At7Seas

What NCL did is quite present throughout the media. VAT throughout the EU is a very complex thing. While the general rule is that the customer pays according to the rules of the country the seller conducts his business (this might be broken down to branch level) there are a lot of exemptions. While companies with a small turnover in another country are not effected the larger sellers might have to pay according to the place the consumer is when factually getting the product. And within the EU framework every country can do different things as well. While drinks in Spain are taxed at 10% as discussed here Hungary applies a rate of 27%. There are so many detailed rules that I would not easily call this false news. On the other side I would not rule out that there is a cruise company that makes abuse of such a rule and another line simply flattens out such a tax in the total price, which is of course in times of inflation subject to changes anyway. If we assume that a cruise line sells 5% of their drinks within Spanish legislation and the tax is 10% this results in 0.5% price increase of all drinks throughout all sailings, So it is a low one digit cent amount per drink. This we don’t recognise and there is no outcry.

Again it depends. I booked through half the EU for getting the best conditions and things are pretty different. In some cases you have in MyCosta the option to pay electronically (somewhere under My Cruise). This you can do any time. In one case I paid by credit card while speaking to the call centre. Otherwise you’ll get an invoice to which bank account you have to transfer the money, roughly ten days before you have to pay. This may be a local account or one in Italy. Even when I booked through an agent I always had to pay Costa directly.

Anybody here can give you an answer, because it depends on the country you booked. On the Costa website of that country the terms and conditions state exactly the amount due according to the days left before the cruise should start. Even within the different European legislations the differences are huge. If you really need to cancel you should do so early not to loose too much money. And if the amount you owe turns out being higher than the deposit you need to pay for a cancelled cruise. Of course it is for Costa much easier to keep a deposit than taking someone to the court who refuses to pay, but a debt remains a debt.

Dress codes are just suggestions on Costa. It’s more that guests are looking out to spot the first one in t-shirt and shorts on a formal evening. I just don’t know whether it feels very well for someone very underdressed. Elegant clothing can be everything, it is not necessarily traditional formal clothing.

Hi, I am Stefan and booked on the full round trip from Trieste to Venice. I wonder whether there will be some family aboard to meet on a drink and enjoy the cruise.

A very funny review. Just two notes: long term parking in Italy always requires leaving the keys. A legal requirement for being able to move the car in case of a fire. This fact is not connected to your cruise at all. And after having done many cruises with Costa I can confirm that I never saw a party at night in any outside venue. They simply play music in the bars. Parties on Costa ships are quite different from the relaxed atmosphere at the pool bar at the stern, just try one to experience the difference! Costa is Italy at sea, one should not be surprised that it is a place to enjoy life, to have a great time. It is definitely not a ship with a strategy to bore you to bed early for saving money on entertainment. In fact Costa suits everybody. There are many cabins very suitable for those going to bed when I go to dinner, but who wants that should simply avoid cabins next to public places. BTW, I was not even aware that the Diadema would have cabins above the Lido Stella del Sud.

I definitely don’t buy exotic currencies at home. Besides the often extremely bad exchange rates and the question whether I really will need them many countries simply ban import of own currency. It is just not worth it getting into troubles for the convenience of the trader, guide, whatever. Countries with a strong economy and relatively little tourism tend not to accept Dollar or Euro, try to pay in Toronto with Australian Dollars. But they accept cards. Of course never use coins, only bank notes. I myself have changed Euro coins into bills for a guide who got them as a tip. Of course here comes the Dollar handy, because the paper is used already for as little as one Dollar, while it takes 5 € for the smallest bank note. However, it can be hard to get them. Which tourist seriously exchanges such a small amount into Euro? And if they are available they are not fresh, but look a bit like toilet paper. No wonder that a lot of people don’t accept them. And at the end remains the question, whether it is really a higher valuation if one gives local currency instead of a hard foreign one. There are countries where Euros buys simply more than local currency, just because of extreme inflation, limits to exchange own currency, whatever. Foreign currency can be a treasure to those who have a lesser currency than I have.

Train from Nice to Savona is possible, but it is a regional train on the French side and you need to change trains at the border station Ventimiglia. Airport Nice is close to town and connected by tram. French train is okay, Italian trains are (may I say surprisingly) good. I know both trains in the UK and Germany and Italians are way better. If you fly to Milan Savona is sadly not on the Milan high-speed line, either you change in Genoa or you take one of the direct intercity trains - a bit slower, but you don’t loose time by changing train. There are three airports, two in Milan and one in Bergamo, although Ryanair calls that Milan as well. The old airport Linate is closer to town, but hardly used internationally. Malpensa is the main airport and just as Bergamo about one hour by shuttle bus, no stops, ends directly at the central station. I never cruised from Taranto, which is a new cruise destination for Costa as well. Hard to say how you can fly there, nearest international airports should be Bari and Brindisi. I flew on Bari once and despite the new terminal it makes a quite rural impression. Local train to Bari main station. I don’t know the train network there not good enough to say something useful about a connection. The very south is a bit neglected by all the other Italians. If you have an idea where to fly to you can check with www.trenitalia.com, the Italian train company. In most cases they sell tickets - or show connections - only two months in advance but do large changes to the timetable only once a year in early December. If there are no delays with loading the new times you should be able to look at the possibilities after October 9th, just use the same day of the week.

Just ended a cruise and am booked on the next one. I never got an all-inclusive non-alcoholic package offered on My Costa or aboard, only the "junior package" is logically non-alcoholic. One thing changed: aboard I was offered at the beginning of the cruise an unlimited "softdrink package" for the price of 27 € a day, while "junior" was 19 €. On My Costa for adults there are only alcoholic packages.

Well, since this is the Costa forum and I was until today on the Firenze with disembarkation in Barcelona as fourth Spanish port during the cruise I can report that not a single cent for taxes was added to my board account. The only thing I saw was that the package price for purchase aboard went up during the cruise. Whether it is encouraging early bird bookings or is connected to taxation I don‘t know. Prices for example for Sushi or Pizza speciality restaurants remained the same.

Correct, in Europe Costa uses Euro. But even on repositioning the use of Dollar is the exception. I did a couple from and to Caribbean and Asia and it was always Euro. As I said before the same cruise from South America to Europe everything was priced in Euro in first year that I booked, one year later exactly the same route on the same ship was priced for onboard payable items in Dollar. But since both cruises had been cancelled I never paid aboard of a Costa in Dollar, not even on repositioning cruises. It is really an absolute exception. BTW I am in Spain right now and here is today’s menu. If a proof is needed: payable items are marked with €… 23-09-27.pdf

Economically it doesn‘t make sense to call legally Italian Costa being American by ownership and giving the idea that this American Costa could or should use the Dollar. The ownership does not generate a logical link to the currency the owner uses at home. One of the world‘s largest car manufacturers (in many years the largest) is a Japanese company that owns companies all over the world. And surprise - surprise! In Euroland their daughter companies quote us the price of such a car in Euro. And it would surprise me a lot if the prices in the USA would be in Yen. Costa would undergo a massive ecomical risk if they would calculate in Dollar while the very most of their costs are paid in Euro. Using a foreign currency a thing done by companies that are afraid about their own volatile local currency, which is hit massively by devaluation and costs have to be paid for a huge part in a major currency as the Euro. Besides this would scare away the very most of Costa‘s customers who earn their money in Euro and are not interested in paying a European company in foreign exchange, which would increase their spendings without any reason. And if we would accept the idea of ownership determinating the currency Carnival Cruises would not use the Dollar any more, but since Saudi Arabia bought a pretty large part of Carnival Corp & PLC and might be the largest single shareholder today this would be Riyal…?

Who made the Dollar standard? That US companies use their home currency is quite obvious, but here in Europe the Dollar is pretty useless. The value of the Dollar jumps up and down, European companies or customers don’t like that. Costa enables Americans to pay their cruise in Dollar as well, of course Costa plays save with the exchange rates risk, this means Dollar prices tend to be higher than Euro prices. Costa does not use local currencies of European ports where the Euro is no legal tender - it’s just Euro, that is the standard currency aboard. Costa uses the Dollar in exceptional cases. When they expect a majority of non-Europeans aboard they sometimes use Dollar. I was booked on the same South America cruise on the same ship that had been cancelled twice. First time currency was Euro as usual, second time they used Dollar. How did I know? I simply found strange amounts marked with $-marks for excursions and other items. Of course the currency isn't changed during a single cruise.

There is a great pizzeria aboard of all ships, but against a small fee only, here you also find the menu of the pizzeria: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2956918-costa-toscana-drink-lists/#comment-65908479. Sometimes there are slices of pizza available in the buffet as well, but I also was on cruises where I didn’t see a single slice. In the pizzeria you’ll get cutlery, but it is your holiday… The typical Italian meal has four courses to choose among: antipasti (starters, literally before the pasta), the primi piatti (first courses), the course that is also called pasta (!), however here risotti and soups are located as well, secondi piatti (second courses), which is traditionally the fish or meat course and dolci (dessert, literally sweets). So you will get a choice of pasta twice every day and if you want two pasta courses during lunch or dinner you are free to order them of course. Since there are so many different types of pasta a single type as ravioli won’t be served very often. Regarding quality I was always very content with food aboard. Internet is available for everybody against a fee, only the app doesn’t work on North American phones. Phones Americans bought elsewhere don’t have this problem, just that Apple requires additionally a European (fake) address for download of the app as well. Definitely American security features don’t allow using the app, perhaps there is a conflict with the environment of an Italian IP address. This could eventually come to an end regarding the fact that Costa is phasing out their Italian provider and getting Starlink connections and the phone thinks being in the USA. All ships should get this upgrade until December. As said before menu and bar list are available as pdf download from the ship’s intranet for free, the app is not needed for this.

Let me try to solve the “miracle” regarding water on Costa. Some guests expect getting in the MDR a carafe tap water on the table for free. I have been on cruises where exactly this happened, but Costa serves mineral water by the glass instead - depending on where you book or what package you have included in the fare. This is the core of the “horrible” experience quite a lot of people had on Costa. Once I read here on CC that the lack of tap water on table would be a violation of human rights. It speaks for your seriousness that you can’t understand why people are complaining. It cannot be about facts, everybody who ever sailed with Costa had plenty of water. It is probably about a feeling, because Costa is different from what they are used to and from these differences they create a huge problem as if serving mineral water by the glass would be a torturing guests.

In most cases the single supplement is about 50% (I am also cruising solo). According to my experience Costa still has a lot of Europeans aboard in the Caribbean. Since they have Guadeloupe as one of their bases the number of French is relatively high, this includes quite a number of pax from the French islands in the Caribbean. On Martinique embarkation can be possible as well. Both islands are conveniently connected by several flights from Paris every day and we stay within the EU, which reduces immigration next to zero. The number of Americans went up a bit during the last boarding before crossing the Atlantic. The Costa app is suffering from geoblocking on American phones. But the app is just nice to have, it is not essential. Menus and bar lists are not in the app and can be downloaded as pdf from every phone, tablet, laptop, whatever. Waiters have paper menus on request. Your daily program Oggi a Bordo is delivered to your cabin, the app is just an extra. You may do the safety drill with the app and go to the muster station to show your cruise card or you get the information in person and go to the muster station. Excursions you can book at the excursion desk, printed accounts you get at the reception. In fact you don’t need a phone at all. Tap water is included in the fare and there are dispensers in the buffet and the pool area where the hamburger stall is, but it is not available in the restaurant. In the restaurant you get mineral water only. US customers without beverage package get the mark “Water USA” on their cruise card, this includes mineral water during lunch and dinner. The package My Drinks includes only one small bottle mineral water per day, but you can order with this package mineral water by the glass without limit in all bars as well. And English is working language aboard, Dancer Bob already mentioned it. I am German and German is one of the official Costa languages. But I generally start talking to staff aboard in English, because it is the lingua franca aboard. Of course your waiter in the restaurant needs having a better level of English than your cabin steward, but without exception everybody speaks at least some English.

Costa is definitely a bit different compared to NCL or RCL, but principally there is nothing wrong with Costa - although there are some pretty bad comments here on Cruise Critic. The only thing you really should be aware about is that they are Italian. Food, lifestyle and vibes are targeting a European public, this might be a bit different from your earlier experiences. It’s just a little journey to Italy as well. With this idea in mind and the right expectations you will have a great time. I had always clean, maintained and well usable cabins. These were cleaned only once a day, but this seems to become the new normal elsewhere as well and I have personally no problem with this frequency. Food in the MDR I much more enjoyed on Costa than on NCL, where it felt like some kind of pressure to go to the paid restaurants to get better food and enjoy my meals. Costa serves the typical Italian four course dinner, already this explains why the two main course portions are smaller than on ships you have a single main course only. Also the meals themselves are orientated on the Italian kitchen, although they have regularly destination dishes as well. So you shouldn’t be surprised finding a pasta course on the menu with every meal. Costa has fix dinner times and you‘ll get an assigned table. There are tables of many sizes, for two, but also up to ten, twelve guests. If you sit at a larger table you are normally sitting together with others who had chosen English as their board language as well. Drinks are compared to the lines you mentioned not expensive, but still the all-inclusive tariff, which adds the package My Drinks for an unlimited number of drinks by the glass, is in many cases worth the money. BTW unlimited means unlimited on Costa. A bar list has been added recently on this forum, so you can make your own calculations. Since Costa caters a lot of different languages entertainment is mainly based on music, dance and some artistic performances, but in these genres they offer an extensive program. Costa has very professional staff aboard and everybody has to speak English, the more they have to communicate with guests the better their skills. Of course this is not the case with every guest aboard. A clear downside are excursions. There might be a limited availability for English speakers, because often the minimum number of participants isn’t met, but especially in the Caribbean this shouldn’t be a problem regarding the alternatives you have in every port.

I was on a Costa transatlantic and initially got a place for early dinner, but was able to switch to late the second day. That evening I met a lady at my new table who said: “Early dinner? That’s for babies and old folks only!” She was 82 and had a mind like 28. And I was one year older than her son.

I can’t see any reason for limiting this to North American phones only. Let alone that we use exactly the same operating systems! Way easier than through an app that does not require any permission as the Costa app - which could be quite easily detected by a firewall. The app is no requirement, it is an extra offer. Two facts: The menus are not part of the app, but simple pdf downloads, limitations of the app are not relevant. Any hardware able to access internet with is needed and either a browser able to read a pdf or a separate pdf reader are only software requirements. Access by QR code or directly typed address. Of course there are always paper menus available for everybody. And there are paper accounts as well. Last time I had a B2B and there was a credit card booking neither shown on the downloaded account of the first cruise nor on the running account of the second. Prints (!) have shown that Costa had processed payments for the second cruise before the first account was closed.

Well, with this theory you say that the data of American customers would be protected by the GDPR aboard of Costa ships - and those of EU citizens wouldn‘t be protected. I may decide to store my data in the USA - it is sufficient to give my consent by simply ticking a box. The only thinkable workaround would be removing restrictions from the telephone. As Costa can‘t remove geographical limits from your credit card (such an idea only would be completely unthinkable in Europe) they can‘t do so with a phone. It will be interesting to know, whether the problem will be solved by Costa switching from Italian provider TIM to Skylink, because the IP of the ship’s network won‘t no longer be Italian.

Let’s start with a huge mistake: American cruise lines are regarded as being "the standard". For this there is no reason at all, it is an Italian ship, if at all a regional standard to compare with could be set by other European lines! And just to mention it in time, the following words were said early: “this is not a review!” Whether Costa assigns a cabin or a cabin may be selected depends on the tariff, nothing to complain about and very typical for the industry. A bit more facts would be nice. What was criticised about pre cruise will be gone sooner or later, because My Costa is going through changes, the trial has started and implemented on one market I am booked on, my other upcoming cruise is still old fashioned. The 10 year old style with little information will be gone soon everywhere. In the Med embarkation in several ports is not a Costa thing, not even limited to European cruise lines, it is simply about this part of the world. Yes, again Costa is blamed for US phone limitations beyond their control. That personal registration of a credit card would be impossible is simply wrong, if this man wants personal service, he should go to the reception. And I have registered my credit card on American “standard” cruise lines at self service stations as well! No cruise director? Well, I never was on a Costa cruise without. No captain joking? Love a good joke, but is that really the captain’s main job? And I don’t know how often the crew was presented to me, so why was that missed? Perhaps visiting the theatre at a time helps already. I agree, Italian design is special. It’s world class. Not being used to it? May be. Shouldn’t be used? No. The buffet was rated reasonable only, and by some hard to understand reasons it was said to be small. Let’s be honest, who goes on a cruise for visiting a canteen? Hint: there are restaurants aboard with one seat for every single guest. For grabbing something when returning aboard the buffet is fine, but it’s no substitute for a meal in a restaurant. Again the question about tap water in restaurants. Ridiculous, who is so cheap? And the completely misleading comment about “one ½ litre bottle water per day only” in My Drinks. Mineral water in My Drinks is unlimited, as long as served by the glass. Noting to say about the cabins, they are always good and very well maintained on Costa, regardless whether it is the newest or the oldest ship in the fleet. Really, no white party - on Costa??? Oggi a Bordo! Yes, it is great that Costa is not pressuring to buy something. It is a question of respect. Staff is available for you all the time, sells everything you want, but without the pressure I experienced on American ships or MSC (although there getting a drink can be really hard). Food in the restaurants is always good, here I completely agree. That the special dining would not be useful we can discuss a lot about. On a long cruise I like these alternatives once in a while. For quality it is in opposite to some American lines definitely not needed, because quality meals are also served in the MDR. That guests sit together based on language is a strange advice, this is done. That waiters need to be fluent in English is not especially done for English speaking guests, it is the general working language aboard. That menus would be in the app is wrong, and downloading happens in the language you select - the limitations mentioned are simply non-existent. I use English menus, because they are in the very most cases better translated than the German menus. Waiters usually speak English and Italian fluently and the other languages rudimentarily. So all the advice how to rearrange service are not matching reality. And obviously the theatre wasn’t found at all. The Colosseo is not the theatre as claimed, but just an additional performance space with bar service, while the theatre itself hosts the main act - and this was missed completely. Surprise, the entertainment is always limited if one doesn’t go to the entertainment! Life is hard! How disembarkation could be difficult I can’t understand. It is definitely not different from any other ship I have been on. But this hasn’t been explained either. The video went nowhere into the depth, is full of mistakes from designated vs. chosen cabin up to thinking the Colosseo would be the theatre. The problem is that the video implicates that this would be a total picture of Costa and this would be the total picture of the Smeralda. It shows snippets of a very personal experience of a cruise, of feelings, not more. Bad enough this traveller missed a lot aboard and is not aware of simple facts. He himself could have had a better cruise by simply looking at the full plan of the ship as available on the Costa website or reading the bar list. But as the video told us already in the beginning: “this is not a review!”

I forgot: Since many years my starting point for planning cruises as well.

These are the months I do exactly this: planning my world cruise. Yes, planning! I travel for seeing the world, not to stroll without orientation through unknown ports and watching containers being unloaded at the other end of the world, while I miss everything. My own planning is done now for the very most parts and took a bit longer than the cruise will! Yes, it can be. Learning about the parts of the world we will visit is great indeed, but sometimes it can be frustrating as well. Always when plans don’t match with reality. Too often I regard excursions - regardless whether ship or third party excursions - as being too short. I’ll be enough days at sea. I don’t want to spend my port days aboard, but ashore. There are ports I perhaps never will go to again. Doing things on my own requires transport in the most cases and this is not everywhere as easy as taking the metro in port or jumping into a taxi or calling an uber. Indeed. But besides the amount of ports visited this is not really different from other cruises. It includes a lot of planning until I definitely know what I want to do in a port. In ports I have been several times already it is obviously easier, I can decide whether I’ll to do something again in depth, or to visit new things. For sure I won’t just do in a known port just an overview tour visiting a lot sights superficially, while exactly this might be my choice for a first time visit. Ports new to me require a lot of work. For not being overwhelmed by the amount of information I looked only at a few ports at a time along the route. Not just one, because two ports in the same area of the world could offer similar things and this means also to decide where the offer could be better or where an alternative is better. If I can't decide I go further and have a closer look later again. For quite a number of ports I already knew what I want before the cruise line excursions came up, but these excursions can also be used for inspiration. All information I compile in spreadsheets, one page as general agenda, one with excursions, one with needed means of transport, one with payment details, one with visa to be arranged… Where it is possible I include direct links to the source of information. Very important information as booking confirmations, descriptions of booked excursions or maps I collect as pdf files arranged by date. Recently I collected the Cantonese writings of the destinations I want to visit in Hong Kong, just to be sure that in case I would need a taxi I can show it to the driver. At least I try to prepare well. Valid points to take into consideration, but I wouldn’t limit it to these points. On my upcoming world cruise I will do some excursions of the cruise line, more often I booked with independent operators and in some cases I do things completely on my own. Only one thing won’t happen: stepping off the ship without having a clue. At least it won’t happen without change of itinerary during the cruise. It doesn’t matter to me whether a ship excursion is included or not, if I am not convinced I simply don’t take it. Do I like another excursion better than the included? I’ll pay for it. Things can’t be that cheap that I waste my time in port. I am not in panic that I could miss the ship. First of all most companies offering shore excursions are very aware of the factor time, some are even insure for missed ships, which is of course offered much more for the peace of mind than for covering a very likely risk. I take into the account how much time will be between planned return to ship and all-on-board time. Things are very different whether the ship is moored directly in the centre of the town visited or travelling takes hours. With very tight timing, however, cruise line excursions are my first choice as well. The only times I returned aboard too late was with ship excursions! When I go on my own I start early and go first to the places far from port and return step by step. In the end most excursions on the world cruise I will do with local companies, the least number of excursions I’ll do completely on my own, while on my last cruise I did most things on my own and none with the ship. Everything depends on possibilities. With organised excursions I don’t need to care about transportation, in some places this can be quite limited. On the world cruise as it looks today I only once will rent a car, at least seven times I’ll use mainly public transport. Sometimes I can just walk. Funny: in Sydney opera tickets are for sale by the cruise line, shuttle bus included. But they warn that from bus stop to the opera 20 minutes walking is involved. We will dock at Overseas Terminal and Google tells me that walking from ship directly to the opera takes 14 minutes. I bought a ticket on my own for a fraction of the price and will walk all the distance. The many organised excursions also reflect the fact that I want to get explanations from a guide, to know what I see. That I’ll mostly will go with local companies has to do with a broader selection in many ports, that too many ship excursions return already for lunch and sometimes with the price as well. If two excursions go to the same spots I don’t pay much more to enrich the cruise line. But also the opposite happened, I selected pretty early a third party excursion and when the cruise line excursions came up they offered exactly the same for much less.

I absolutely agree with the need of seeing a specialised doctor for needed vaccinations. From the European view I am surprised about the horrendous prices in the USA. I knew that prices are high there, but not that they are that high. I sent my travel plan to a travel medicine doctor‘s office and made a first appointment. My insurance does not cover expenses connected to travels beyond EU borders - including connected vaccinations. This means I paid in full everything. For doctor‘s consultation I paid roughly the equivalent of 35 US$ and got not only several appointments, but at once the first vaccine, everything they had in stock. Just as example the yellow fever vaccination was about 62 US$ (vaccine and administration together). I especially mention this for all the Europeans reading here: don‘t be scared away by US prices and make an appointment with a specialist.

Yes, in My Drinks minibar items are not included, only in Plus. My Drinks allows drinks by the glass only with the exception of the daily bottle of water. Fruits! That’s an alternative! I already confused a steward when I put into the fridge my welcome bottle prosecco and said that there would no need to fill the minibar, because there was no space left. But also this works.