Mediterranea impressions

Finished our cruise yesterday, thought I would share my observations. First, I took photos of some menus and daily programs, you can find them here. https://goo.gl/photos/AtwFHBF9yZ1FA4Ux7

Operationally, the cruise was excellent. Always punctual, and the ship is kept very clean. Our cabin was a very nice rear facing balcony with good closet space.

Food wise, pasta and appetizers were always good, but proteins were not. The only proteins we enjoyed were the extra cost burgers and the duck on gala night. Fish seemed to taste "fishy". We ate in the club restaurant one night, service was outstanding, but the filet had an off taste. It was however cooked a perfect medium rare. Salads on the buffet were very good.

Piu gusto drink package was a great value. Wines were good, as were cocktails. Espresso every bit as good as on land in Italy.

Entertainment staff keeps things fun. The white party was the best I've seen at sea. Shows were below average for a cruise as were lounge entertainers.

One nice touch, they had an English speaking (from England) customer service rep who always asked how things were going and genuinely seemed to care.

Would I take Costa again? For the right itinerary at the right price, sure. All Cruise lines have their pros and cons--Costa's strong points are fun, pasta, and espresso in my opinion.

Hi Ejincali

Glad to see that you enjoyed some aspects of the cruise.

I agree with you about the fish. I love fish but find what Costa serves too fishy as well. I don't mind the meaty dishes because we eat sooo much meat at home I happily have some vege stuff and only occasional meat when it looks ok.

Are you going to tell us what you did in the ports?

Regards

Alicat

Yes!

In Marseille, we took a taxi to Aix-en-Provence. Pricy at €60, but we didn't want to waste time going into Marseille to catch a bus or train. We spent a lot of time in the Saturday market looking at the food and handicrafts, and my wife bought some clothes. We had wine and appetizers at Vintrepide, which we just stumbled upon and thoroughly enjoyed. Wandered around the rest of the town before catching a taxi back to the port. Great day with great weather!

More to come on the ports...

Sadly, our excursion for wine and truffles from Savona was cancelled. Thanks to this forum, I knew to ask about other languages--but this excursion was cancelled for all languages.

So, we spent the day on our own. Saw the small Sistine chapel and the fortress. There is an exercise group that meets at the fortress on Sunday mornings, so we saw lots of people in red shirts exercising and running around the fort. Walked through the waterfront fair (children oriented) and made our way to a restaurant called Luna we found on Yelp. Thoroughly enjoyed it there. The owners liked practicing their English with us, and made a custom pasta dish when we had a "gee wouldn't it be nice if..." request.

So, Savona was nice enough, but I don't think there is more to see there.

Hi Ejincali

I agree with you about Savona. We have been there so many times and now we only go because of the pizza at Solo!

We are sailing from there in May. It is a pity it is such a pain to get there though. We are planning to fly to Milan and have a couple of days there and then get the Costa transfer from the airport and on the way back fly from Genoa on disembarkation day.

Looking forward to hearing more about your port experiences.

Alicat

Thank you so much for all this information. We´re already looking forward to our first Costa Cruise.

What´s the photo in the middle about? Something about Breakfast $10, Lunch $15?

Bluebear, that photo is the extra charges to dine in the club restaurant. It is on the 10th deck. As I mentioned, we found outstanding service there, but did not find the food to be anything spectacular.

More to come on ports...

In both Naples and Palermo, we booked private walking tours through Tours by Locals. We really liked Naples. Had heard many negatives about it being dirty and lots of petty crimes, but overall we found it very charming with many impressive historical buildings and a nice big shopping street as well as side streets where artisans sold their wares. If you have a sweet tooth, I recommend the pastries at Gambrinus. We also tried pizza margarita at Umberto, but were disappointed that the crust was not crunchy. The mix of cheese, tomato, and basil was very tasty though.

We didn't care for Palermo, dirty and not as interesting as Naples. Had amazing Canoli though at Spinnato. Of note, they served Canoli that night on the ship (Sicilian night) and I thought it was 90% as good as at Spinnato. If we're in Sicily again, I think we will try to see the countryside a bit.

We both loved Malta. We just walked around on our own and found it very scenic and charming--and quite different from other places in the region. We took the Barrakka lift up to the city from the port (5 minute walk, 1 Euro) and loved the view from the canon battery when you first reach the top. We then went on the 1 hour (English only) tour of Casa Rocca Piccolo which was very nice, and good to see the interior of a mansion still in use. St John's co-Cathedral was mobbed with people, it's beautiful, but was too crowded to enjoy. We walked around quite a bit, enjoying every step and then stopped for some Rabbit Spaghetti (Malta specialty) at Luciano's which was recommended by an English couple we were chatting with.

I'll post about Barcelona (where we began and ended) when I get a chance.

On to Barcelona, where we began and ended our cruise. In total we spent 3 days there. We'd never been there before and specifically wanted a cruise that left from there. That and we didn't want to go to Rome since we'd been there--that's how we picked this cruise on the Mediterranea.

We really enjoyed Barcelona, especially the old town or Gothic Quarter. We stayed in the Duquesa Suites before the cruise and the Hotel Barcelona Catedral after. Both were very good, the Duquesa Suites a little better on amenities in the room, and Barcelona Catedral better for location, appearance and breakfast. Some food highlights, for low cost tapas, Aitor, across the street from the Sagrada--1.5 Euro per piece. For pricy but excellent tapas, Cuines de Santa Caterina located in a market near the Cathedral. Also, L'Olive, where I had the best sea bass ever--and I'm a big fan of sea bass!

There are many spectacular cathedrals in Southern Europe, but the Sagrada really is a must see, and reserve your time in advance on-line. The use of light and stained glass is mesmerizing. If you are comfortable climbing stairs, I recommend going into a tower. We were in the Nativity Tower and the views really are spectacular.

Another highlight, we took a wine tasting tour offered by Castlexperience. The first stop was Cava (plus tapas and some red wine) followed by a castle winery specializing in red wines. Great tour and we really enjoyed the company of the 6 others on the tour, amongst the 8 of us we were from 6 different countries!

So, overall, my wife and I (Americans in our 50s) were very happy with this off-season trip to sea many new places in Europe, and experience a new cruise line. :)

Hi Ejincali

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Though we have been to all these ports many times , it is good to see what other cruisers did. I am told I spend far too much time on Cruise Critic but I learn lots and I am totally addicted!

I loved the Sagrada Familia. We've been twice now and many years between. I am not religious but found it an amazingly spiritual experience standing in the cathedral with the light flooding through the stained glass windows. We are thinking of going to Monserrat Abbey when we are cruising in May.

Alicat

We saw Montserrat off in the distance while on our wine tasting outing. Something to consider is visiting Montserrat as well as visiting wineries, off course we just opted for the wine;)

Doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. I'll look into that.

Alicat

Bluebear, that photo is the extra charges to dine in the club restaurant. It is on the 10th deck. As I mentioned, we found outstanding service there, but did not find the food to be anything spectacular.

Thank you for clarification. :)

We saw Montserrat off in the distance while on our wine tasting outing. Something to consider is visiting Montserrat as well as visiting wineries, off course we just opted for the wine;)

Montserrat is a great place to visit. Very touristy but easy to reach via train and nice hiking.