and pick the keys up next to the baggage claim area.

Have your luggage tags already placed, as the bags will be picked up directly from the car.

Registration can be done in advance on http://www.parkingsavona.com, but it is not mandatory.

Boarding:

It takes ~30-45 min to board a ship (you are waiting in the lounge for your number/ color to be invited).

If you are not from EU your passport will be taken and kept by Costa Cruise. It would be smart to have photocopies with yourself to have some ID when visiting ports.

The crew will tell you that your room might not be ready immediately and that you should wait for official announcement. But, your room might be ready :D, so go to the room, leave the hand luggage if you want and pick-up your Cost Card.

If you have drink packages you can use them even without card- just say your room number.

Lunch is available from 12:00 so you can go for buffet lunch the moment you board- no one will ask you anything.

Food:

Breakfast in MDR (main dining room) is only till 9:30 so we mostly did not use it. Buffet option was rather good.

As we had Premium cabin we could predefine our option for MDR. And we did. And they did not took it fully into account :D. But good thing is that there were 6 people from our country (we are small and poor country ) on the ship and although we did not know any of them- they put us together.

Dinner options in MDR were always linked to the port we were visiting so you might want to experiment a bit and try some new things. If not, there is always basic choice (chicken, pasta…). Our approach was to go to buffet dinner first and have some food and then to go MDR and take some crazy things to try.

During dinner you cannot have alcohol drinks except wine & beer.

Drinks:

We took drink packages and were more-less constantly drunk :D. If you drink alcohol than it is very costly not to take package. We took Brindiamo that does not include cocktails but we would order Mojito zero and White rum aside; Aperol + prosecco + mineral water as well as Disarrono + lemon slices.

With this package (and Piu Gusto as well) you get water in glasses- so there is no possibility to take it to room and have during the night. But you can freely use your bottles and filled them up at dispensers in buffet area. I have also seen people freely caring bottles of water bought outside of the ship.

Service around pool might be slow but for a small tip for waiters (1-2 eur) you can speed it up. (of course this is on top of the service charges you pay anyway).

Entertainment:

Frankly speaking- I have no idea. We enjoyed more sun bathing, drinking, playing table tennis than watching shows.

Port visits:

Ship was arriving mostly on time or before the given time (important for ports with short visits).

You need to be back at the ship at least 30min before leaving time.

Print city maps in advance and decide what to visit- especially in ports where you stay for a short period of time.

In addition to excursions, ship also organizes transport form the port to the city center. The benefit is that it takes you and leave you in front of the ship. If you’d like to use public transport you usually need to walk some 5-6 minutes to the bus stop.

An example of prices: transport to/ from ship organized by Costa 17 eur, public transport 6 eur

Embarking:

You will need to pack and prepare your bags by 1am night before. Be carefully to leave aside/ in hand luggage some clothes for embarking day.

You can use your privileges (i.e. drinking package) till the moment you leave the ship.

You will receive your time slot and based on that the luggage will be available for pick-up. It is better to go 10 minutes later than earlier as you will wait otherwise.

Thanks for the info, Kajira! Sounds like you had a good time. My family and I will be going on our first Costa cruise in 8 days.

We plan to go again- I believe that's the best feedback.

If you have any questions pls do not hesitate to ask- I'll try to help.

We plan to go again- I believe that's the best feedback.

If you have any questions pls do not hesitate to ask- I'll try to help.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. It is so nice when people report back with their experience (good or bad).

Becareful, the first cruise is the taster, the second cruise you get bitten.:eek::)

Hi :) I was on the same cruise than you and I must say that it was great.

We were just disappointed with food for lunch in the buffet,it was constantly almost cold. I returned two times the food there (and I am really not picky) because the meat was cold as if it was in the fridge...:mad:Also we tried the burgers maybe two times and it was cold. We have catering business and for me this was unexceptable. I see a lot of improvement that can be done for Costa in the buffet area...I also saw a few people that came around 4 pm from the port of call and there was nothing to eat for them just the "tea time" cookies...and they were not happy about it..

But I must say that the food in MDR was really great, we had great waiters and they were such fun. We asked for a table for two the first day because we feel like its a date night for two of us (we are 26 years old):) and they arranged it with no problem.

The ports of call was so nice we really enjoyed every city that we have been (Savona, Barcelona, Ibiza, Palma, Palermo and Naples).

For disembark day we didnt put our luggage outside the cabin ( we saw that possibility last year on Allure of the seas-we never thought about that when we were on MSC). In the morning we freshened up, went to breakfast and then went to our cabin for our luggage, put them in the Disco, where you could deposit your luggage, enjoyed the ship a little bit, and then pick them up and went outside with it.:D

Kajira glad that you had fun, we are addicted to cruising since we tried it the first time, so be aware:cool:

And now we have some new memories:cool:

Kajira..can you just walk off with your own luggage like any other cruise line.....

EDIT sorry just read your reply Miss cruiser.. That sounds fine