At7Seas

And again the water myths. Let‘s have a look at the facts: Everybody: tap water is free from dispensers and in the cabin. EU drinking water safetey rules apply, since Costa sails under Italian flag! That taste and minerals aren‘t the same as with bottled mineral water might be obvious. My Drinks: tap water plus as many mineral water (out of the bottle) served by the glas as one can drink plus a ½ litre bottle water every day. My Drinks Plus: as My Drinks, just no limit on the water bottles regarding size and number. Package Water USA (those who booked there): included mineral water in the restaurants. Of course Costa serves in the MDR - as every restaurant in Italy - mineral water, not tap water.

Yes! Never seen it aboard, but never searched for it. Space is limited, you can ask to fill beer only of course. Steward or butler look after it, depends on cabin. Normally done when the cabin is cleaned, otherwise you may ask of course. In My Drinks Plus yes, otherwise you pay as you go.

I booked from several EU countries and here I never saw an alcohol free package for adults, at least not the kind of package that allows an unlimited number of drinks for a fixed amount. Also for my two upcoming cruises My Costa shows only the options My Drinks and My Drinks Plus for this kind of package (I am not sailing with kids). Of course there is the possibility to buy 20 and 40 drinks without alcohol - or several of these packages. Just as the 13 litre mineral water packages you can buy, wine by the bottle or X glasses of beer. Remains the problem of dritan that everybody in the same booking needs My Drinks (Plus) as soon as one has it. This is completely different with buying a number of drinks of course.

Absolutely correct, everybody drinks differently. Sometimes Costa has My Drinks for free or for a reduced price, on world cruises only the drinks during lunch and dinner are included. However, in most cases the price difference between My Cruise and All Inclusive is 30 € per day. Don‘t forget to add 15% service charge to drinks bought individually, drinks at a total of 26.09 € plus service charge are the same as the regular price of My Drinks. Just a few days ago someone has uploaded here the most recent bar list. Who drinks water only has very likely no benefit buying My Drinks at the regular price. A glass of mineral water is 1 € and one would need to drink at least 27 glasses water per day to be cheaper off. The same is valid for 9 cups of cappuccino. Or 8 glasses softdrink, or 5 glasses wine, or 4 regular mixed drinks or 3 to 4 cocktails. Or any combination of course, since hardly anyone will drink only cappuccini through the day. Who takes 2 cups of cappuccino, 2 glasses of water, 2 glasses of wine and a single cocktail (even one of the cheapest ones) has a benefit already. I for my part have no difficulties to drink so much - or should I say little regarding the pure need of staying hydrated.

For better understanding: there are two types of packages, the inclusive packages that give the right to order an unlimited number of drinks as My Drinks and My Drinks Plus and bundles that entitle to use a fix number of drinks. Bad enough both are named package, while the rules are very different. The unlimited packages mustn‘t be shared, the bundles may be shared. Costa has a water bundle, but this represents a limited number of bottles water, currently 13 1-litre-bottles for 42 €. There are also softdrink bundles (20 drinks for 79 € or 40 for 135 €), 7 freshly squeezed juices for 33 €, or beer bundles or a combined bundles. General rule is that everybody in one booking (not only the same cabin!) needs the same unlimited package. Of course two independent bookings can solve this. Since minors mustn‘t drink aboard either they will get by exception on the rule the alcohol free version of My Drinks (Plus). The combination adult My Drinks + child alcohol free package works, adult water bundle + child alcohol free package doesn‘t. One adult and two kids all with package and another adult on another booking with water bundle only works as well, although this might be not the plan.

I couldn’t agree more. Cruise lines are different and this is a good thing. That every line sets different priorities is normal. Of course the informed passengers may choose according to these priorities as well. To inform oneself by reading reviews might be one option. The central problem with reviews is how were they written. Perhaps through bad preparation - some little things came as a surprise and resulted in a bad review. For example that English is on Costa just one language among mostly five. Yes, one could mention it, but did this really spoil the holiday? Is listening to foreign languages really worse than cruising on a completely rundown ship? I for my part try to understand why someone had a bad time. How essential was the problem that led to a negative valuation? Do I regard this as a problem at all? Obviously people take the effort without ever having been on a cruise line to crack down exactly this line based on not very useful comments. And select offers competitors have for me although these don’t fit at all into the points I named before as being essential for my choice, just to convince me not to sail exactly with the company I selected. I also agree with BVILady that I wouldn’t exclude lines with a comparable quality level. What I wouldn’t do, however, is going on a world cruise without having sailed with that line before. The overall experience must be positive, not only how were ship, food, staff, entertainment, but also how did I feel aboard. Especially the latter is no measure for others, but it is important to me. Leaving expectations on the pier is nicely said, but the concept and I should match. There remains enough to learn by travelling the world without bad surprises that could have been known.

Obviously MSC thinks so. Just who would try a Yacht Club after such an experience? The “book a Yacht Club” argument is missing logic in another point as well: it wasn’t my cabin only, but the entire ship was run down like this. And also a Yacht Club resident enters general public areas - at least on the ships with a Yacht Club. And this is just a symptom of a terribly bad managed company: food, service, entertainment, literally everything was neglected the same way. That it is not just this one ship you can see in the reaction MSC sent regarding my complaints. I quote here in full: “”

For my 2024 world cruise I am right now at 29,828.77 €. Included up to now cruise, full drink package, laundry, excursions in all ports, whereof a selection of the included excursions Costa offers - and I like. Included in this amount are 1st class train tickets with business seat, luggage transfer from home and back (2 bags, max. 32 kg each), eight nights in a hotel in Venice, watertaxi, Costa transfer, all transport on destination where applicable, insurance, water packages for taking bottles ashore, special dining and so on. Not included yet are dinner in Venice, some snacks and drinks during excursions and wifi. Why should I pay 91,000 € for Royal Caribbean for less than twice the time? For pineapple status?

I do know that there are five star hotels in Venice, but allow me the decision to stay in a four star hotel before and after my cruise. Yes, there is a difference between these categories, but the question is whether I need that difference and I am willing to pay the price. In my case both answers are no. The same is valid about cruise lines. Do I need a bit more space or do I need more staff around me? Not as soon my needs are fulfilled. I need a clean cabin to sleep and to store my luggage in, good food (important), getting my cappuccino without waiting long, bars with some good music and not to forget a well functioning ship with staff that treats me correctly and friendly. And in the end all your suggestions are not comparable to a five star hotel, you suggest taking just another four star cruise line. As the before mentioned hotel before and after my cruise has definitely to be in Venice - although Paris is a great city too - the ship has to sail where I want to go to. I am not going to visiting Africa next winter, I did that last winter. The Costa boards make Costa crap? Where people complain that they got Italian food? Or that English is not the only language used? Or that they need to pay for bottled water? These complaints are found again and again and they are really ridiculous. Why should I take these reviews seriously? Let’s look at the details of these “complaints”. I love the Mediterranean kitchen. On American and British ships I never have been overly impressed regarding the food. On Costa and one German cruise lines I definitely got food better than on an average cruise line. Of course nowhere the food was really bad - except on MSC, where it was just as terrible as my cabin. Or the languages. I understand English, but it is still just one of the foreign languages I learned and for sure not my best. And the ever popular “no free water” claims. On the world cruise wine and bottled water in the restaurants is included for everybody, the full package allows drinking throughout the ship for 18 € per day - without the limits in numbers some American cruise lines handle - and in the very end the drinks come out of the same bottles. Not to forget that Costa always scores high among those who want a lot of good life music aboard. Already with these few facts I have eliminated most of the bad reviews - and in opposite to you I sailed often enough with Costa to know what to expect. All together Costa is of the same category as P&O, HAL or Princess. All four have are different concept of course, but they all play in the club of mass market lines. Advising the MSC Yacht Club in combination with world cruises is remarkable. First of all this isn’t for sale. Just as there was no Yacht Club on the ship I was on this year. And it doesn’t take away that MSC has a policy of disregarding guests. Where people work things go wrong. Shouldn’t be as often as on MSC, but even this could be corrected. Just it is a no go to blame a customer for these mistakes. Read my earlier comment and you will be able to learn about the details. You advised a P&O cruise, which has about half the days in port compared to Costa. As I said I don’t want to be rushed around the word, but see the world. The need to take a long haul flight for a cruise that doesn’t offer more than the cruise of a competitor out of the same class makes it already uninteresting. Also economically this doesn’t make sense. Better to travel each year good than overspending once. I also know that there are people linking their self-esteem to brands that are in their eyes highly valued. It’s their problem if they feel like this, not mine. I had to work in a kitchen and drove taxi when I went to university. Although these days are definitely over I know that earning money can be hard. Perhaps that is why I still today insist on value for money. I decided to retire early and to enjoy my life. This includes travelling a lot. Instead of working every minute and just dreaming about a world cruise on an overpriced line I live my dream - among other things with a world cruise on a decent ship - even if on that ship others feel disturbed by having five official languages used.

To solve this problem Costa invented the Teen Club. Storage is free.

I really understand that a narrow budget can impose limitations, in younger years I also did the very most of a very little and still today I am simply not willing to do overpriced excursions, although it is today more the value for money factor, which important to me. I myself do intensive research before travelling and know what I want to see in a destination. And if you never have been to Barcelona for example you really should walk along the La Rambla and stroll through the Barrio Gótico. Looking at La Sagrada Família from the outside costs in worst case not more than a metro ticket, depending on the distances you can walk. Especially after you paid 4.50 € for the shuttle already you shouldn‘t return to ship directly, while walking through the city is basicly for free. For example on wikivoyage you can select sights you want to see on a map easily, for navigation download a free offline (important!) navigation app and the maps of the countries you visit, because google requires data roaming.

Generally Costa does not often offer shuttle busses, it depends on the local situation. Some ports have own shuttle services, in others there are no shuttles needed at all. In Savona you never have a shuttle, because the cruise terminal is in the city centre and it is a pretty small place anyway. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the railway station at the opposite end of the city centre. In Marseille the new terminal is far out of town. I am not sure, but it could be that Costa sold tickets for a shuttle the last time when I was there, but I didn‘t use it. In such a case the tickets are available aboard only, a look into the Oggi a Bordo (today aboard, the daily program delivered to your cabin) will tell you. I also read somewhere about a local shuttle, but never saw such a bus in the port. Barcelona has a regular shuttle bus service on it‘s own https://www.cruisebus.barcelona/en/. In Palermo the cruise terminal is in front of the city centre again, just that Palermo itself is much bigger than Savona is. Just allow me to say, even in the places where you have shuttles on the way to downtown you won‘t see anything really interesting, just taking the bus back will leave the impression that these cities are not worth a visit at all, while they definitely are.

Yesterday evening I got my own embarkation time for Kiel. At noon, while my train will (should?) arrive in Kiel at 1:43 PM. I asked by mail to adjust my embarkation time and this happened this morning already. Now I have an embarkation time with roughly 15 minutes extra for safety.

This entire discussion is weird! I don‘t drink tap water at home, why should I do when I am on a cruise? What do you think I would do with a waiter bringing me tap water for dinner? Hope for him he could run faster than me!

Indeed! Honestly, I did hear about very long ago and as so many projects the member states can‘t agree on it could have died a silent death. That the introduction is planned didn‘t reach me. However, the “fun” as you describe it can be avoided by entering the EU through a country that is not turning backwards into the Middle Ages, since that one seems to be responsible for the application.

Even here in so “civilised” Europe we have with Hungary an EU member that has defined “the right of having the gender as determined during birth” and put what is “man” and “woman” into the constitution, just to prohibit legal changes or non binary gender. Tourists visiting short time from Canada or USA don’t require visa and entry into Europe just requires a stamp at the point of entry, but I don’t want to imagine what problems could occur if somebody with an X in the passport needs to apply for a long term visa or residence permit.

The 2025 circumvention of Cunard with Queen Ann won’t go to South Africa, but from Asia through the Suez Canal, Queen Victoria will explore South America, Queen Mary 2 cruises in the Caribbean and Queen Elizabeth remains in the Pacific Ocean. No Queen will visit South Africa that year.

I am afraid this is not among the most frequented routes. I myself spent last European winter in South Africa and returned to Europe by cruise ship. I wasn’t impressed by the numbers of cruise that visited South Africa. NCL paid a short visit to South Africa and returned to Dubai. And regarding the 2022 / 23 season this was the ship sailing the closest to Australia I found. Obviously more cruise lines will return to South Africa next seasons. Cunard will sail next year with the Queen Mary 2 from Cape Town to Fremantle and Sydney and with Queen Victoria from Sydney to Cape Town. The latter does Oceania Nautica as well. In 2025 as far as within the databases yet Oceania Insignia will sail from South Africa to Fremantle, Costa Deliziosa and MS Zuiderdam both from Sydney to Cape Town. Queen Mary 2 and Deliziosa will call Melbourne as well, but I have no idea whether (dis)embarkation will be possible.

As far as I know Costa relies for all board communications on Italian company TIM. Regardless where a ship is the network remains being Italian and the phone thinks through network identification being in Italy as soon as connected to the ship‘s internet. I would be very surprised if Carnival branded ships would use TIM as well. Saying this there remains a huge BUT. Costa is doing a complete change, which will end the time of having an Italian network aboard. Until December 2023 all Costa ships will switch to Starlink, the Toscana is already over: https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/costa-cruises-installs-spacexs-starlink-wifi-technology-its. This could result in solving the problems as well.

drsel, this is not helpful at all! Your “solution” simply doesn’t fit to the problem caused by some phones. Facts: flight mode has on board of a ship as only advantage that you don’t use by error the extremely expensive maritime phone service. It is technically nothing else but switching off all services - not only data - connected through the phone network, so you have also no possibility to call or text with land based connections when being close to shore. Many phone providers offer the option to disable selectively services and networks - this makes most sense. If you want to stop data roaming only - as you write - you should do exactly that, also your phone has an option for switching data roaming on or off. Again this prohibits accessing the in your plan included roaming data as well. You see, there are much more elegant options that lead to intelligent use of available services. Again, all this is not connected to the problem that is caused by some phones. Further: aboard of both lines connection by wifi is always free. Use of data on the intranet is always free, this includes use of the respectively offered apps of Costa and MSC (MSC limited to those ships where this service is available of course), only use of internet connection is against a fee. How would you access the free digital version of the menu without wifi connection to intranet? That MSC copies the NCL free at sea package definitely has nothing to do with the problem that occurs with some phones. And the limitations I quoted MSC with prove that your claim about “work very well” isn’t true in every situation. Please understand what you are advising before confusing others!

Bad enough it makes sense. Mariann2 confirmed that the menus are available for her. For the menus the phone must be able to log in to the ship’s intranet, needs a browser and if not integrated into the browser a pdf reader. These are basic very internet functions of the phone and pretty much available everywhere. Whether one may install a third party app - as the Costa app for example - can be determined by geographical limits. The same is true regarding the use of an app. Technically an app can be limited through the company that designed it, the owner of the network (in both cases Costa as soon as one is aboard) and by settings of the phone itself. And most of them have not the slightest bit to do with the SIM card, indeed most remain the same when the card is swapped. Pure by logical reasons it doesn’t make sense for Costa to exclude a group of customers from using the app, which is easy to disable based on the data Costa has. Even if it would be true what Dancer Bob reported, that the Americans with Disabilities Act would hinder US citizens to use the app, this could be communicated well and Costa would not put the app on their US site. Instead we would read something like “Sorry, we aren’t allowed to offer this service to US customers by law.” Easy and Dancer Bob himself doesn't believe this excuse. Remains the phone as Despegue stated. If the setting could easily been changed through the phone’s properties menu there would be a workaround. Constructed but thinkable examples: if an American phone has settings to do geo based security checks and not to allow a foreign based company offering paid services through an app or while the phone is connected to a foreign network the app wouldn’t work. Such a problem is the hardest to solve. Since drsel mentioned MSC: their app is available on selected ships only and not fully working everywhere and for everybody, or as MSC states “The MSC for Me app functionality may vary from ship to ship and across different countries.”

Sounds similar to my case, just that at some point Costa gave free cruises as extra if I booked again within a given timeframe. Exactly this limited time was running out in my case. In the very end the right Costa branch called me back. I suppose that in this case you need to book directly with Costa if you decide to take the OBC and your TA will remain out of this booking.

The following is answered from my European experience, within the EU I am free to book with the Costa branch that offers the best rate or with every travel agent regardless in which member state he is seated. Outside the EU things might be different. During the pandemic the Costa branch where I had booked a cruise that was cancelled had to close down and communication was impossible. I tried to change the date of the cruise with both travel agents from the same country and another country‘s Costa branch, both were unable to help me. So transferring an existing booking is not possible. It is very different if you make a new booking through a travel agent. The agent can give you out of his budget whatever he wants. On top you will get all benefits of your club membership. Make sure that the travel agent immediately puts your membership number into the booking, just to be sure that you will be billed the correct amount in case of an club discounted cruise from the very beginning.

The hidden settings you refer to - if exist - need to be based on available data. Data Google has and data that differ between you and me, otherwise we wouldn‘t have different results. As I said before, some apps are designed for a lot of end devices, some for one type only. The short answer whether a tablet is just a larger phone is no. The list shown on Google Play could mean that the app is simply not designed for tablets. I did second line troubleshooting a very long time ago, but I am neither qualified for Android nor the available information is enough for analysing the problem, only the obvious things I can exclude. And I am not sure whether the assistance aboard is deep enough in the matter to deal with this problem. Costa has a department dealing with the app. From the FAQ on the US site of Costa: “Any issue with the Costa App not listed below? Please contact the Costa App Team via email at info @ europe. costa. it”

ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act? Very strange! I am no lawyer, but Costa is an Italian company with ships sailing under Italian flag, regardless your nationality. If so it would mean that Costa can’t offer the app for American customers at all, while they have it on their US site. Disabling login for a group of customers would be pretty easy of course, but in advertising the app for US customers just to disable it would be pretty stupid. If not there arises another technical question: Apple requires an account with a lot of person details, Android doesn’t. From where Android would determine the applicable law? My phone doesn’t know where I live and I don’t even use Gmail. In fact I have most of the time two SIM cards from different countries in my phone. If my phone should determine which country’s law is ruling it would be in a serious identity crisis. I had a short look in Google Play. Reviews can be done for use in different categories, for use on telephone, tablet, smartwatch, and so on the app could be installed on. The reviews for the Costa app are limited to use on telephone. May I conclude that an app that only works on a phone only if reviews for all the other possibilities are disabled?