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Next two totems are located: in Grand Bar (close to the bar desk) and near the entrance to the Pompadour Ballroom-both on deck 5.

Internal cabin are sold out. Cabin with windows 249 EUR, balcony 299 EUR - still available.

Does anybody know how discount for shore excursions work ? Is it 30 EUR per excursion ?

Can I use it for any excursion from Costa list or only for selected ones ?

I am considering to buy some Costa tours in my next cruise but on the other hand looking at mycosta.com offer for my cruise, I see that they are very expensive (more expensive than usual) so I am not sure if it has sense.

In my case Costa established new record:-) I sent two simple messages asking about my status in Costa Club and validity of points - the 2nd e-mail I sent on 29th Dec 2017.

I have just received answer. They needed almost 3 months. No comments.

Usually on Costa ship spa is open until 10pm. If you have 1st sitting it should be possible.

Nothing new.

Costa very often does not reply e-mails if you send them only once.

Basing on my experinece could say that they are answering very late (2-3 weeks) only when I sent the same message once again.

I know - in "normal" company it should not happen but in Costa it is standard...

I also cruise from Guadeloupe soon and think about the same thing.

Unfortunately I am afraid that embarking earlier than 1 hour before they informed in voucher could be impossible.

I think that reason is connected with disembaration procedures. Probably disembarking guests from previous cruise could stay on the ship longer than usually because flights to Europe are departing late evening. Similar situation I had twice in Dubai - embarking started at 8pm (!) but disembarkation after cruise was possible until 5pm. So we could forsee that after cruise we will be able to stay on the ship longer.

Of course I am not sure if I am right - will see how it is working soon but I do not plan to go to the port terminal earlier than at 4-5pm.

I was on Mediterranea in December.

In Dubai we could use taxi/uber or free shuttle bus provided by Mercato Mall. There were also available hop-on-hop-off buses.

In Abu Dhabi it was possible to use free shuttle buses from WTC Mall + taxi/hop-on-hop-off buses.

In Muscat, port is providing shuttle bus to port gate. It is close to Mutrah souk. In front of Mutrah Souk there is citibus stop - you can use bus No 4 to go to Sultan Palace (or in opossite direction to bus station where you can transfer to bus No 1 to Grand Mosque-but it takes a lot of time). Taxis and hop-on-hop-off buses were also available.

No Costa shuttle service in any of above cities - except Costa tours.

You can take your luggade and leave the ship as only it is possible for passangers. I do not see any problem on ship side, it is more probable that it happen on immigration side. In January 2017 I spent almost 2 hours waiting for immigration because only few desks were working (part of them reserved for US citizens only, part for others). If I can suggest anything, try to leave ship with your luggage as soon as possible to avoid possible lines to immigration.

I am on board of Costa Mediterranea now. Social Pack 24 hours cost 5 EUR + 3 EUR activation fee (paid first time only).

Last time I had problem to send fax (technical problem on Costa side) and sent my request using e-mail info.europe@costa.it.

After few days received reply message confirming OBC.

As G.M.T. wrote formally taking drinks onboard is forbidden but in real I had never problems with taking them onboard (small and big bottles with water, cola etc.). Staff only check if you do not bring alcohol but for non-alco drinks I had no problems so far. I had them very often in hand, put them to the scanner machine so everybody saw them.

Question is how new privilleges will work in real life.

Unfortunately (as Perla Diamond) must say that have very bad experience with one of privileges which is existing for some time called "superupgrade".

I requested about it more than 2 months before cruise after checking that suites are available.

I had no answer for approx. next 2 weeks and finally asked my TA do contact Costa to receive any answer. Only then they answered that cannot upgrade me althought hey have free suites because...I am travelling solo and suites are dedicated for 2 persons.

They proposed upgrade to balcony cabin - of course without any suite perks.

In my opinion it is very unfair to the most loyal guests they have.

CostaClub rules does not say anything that this "privilege" is dedicated only for 2 persons in one cabin. I reminded them about it in e-mail message and added that in my opinion their proposal is not superupgrade described in CostaClub rules but have no answer so far (it was one week ago). I should also say that quality of answer received by e-mail is very bad and rude. On the other hand I also saw answers written by Costa to my TA - they are much worse: typical answer has one or two words only ("no", "not possible"etc). I was open for other proposals instead of typical "superupgrade" (f.e. they could give some suite perks, OBC etc.) but received only answer "no"...

I could understand it if they have no cabins available but during my request they had them...

So resuming I lost a lot of trust for Costa. In my opinion Costa play not fair and this "privilege" is the "fake-privilege".

Maybe Costa do not know that sometimes it is better to declare/promise less and keep the word instead of promising a lot and later answering "no" only.

Question is if Costa is planning any refurbishment of Costa Victoria before/after repositioning it to Europe ?

I was on Costa Victoria in Oct 2016 and must say that this ship has much lower level than any other Costa ships I visitited so far.

It is also much different - f.e. has extremaly small fitness studio and (probably because of specific of Asian market) big casino. Does anybody know if Costa is planning to change sth inside the ship ?

G.M.T. - you are very familiar with Costa and active on this forum. I appreciate it, you almost always could give us some news:-)

Maybe do you know if Costa has any plans to change round route of Diadema (it is doing it from the begining in the fleet if I remember well). And when new ships will be deliverd/which market they will service. I am not sure if Costa did not inform sth about 2018...

Hi Everybody!

I have received some non-refundable OBC.

Can I use it for buying future cruise certificates onboard or there are any restrictions for using non-ref OBC for it?

On European cruises I was, they had also wheat beer like Paulaner and Franziskaner.

I am not sure if they are available on other itineraries but hope so (next cruise I am going is Panama cruise) :-)

I am going for the next cruise on Jewel. Is sauna/steam room there available for spa pass holders only - like on newer ships as described above ?

Hello!

In rules and FAQ describing how NCL shareholders benefit is working (http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-5WOY6H/0x0x681828/4AF17A4F-D574-4094-BDE8-5AD5FA288377/benefitfaq.pdf), I found that I must stay shareholder at time of sailing.

Does anybody know how NCL verify it? Should I have brokerage account statement with me for embarkation ?

The 2nd issue: as written in FAQ, shareholder benefit cannot be combined with reduced rates booking. They are giving some examples - f.e. cruise credit certificates. Does it mean that if I pay for the cruise with FCC bought during previuos cruise, I will not receive OBC as shareholders benefit ? Payment with FCC is very common in my opinion, hes anybody any experience with that and combining such booking with OBC for shareholders ?

Thanks in advance for any opinions:-)

Greg

I was on neoRomantica and neoRiviera and can confirm information described in previous messages. The main differences comparing with other Costa ships were more quiet atmosphere, less children, more unusual routes and ports of call and longer stays in ports.

Another difference was evening buffet every day which was not possible on not-neo ships. As I know, this year Costa restarted it on all ships, so this difference does not exist anymore. When talking about dining: in MDR on neo-ships you will find only open sitting (no first and second sitting) - it was the next difference comparing with other ships of Costa.

For those who like bewerage packages one disadvatage: AI packages on neo-ships were few (I do not remember exactly, probably 3 or 4) EUR per day more expensive than on other ships. I do not know if it is working until now because in meantime Costa made also some changes in AI packages.

You should also remember that all those 3 ships are smaller and older than the rest of Costa fleet. On the other hand condition of f.e. neoRomantica was for me really good - after renovation they have wonderful spa better than on some big Costa ships (but on the other hand do not have theatre...).

When I am buying beer during Happy Hours, is the 2nd beer also available for 1 USD or Happy Hour does not apply for beer ?

Does any one knew the prices of the new Internet packages by volume on coste cruise (250mb to 3G)

No rates in their website

Thank in advance for your answer

I was on few Costa cruises but so far remember that they sold internet packages only for limited time - not amount of data in MB. Do you know anything about changes in their billing system ?

Does iConcierge work on Jewel?

As Jayne wrote earlier probably it is depending where booking is made - if in US you need to pay 18% extra, if in EU - gratuities are is included. NCL have probably different terms for US and EU.

I have just received e-mail with confirmation from NCL: "When receiving the beverage package via a promotion, all gratuities are included and nothing will be added to the price."