kremerlorraine

In May the Fortuna was berthed at Terminal B (the furthest away). I can't remember whether the X80 bus went that far, or only to the main terminal A. I'm pretty sure there were hop-on, hop-off buses there. You could take the Metro to Piraeus, but you would need to take a taxi to the terminal as it's too far to walk with suitcases.

9 hours ago, Thorswife59 said:

Yes, we are definitely learning that Costa is different from pretty much every other cruise line. So this will be our first and last cruise with them. Too late to cancel or rebooked literally booked 2 weeks out, but that’s OK. We’ll make the best of it. Plenty of other lines to choose from next time that still offer basics like coffee and tea. And while they push their specialty restaurants and other extras, they at least offer coffee, tea, lemonade, etc. We mistakenly assumed Costa was similar to MSC, being that they are European and especially being owned by Carnival. What’s next, a surcharge for breathing the air in your cabin? 😂😂

Costa isn't for everyone, and we are always pleasantly surprised when we travel on other lines (principally Princess and Celebrity) at what is "free", but we always come back to Costa because of the quality of food in the main dining rooms and the reasonable price of drinks/coffees etc on the rare occasions when we don't take a drinks package. Hope you enjoy your cruise!

8 hours ago, Thorswife59 said:

Spoke to their customer service regarding another issue and was told coffee and tea were not available without a beverage package in the buffet or mdr. Is this true?!! We have sailed on virtually every other cruise line including MSC and Cunard and in Europe and 

can’t believe they charge for

hot water and a tea bag or straight brewed coffee. Is tap water a charge too? 

That is correct - there is no free coffee or tea at lunch and dinner. Coffee and tea are available at breakfast, in the dining room and buffet. There is also a "tea time", usually between 4 and 5, in the buffet, where sandwiches and cakes as well as tea and coffee are available. Cold filtered water is available in the buffet at all meal times.

8 minutes ago, Wansbrough said:

The itinerary we booked is repeated, we toyed with the idea of being onboard over Christmas and New Year but went for the cheaper option in the end. Couldn't get a cabin on deck 7 on any of the 3 cruises we were looking at. 

We looked at every market - only the Netherlands one gave us a cabin on deck 7 (the only one available) - and the price was OK.

On 7/17/2024 at 6:03 PM, Wansbrough said:

Has anyone else been tempted by any of the Asian itineraries that Costa Serena is doing at the end of next year and the following January?

We have bagged a cabin on the 14-night sailing on 21 November. I couldn't get the time off for the 28-nighter so opted for this leg.

Also looking forward to getting on Serena again, she is apparently going in for a refit before this deployment. From what I can tell she still has the old hull design.

 

 

Yes! We've booked four weeks from Singapore on 12 December. It will be our first time on the Serena. So happy to see something new from Costa!

7 minutes ago, GrandyMandy said:

I have also booked through the German site, as it is much cheaper and includes service charge. However, how am I able to ensure that I am not put with German speaking only for a MDR table ? 

If you're a Costa Club member, you can choose English as your preferred language. That might get transferred to the table planners. As you will know, it's also possible on the first day to ask about your table allocation and request a change if necessary. Costa usually has an assistant Maitre on duty for a couple of hours on the first afternoon in one of the dining rooms (you will find the information in the daily programme left in your cabin). Good luck.

We book in all the Costa markets, depending on price!

PS Love your "early years" cruising experiences!

PPS We were "shipmates" on the Splendida from Dubai to Yokohama in 2018. Loved that cruise, especially as we were seated at a fun table where, although I was the only native English speaker, everyone else spoke good English. We still regularly visit one of the couples who live in Spain.

Should have added that this is from the dining room menu. I don't think it is sold in the bars.

Yes, they have one Franciacorta available at 45 euros a bottle (25% discount for Costa Club members).

We've done many Costa cruises from Germany. There will be a good mix of passengers from around Europe with no nationality dominating. Early dinner will be at 6 or 6.30 and is not as popular as late dinner, so you won't have a problem getting a table. Get a cabin on deck 7 and you shouldn't have a problem with noise.

They have changed Archipelago restaurant into the "Elite" restaurant where you can eat by paying extra - 30 euros for one dinner, 75 euros for five dinners or 100 euros for five days worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner. It seems to be popular. The Club restaurant is only for suite guests.

Something that I haven't seen on Costa since a transatlantic to the US in 2017 - free pizza at lunchtime and decent ice cream offered as dessert at dinner.

Demographics - obviously mostly retired folk (some long-retired!) with a smattering of younger couples and a few families. I think there are 20-25 children on board, but we haven't seen much of them. A few have been observed doing school work with their parents though.

The entertainment has been pretty good. The production show team is Afroarimba, with South African singers and quite a few UK dancers. There is a Dutch lady singer who was also good. The lounge singers are good quality old-timers who know how to entertain their punters. And joy of joys, a classical music trio who do three or four sets per day in the Piano Bar which is a quiet, cool place to enjoy a drink and their music. Not a DJ/sax combo in sight, thank goodness - they have been ubiquitous on every Costa cruise we've taken over the past two years.

We took the full Internet package for 488 euros for 62 days. It works well for our purposes- we don't download movies or music. The TV has also worked well even in mid-Pacific with its usual limited channels. We can at least follow the news with BBC World. I don't understand why Costa can't offer a video on demand service such as the good one we had on the Coral Princess last year.

To sum up, this feels like an old-fashioned cruise (in a good way). We're not veteran cruisers (we started only in 2015) and certainly don't remember the gilded years, but this feels like the lovely transatlantics that we did between 2015 and 2019.

Tahiti tomorrow, which unfortunately will entail a visit to a dentist to fix my husband's broken tooth. Not quite what we had planned!

On 2/9/2024 at 2:47 PM, Wansbrough said:

Who is doing the blocking?

 

@LauraS Is it Cruise Critic Software stopping this?

 

This is a real shame as I always wanted to know what a Costa Worldie would be like.

@Wansbrough I can't produce a detailed daily report like yourself and At7Seas, but here are my impressions on day 11 of our part-world cruise (Valparaiso to Singapore).

Fellow passengers - a civilised bunch, obviously many repeat cruisers. There was a little unseemliness on our second day in Easter Island, but that was born of desperation to get off after Costa mismanaged the tendering process the previous day. 

For once, Italians are not in the majority. That is French (700), followed by German speaking (500), Italian (400), Spanish speaking (200) and the rest a mix of Scandis, Eastern Europeans, Dutch and a few North Americans. I believe there are three UK passengers, including me.

Many people dress up for dinner, even on casual nights (there have been eight of those, one colourful, one gala and tonight "pirate").

The food is excellent, with many dishes new to us. We eat in the buffet at lunchtime and have enjoyed the food there every day. Pranzo and Cena is included for everyone, but one can upgrade to MyDrinks for 18 euros pppd.

More to follow. Got to go to dinner now!

We're joining the Costa Deliziosa in Valparaiso today and planning to take a taxi there. I'll let you know how it is.

44 minutes ago, BVILady said:

I am also on Costa Deliziosa and in contact with At7Seas. Here is a message from him:

 

“I can’t follow this report up, because I got blocked for my obscene and abusive language, for being intimidating and other things. I have not even an idea what I did wrong in particular, but obviously my style is unwanted. I am sorry and I thank you for following me on this short part of my voyage. At 7 Seas”

 

I followed the blog and am very sorry t see that.

How ridiculous. I've seen nothing offensive and have been very much enjoying his reports. Hope this cam be resolved. In any case I look forward to meeting you both in person on 8 February in Valparaiso.

In other news, my friend has received an e-mail saying that the Toscana from Dubai to Savona in March has been cancelled.

20 minutes ago, maryann2 said:

I am booked on the Toscana March 9th Dubai to Rome and also interested in any official reports.

We were told last week probable port changes.

My two friends have already cancelled but I am in a wait and see mode. Had flights booked already.

 

A friend of ours is 

booked on the Toscana, too. He is also waiting and seeing!

20 hours ago, At7Seas said:

 

No information about the Red Sea yet. But many more cruise ships are scheduled to pass through before it will be our turn, including Costa Toscana and an AIDA vessel, which is essentially just a differently branded Costa ship as well. Even more from other Carnival owned companies. This will give an indication. It is so long to go and the situation can change on daily basis. Sure, there will be alternative plans be made, but I don‘t expect them to be announced any time soon. I not even heard anything about our stay in Ecuador and the nightly curfew last week introduced in the entire country for 60 days definitely will have an effect on our overnight there.

MSC announced yesterday that it has cancelled three of its cruises that were due to return to Europe in April via the Red Sea and Suez Canal. The ships will take the South Africa route instead (with no passengers).

1 hour ago, At7Seas said:

 

Sorry, you don‘t want to see me dancing!
 
I am bad with names, but the hotel director I had somewhere, Luca Melone. Something deep in me says about the cruise director Raffaele, but this could be very wrong as well. It might help, I have him in a picture:

Thank you! I don't think we have encountered either of them before.

@At7Seas - loving the photographs and detailed descriptions so far. I was a bit disappointed that there was no video of you dancing "sur le pont" in Avignon though!

Could you let us know the names of the Hotel Director and Cruise Director, please?

On 1/7/2024 at 12:45 PM, maryann2 said:

Just to inform you the app does not work on N. American phones.

Our English host on the Pacifica at the moment told us that Costa have just managed to produce an app that will work with American phones. We await confirmation!

Look forward to following your progress and also to joining you in Valparaiso on 8 February (staying on until Singapore).

We are currently on the Costa Pacifica in the Caribbean and having a great time.

Costa sells flight/cruise packages from Europe to La Romana in Dominican Republic and to Guadeloupe and Martinique. They even have their own charter flights to La Romana. So they import a lot of Europeans! We've sailed the Caribbean a few times from both DomRep and Guadeloupe: there are quite a few locals in both markets, as well as South and Central Americans in DomRep particularly. There are also always some North Americans on board.

I agree with all the comments about Italian food and ambiance. We personally love the food. You won't find free pizza or ice cream and the buffet opening hours are shorter than on most US lines. Things like trivia quizzes tend to take a long time because they are done in so many languages, but it is a good learning opportunity!

Language is no problem on board. All the bar and waiting staff, as well as the cabin stewards and hospitality desk people, speak good English.

It comes and goes all day. Not sure what time the first one leaves (we arrive at 5am) but I know the last one back leaves the mall at 11pm. Guest services have advised that it could take 50 or 60 minutes because of the bad traffic in Lima. I'll let you know how we get on!

Just now, vantec said:

Thank you for that information - did Princess make this announcement on the ship? I'm surprised there is not a charge.

Yes, the destination expert announced it yesterday as part of his talk on Lima.

I should have added - watching the tuna boats unloading their huge, frozen catch on the pier opposite us was fascinating. There were also a few humpback whales giving us a good show just offshore and some turtles swimming around the ship.

At the Manta cruise terminal yesterday the tourist taxis were quoting $25 per hour per taxi. A tour taking in the main sights including Montecristi was expected to take approx. three hours. We just walked across the street to the Pacifico Mall (quite nice with lots of shops and eateries), where I got my glasses repaired at an optician (for the princely sum of $3!) As we only really wanted to go to Montecristi and back we got a taxi outside the mall for $20 return and he waited for about an hour while we strolled around and chose our Panama hats. I can recommend the Modesto shop if you are in the market for a new hat.

We're going to be there in two days' time with Coral Princess. They are providing a free shuttle to the Larcomar mall in Miraflores, which seems like a nice area with lovely walks by the sea. We plan to get a taxi from there to the Plaza Mayor and walk round the old town by ourselves (or possibly do one of the free walking tours).