At7Seas

Two reasons that make me more often using Costa than other lines. I think the value you get for your money is pretty good.

Well, these pictures are representative not only for my cabin, but for the entire ship. Just one example out of many: close to my cabin was a door to an outdoor area. The door handle was broken and it took more than a week to repair it. Yes, it is true, not all MSC ships are as old as the Sinfonia and I had been on a relative young ship before that simply had no time to reach such a state of decay. But the lifetime of a vessel may never be used as excuse for selling cruises on a ship rocked down like this. Funny enough the most modern bathroom I had on a ship that was 38 years old when I was sailing, nearly twice as old as the Sinfonia. Only the vacuum toilet reminded you being at sea. Maintenance and modernisation on a ship are possible - if the owner decides to do so. And my cabin is also representative for the way MSC treated the passengers aboard. From food to front desk. Everything. Regardless whether I stay in a three, four or five star hotel ashore, everywhere I expect a clean room, maintained to well usable standards, edible breakfast and service orientated staff. Basics. And the Sinfonia lacks basics. As well as the behaviour of the client service ashore, which is not related to a single ship of course. Somehow I regard these pictures as being very representative for MSC as whole. They reflect how MSC does business and I am afraid this is not earning money by selling their guests the best possible cruise experience.

Cabin on MSC Sinfonia April 9th, 2023

I am not too convinced whether the Argentineans and Brazilians who according to CupKayke filled the ship are happy by being called Europeans. And an American living in Buenos Aires, married there long enough for having a daughter speaking English perfectly, of course buys his cloths in the US! - ??? Statements as “they [Costa] need to remove themselves from allowing anyone who writes or speaks English from booking their ships” or that Carnival would be one of the ultimate cruise lines and a Costa wouldn’t be a cruise ship at all should worry. Although I do write in English here I never had any communication problems sailing with Costa, actually speaking English is very helpful for communications aboard. And why extremely on Americans only focused cruise lines should set standards of what a cruise should be? They neither invented cruising nor do they even try covering as much of this beautiful planet as solely Costa does - and travelling the world instead of remaining in the same spot is pretty much the essence of cruising.

Oh, I knew already that Costa always has chicken aboard. I just thought that they were all ready to be cooked…

Sure, dried and where possible powdered ingredients are common in large kitchens. But it is hard to prepare fried eggs from egg powder and I can imagine quite a number of less obvious meals where the fresh eggs or parts of them are needed. The toilet paper you saw is a very good example of things you really can’t miss aboard and stocked even in relative small numbers locally if hard needed, orange juice is easier to replace. The dispensers work with concentrate BTW. Full stocking happens only in a few ports. Costa does this if Savona isn’t on the route anyway often at main passenger exchange ports. Here during arrival in Kiel the first trucks are already waiting:

Most cruise lines get their food and everything from their home base. But they do not have eggs for half a year aboard when leaving for the winter overseas, but everything is sent in containers to the ship again and again - everywhere on the world. Food for half a year would not only result in serious problems with the shelf life of food, but also with storage space. The sometimes maintained idea that the chef is visiting local markets and buys all food for several thousands of guests every day is not matching reality. What might be technically possible for yacht style ships is completely impossible for the size of ship we are talking about - simply try to buy 10,000 eggs in the next supermarket to stock for next week… Compromises are done with essential things running out or in some cases when the product is typical for the region, say the ship is sailing during the winter months along a famous wine region and local wine might get onto the table. European ships not sailing in Chile or South Africa won’t rely on local wines. At the end of a season overseas stock is limited, so sailing on a Costa returning to Savona can result in running short of a few things. I recently was on a ship returning and there was a shortage of sparkling water, in every port so much was bought as available and again and again another brand came onto table.

I did longer cruises of four weeks or more three times yet. Most of my cruises have been two or three weeks, the last ten years I just did single week cruises only in combinations. Short sailings as an addition to shore holidays or twice for getting a feeling for a cruise line I’ve never sailed before. My first long cruise was from Italy to India on Costa neoClassica, which has been sold and as far as I am aware is used as hotel ship now. A quite small ship, but since I don‘t need an adventure park at sea it still worked very well for me, but I think it shouldn’t be a much smaller ship for me. Last year a 49 day cruise was cancelled and instead I went with Costa Faschinosa from Savona to Germany, from there to the North Cape and thereafter through the Baltic Sea, which was technically a 34-day B2B2B. Faschinosa and her sisters I regard at least for me as very suitable ships to spend longer times on, the possibilities are very various and it is still not too big. Things on long sailings getting of more importance are food and service, on both of these long Costa cruises I wasn‘t disappointed. As single traveller I generally appreciate the price policy of Costa. I prefer travelling twice with good quality above first class travel once at twice the price. None of Costa’s ships I have been on has made on me a bad impression as gerryuk wrote about the Firenze - I can‘t give an opinion about this ship yet, but I will sail on her for two weeks in September. The last long cruise was very recently on MSC Sinfonia, 30 nights from Cape Town to Venice, after spending six weeks in South Africa. My first sailing with MSC was no success, so I booked this reluctantly, but there were in 2023 no alternatives for returning to Europe by ship including a visit of the islands in the Indian Ocean. Aida and Phoenix went through the Atlantic, the first in express speed with visiting mainly European ports, the latter with visiting many ports, but only with a top class cabin available, about six times more expensive than MSC and still not visiting La Réunion, Mauritius or the Seychelles. Costa called Cape Town on the fully booked world cruise and here is already the end of the list of cruise lines leaving the country. My expectations for the MSC cruise were already low, I was prepared for ferry standard only, and even in this situation MSC succeeded to disappoint me in all details. Food was just terrible (and I am not talking about what was served, there long discussions are possible, but about how it has been prepared and this made it just inedible) and service was with a very few exceptions either not available or just rude. The company outright lied against me, both in their booking information and on an information request. The ship itself was in a state of decay. A fellow guest told the hotel director that she did not like to be treated like a container! I couldn’t find better words. Booking because of the itinerary only is not always a success! Next January I will go around the world for 126 days with Costa Deliziosa. I have both positive experiences with the line and already sailed the ship, which I don’t consider as their best, but as really good. atexsix is very right with some of his comments, but these are no real obstacles, but thoughts to pay attention to. The longer cruises have definitely an older demographic. On my first long cruise I was 50 years old and definitely below average. Once I was put into the early dinner shift and was able to change to the late from the second evening. I spoke with a lady, who became my tablemate the second evening, about changing and she said “Early dinner? That is for babies and old folks!” - she was 81, but had a young mind indeed. Health is always an important question when travelling. I know a statement of a ship doctor who does parts of world cruises every year that at least one passenger dies aboard. This shouldn’t really surprise anybody through simple statistically reasons regarding demographics and time spent aboard, but of course cruise lines do not advertise this. Health questions can result in re-routings and interruptions of course. However, the only time I experienced returning to the coast and an evacuation of a sick passenger by helicopter was on a two week cruise to Norway. An ambulance at the pier during regular port calls I saw several times. Just be sure that your own travel insurance is covering you, there are time limits for long trips! Alternatively look at the insurance offered by the cruise line - including their fine print! What to pack should every traveller have learned before going on a long cruise, because I assume that this is for everybody part of a development and not for a first time traveller. Long cruises tend to visit different climate zones, so another suitcase could be needed to fulfil the needs of packing suitable clothes. Last year I surprised fellow cruisers that I had a winter coat with me in Southern Spain’s heat, because I sailed through to Northern Norway - and I really needed that coat! And book the laundry service aboard, for my upcoming world cruise I reserved it for a total of 240 €. At home it would be cheaper, but it shouldn’t ruin you. Some other lines have even washing machines aboard. For knowing how many deodorants, toothpaste e.g. I need to bring I once did a list how long things usually last. The rest is calculating. I usually add a drinking package and have no surprises there. For excursions I was prepared to pay 100 € each, but with my plans as today I am at an average of 77.44 € only - although I will be skipping free excursions for doing more interesting things. Of course what is interesting to me need not to be interesting to you. Immigration rules are not really problematic, but of course you need to know them. I am aware that there are people living without a passport, those of course have to forget travelling the world - or simply should apply for a passport. Every country has different rules based on your nationality. I personally need for my world cruise three ETAs, one e-visa, and one visa question needs to be clarified, whether cruise guests get visa stamped into the passport aboard of cruise ships in the past again, or I need to apply for in advance. Of two countries I will have new stamps in my passport, but for this officials come aboard and do that work while I will be on excursion. In one country I am in a better situation than most passport holders, here a very few nationalities may enter without visa, others need special cruise ship visa. Everything for that cruise can be done from behind my computer anyway. For most countries my passport alone is enough for tourist visits. There are lists about for a first orientation, for example visaindex.com. Since you, oceandream, live in Canada I take Canadian passport holders as example. They have according to this list 186 countries and territories without complicated visa procedures, 139 destinations completely without visa, 7 with ETA (one on the list suspended ETA this month until the end of 2024), or 40 just putting a visa in form of a stamp on arrival, be it against a fee or for free. Also quite uncomplicated e-visa are available in 18 countries. Worldwide there are 25 states Canadians would need to apply for tourist visa through an embassy in advance, for me this number is 24. By far the most of them I wouldn’t consider to visit anyway, among them are Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea or Syria. Not even Venezuela, where Canadians need full visa and I may enter visa free. Only two of the countries requiring full visa through embassy in the near past were visited by cruise lines regularly - and had exemptions for cruise guests visiting short time, these were Russia and China. True, travelling in your home country only is easier, but immigration rules are for a tourist from Canada nothing to panic about at all. Yes, definitely take care of the part of your life you leave behind at home. This, however, is again more about planning than an obstacle. I pay my monthly bills electronically anyway, once at the end of the month ten minutes of stable internet connection is my only requirement. Nevertheless, you need to take care of your home whether you are three weeks or three months away, the difference is about quantity, not quality. Gay life aboard is another question. My experience is that these small towns called cruise ships are exactly that: small towns. You won’t be the only gay guest aboard, but here things end. On short cruises I saw some lively LGBT gatherings, but on my long ones things were different. Costa has none schedules anyway and on MSC it was a note in the daily only, I went twice and was completely alone. Perhaps MSC should not advertise it as “inhospitable” (I suppose they wanted to express “without host”). So it comes down to you if you want to get in contact with other men.

There is no fix rule when to book best. If a cruise is booked well the prices will rise closer to date, if not they drop. Look out for a sale, these can be quite good. Right now Costa has a sale, because 75 years ago they became a cruise line. Before booking you only can get an idea of excursions if you look in their database (go to "Costa Experience" -> "Excursions" on their website). But these are not available every time and without prices. After booking - or even just taking an option - you will be able to login on mycosta.com and there you will find besides other things the excursions planned for your cruise. As rule of the thumb excursions can be found at least six months before start of the cruise, the more frequent Costa sails a route, the earlier.

With wine it is easy, wines by the glass are included, bottles are not. And in the bar list the included drinks are marked by coloured dots, each package has a colour of its own. Bar.pdf

I used a popular search engine. Query “shore excursions in xyz”, I do that for all destinations. In this case it had been Mauritius. Among the results there was a list from the official tourist office where companies could put their offers on. I found something I was interested in and booked. Later (very late actually) MSC published their shore excursions and I was quite surprised what their price was. In most destinations however you need to collect the information from several companies, not everywhere a tourist office does that work for you. Commercial platforms also give an idea, searching further can have interesting result, both cheaper for you and more income for the local providers that don’t need to pay the platform. A few minutes work with quite a potential for saving and also the possibility to find something not even offered by cruise lines.

Sailing with Hapag, the company that invented cruises… Although Hapag Lloyd today belongs to TUI cruises and is by this for 50% Royal Caribbean, is owned by mass-market lines, it remains very exclusive - with quite a price tag. I never have been aboard of one of their vessels, but have seen one and was very surprised that they are carrying a maximum of so few passengers. Cabins and passenger areas must be huge compared to other ships. Based on their capacity I expected the ships to be much smaller than they are. Of course this contributes to the comfort aboard. This fits completely to the fame the company has and I know that all their ships are always rated at highest levels. Since I never sailed with them I can’t say anything about language use, only that at least basic knowledge of English is generally needed on all ships worldwide. Whether they try to attract English speakers? I have no idea. I’d suggest contacting them directly.

After having done post pandemic four Costa cruises, one on MSC and two on two other lines, in total three mass market cruise lines and one niche market line, I need to add a few thoughts. Earlier experiences I keep out of this comparison, but despite changes since the stop of service my conclusion remains the same. The crowd on a Costa sailing is always diverse, especially South Americans are seldom found on their ships on sailings not connected to that continent. Try a sailing from a German port to Norway in summer and you hardly will hear any Spanish, not even a single announcement is done in Portuguese. The complaint that Costa is no typical US line is for 100% correct of course, who wants to hear English only should use a line that is specialised on English speaking markets only. From my European view I am very happy that not everything is made to fit the average US taste. Who wants that should cruise with a line that offers this. Costa is an Italian product made by Italians for Italians and those speaking other languages are welcome. MSC is not the slightest bit Italian. A Swiss company with the very old ships registered in Panama, the between old and new ones in Malta. Nothing at all reminds to Italy besides the names. It gives a hint that Italians are found in relatively small numbers aboard compared to Costa, although the Italian language is one of the official ones used aboard of both lines. Just for the good order: the seat of Costa SpA is in Genoa, Italy and their ships are registered in Italy. The food on Costa is way better than on MSC. Costa follows the Italian way of cooking, not only the traditional meal composition of antipasta (starter, literally before the pasta), primo (first main, mainly the pasta course), secundo (second main, a fish or meat course) and dolce (dessert, literally sweet), but also the way of cooking. The Italian kitchen is and was always the art of making something very tasty from the things locally available at reasonable price, expensive ingredients are used if at all in small doses. Not without reason there are traditionally two main courses, the pasta course is for stuffing the stomach cheaply before the more expensive things as fish and meat are put onto the table. Costa perfectly fits into this way of cooking. One also could complain that there are so many Italian restaurants in Rome. Surprise: steak is no typical Italian dish, but available on request. I looked at one of the menus I still have stored on my laptop. Grilled beef paillard was among the free and always available “Grand Classics”, a tomahawk steak at a fee. My last MSC cruise (I think definitely my last MSC cruise, which I only had booked because on this route there was no alternative at all) the food was not only cheap, but also terribly prepared. As pointed out before a good meal needn‘t to be expensive, but it should be prepared well. I am not used to return food, but on MSC I returned so much food as never before in my entire life. With my B2B on a Costa a couple of months ago I was happy to see a menu repeating, on MSC my thought was “not again”! While normally at table on a cruise the discussion is about what to take from an abundance of choice the discussion on MSC was what could be eatable at all. But two men at my table had always the same excuse for the terrible food: “MSC is cheap”. A very bad experience was that the buffet returned to the unhygienic circumstances we were used to before covid, while Costa still kept up the service in the buffet, which works so much better. Again dirty plates and cutlery have been typical for MSC. On de-embarkation day I took a train back home and the probably canned soup I had on that train was more tasty than everything I got aboard of MSC and I had my first fresh roll since boarding with that soup. Obviously MSC has reduced my expectations on food during the cruise significantly. Just a sentence about NCL, the third mass marked line I sailed with since service resumed. In the included restaurants the food was made from relative cheap ingredients and regarding the taste it was not on the level of Costa, in the paid restaurants food was of excellent taste and made from expensive things, while the problem of having no fresh bread was the same as on MSC - except in the paid restaurants again. Costa entertains the guests through all the ship, one has a very good possibility to choose the preferred style. For me personally it might be a bit less loud, but really bad things I did not experience too often. Entertainment on MSC does hardly happen, except the silly kindergarten level pool games, that are held indoors as well and every day karaoke. To be honest the pool games Costa offers as well, luckily the karaoke is very limited. There is hardly any music in the MSC launches, where Costa is famous for life music. The shows in the theatre are held on Costa every single evening and cover a variety of styles. Costa shows are regarding the quality shows on a quite good level, I saw quite a lot of lesser acts at sea and not too many better. Already from the daily program it is possible to make a choice, if I don’t want to watch artists I can make this decision from the program. On MSC only a title was offered, which normally told anything at all. But they needed most of the daily for promoting things sold against horrendous prices. The quality was pretty poor, perhaps it is the best news that MSC did not offer shows when the ship was in port during the evening hours, it limited the possibility to be disappointed. I don’t need my cabin made up twice a day, I don’t make that much dirt. Costa since ever offers cabin service once a day. But to be honest, on my recent MSC cruise my cabin was made up once a day as well. At least I never had on a Costa (or any other line) mould and rust in my bathroom, this exceptional price deserves MSC. With a very few exceptions the waiters on MSC were not interested in doing their work. Standing and waiting instead of turning head and looking around once a while whether there could be a guest interested in ordering something. And most weren’t even close to the end of their contract. I never experienced such a slow service at sea, I never was ignored so often. Add the fact that the waiters often queued waiting at the only available computer. Costa has introduced handheld computers, they scan cruise cards for an order and don’t need to type in things into the system they have written on a paper before. Of course there are well-cultivated people all over the world and I don’t want to judge over anybody writing here. But when I read a call to use cutlery correctly from someone for the UK it amuses me as European. Even more when this person is happy with US market cruise lines. Especially from these countries I have seen so many people unable to eat in a cultivated way. Writing this I am aware of some small differences in etiquette. As being German on Costa I am served fork and spoon with spaghetti, while I eat my spaghetti the way Italians do. Costa is aware of these differences and still I adapt to the place I am. However, the public on MSC is for a pretty huge part just primitive. I wore on a casual evening simply jeans and a summer shirt when someone commented “poor guy, did you have to dress up to go to the restaurant?” Compared to his shorts and dirty T-shirt my look was quite different indeed. And dressing up on special evenings is reduced everywhere, while some lines have abolished it completely Costa reduced the advice to “elegant” recently. Although I am not charmed by letting al cultivation go down the drain this is part of our time and not typical for Costa. And if I may be very strict for a moment: although I had fun with the interpretation of dressing Italian in Mafia style this was not exactly what was suggested. Coming too late for dinner is a problem with guests from countries that handle time very relaxed. Depending on the mix of the crowd aboard this can be more or less, but it remains annoying. While I often saw closed doors of the MDR during the first shift the late one is disturbed very often. On a cruise under strict covid rules the doors were closed consequently, but bad enough this has not been followed up. Since we compare here with MSC: regarding this problem there is no difference at all between these lines. Worst things to say about MSC is that they blame their customers for everything. I asked MSC about one procedure in advance to plan my day in a port. The answer I got was not true and never had been. Who was wrong? I! MSC translated names and I was unable to understand that it was the name of a place and took it for the port, exactly as the MSC paper told. Who was wrong? I! MSC informed that they did not provide a shuttle bus in a port and what paperwork would be needed to leave ship. I forwarded this to the company I arranged my excursion with. The information was completely wrong and I missed two hours of my excursion, just because I couldn’t get to my car. Who was wrong? I! A lady from Australia said it perfectly: “I am no container and don’t want to be treated as one!” Of course there went things wrong on Costa ships, this happens always and everywhere when people work. But on Costa they try to find a solution that works for their guest, they don’t blame their customer and leave them alone. Something I missed completely in this review: excursions. Compared to local providers Costa has sometimes excursions that are cheap or sometimes at comparable levels of offers made by local suppliers. In other cases booking individually can be cheaper, sometimes even a third of the price can be saved. The quality is always depending on the local guides, regardless how you book an excursion. MSC is very constant in pricing - they are always terribly overpriced. I managed to make an excursion recently for 45 € instead of 175 €, same destination, but I was an hour longer there with my privately booked excursion. Another time I booked at the same rate privately as MSC charged, but for me as single guest with own car and driver and a private guide at the destination and without being forced to spend time in several souvenir shops. Costa has some shortcomings. Yes. On once the bad service ashore they are working and my last questions and requests were handled in reasonable time and with results I am content with. Organisation generally could be a bit better to reduce the source of problems. Dislikes I have with the menu can be solved by simply talking to the waiter, I am not eating a lot of sweet things and got my cheese plate every evening, despite it vanished from the standard menu - every evening in variations and not always the same as lately with MSC. That some things need to be paid for is no surprise, but there is definitely no need to pay all the time extra for having tasty food. The sound level could be lowered a little bit. Yes, there is space for improvements. But this I can say about all cruise lines I ever have been on. On Costa I was always treated with respect and especially as single traveller the value I get for my money is good. There are undoubtedly better lines - at quite a price. I personally prefer travelling twice with a good cruise line than travelling once with a very good line for twice the price. MSC doesn’t reach the quality level of Costa by far. I have been on simple ferryboats that were better. Although MSC is cheap they aren’t worth a single Euro.

Sorry, G2, G3, G4 and now enrolling G5 is about the mobile phone signal including internet through mobile. This is completely different from the WLAN connection aboard, which you use for reading menus or connecting to the internet package you buy from Costa. On your phone you can select how to connect to internet through mobile signal or WLAN. Costa has technically an open WLAN with login for paid services. Open networks are not the most secure and can be blocked by the security of a device.

???????????????????????????????? Costa always serves pizza! At least I am not that cheap that I would prefer a free mediocre MSC pizza over Costa's exvellent quality for 4.50 - 13.00 €. That all cruise lines employ staff from low wage countries is not new at all. What is staff from Zimbabwe for MSC is from India for Costa.

That they serve pizza again in the buffet is a surprise to me, good to hear. Until perhaps ten years ago pizza slices were served every noon in the buffet (I never went there for dinner), but this was abolished at some point. During my last cruise on a sister of the Favolosa a couple of months ago there still was no free pizza. And yes, Costa does not want guests to fill bottles directly from the tap in the buffet, but I never experienced someone having problems filling bottles from the glasses provided. I personally can understand this from hygienic reasons, because some tend putting the opening of bottles they drank out directly around the nozzles of the dispenser. This is not exclusively Costa BTW. Enjoy your cruise!

Costa allows early disembarkation, as long as immigration forms no problem. When both embarking and leaving ship early happens in Schengen countries this is no legal problem of course. When arriving from overseas it depends whether your passport needs to be stamped and where immigration formally will take place, this is not necessarily the first EU port. However, you should indicate this early to allow Costa to create the individual paperwork.

Looking only what happens in the UK does not give a full picture as my reference to the MSC US site proves already. And if you read exactly I wrote that the UK is treated differently from the rest of the word. UK and EU law is clear, but this does not take away the fact that there are national laws going beyond this point to tighter consumer protection, which is perfectly allowed regarding EU law. This is applicable by bookings through a branch in these countries or through a website registered there. And exactly there MSC does not comply to national law, while Costa does.

Definitely not true! Costa was the first to include charges on markets where law determines to do so. MSC’s service charge has been reshaped recently and can no longer be cancelled. The charge is $ 14.50 or 12.00 € per night currently as the US site of MSC states. Only exception are bookings in the UK, there MSC quotes including service charge. Law to do so for example in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is not obeyed by MSC.

Most is not all. I am aware that Marella is very generous with electric appliances, allow personal equipment as long as regarded by them as being electrically safe and generally provide kettles. Cunard has kettles at least in some if not in all cabins. And what does Cunard state? “Passengers are not permitted to bring on board irons, kettles or …” Just compare to P&O: “… items which may pose a risk to the safety of guests and crew are not allowed to be brought onboard our ships including: Irons, kettles, coffee machines, baby bottle warmers…” Technically you need to understand two things. First the wiring determines what electrical consumption is permitted. Second that there is a huge difference in consumption between two appliances of the same kind. For example hairdryers. They are standard available throughout all cruise ships - and banned by most cruise lines as well. Cruise lines have influence on the consumption to force you to use theirs only, and these are relatively low rated. Why? You can buy one with 1000 W and one with 2400 W as well. If we now reduce for keeping it easy to the connection to this appliance in the cabin only, regard short cables, and not the technique used to wire the cabin (all these things are of influence), the 2400 W hairdryer needs a cable with twice the cable cross-section already. Identically is the situation with kettles. And of course the more high rated appliances are connected the thicker the cables need to be. All this is a still quite low scale question until you take into account that we are talking about a small town at sea. Breakers for a single cabin provide overuse of a single cabin, but this doesn’t take away that parts of corridors need to be protected as well and if everybody is boiling water the same time having a blackout mans cabins at once? No good idea, while this protection is absolutely needed technically. Revenue? Ships built 60 years ago were smaller, built for another public and at different comfort levels. Add this to the fact that we use much more electricity today compared to 1963. So yes, ships today are much cheaper built. Revenue by saving already on cables when building a ship. Where free tea is offered at some places in the ship the cabin service is not boosted so much. What is now the secret of Marella? I expect that when they refurbished their ships they have replaced the relevant part of the wiring to make guests from their home market happy. Yes, you can do so, but of course there is a price tag for doing so.

Everything I wrote is based on personal experience and otherwise accessible facts only. All ships I had been on past covid (four Costa cruises) had dismantled the smoking lounges. The last I saw in 2019 on the Fortuna. It is true that the use of expensive ingredients has been limited. But this definitely had no impact on the quality of food. Pasta tends to be very cheap anyway and still can be very tasty. Yes, there are a few international meals on their menu, add the destination dish, but still the vast majority dishes is Italian and these are from both national and regional Italian kitchen. Catering towards Brazilians? I hadn’t been on that cruise, but never experienced something like that. I know that they did it for the Chinese market, but these cruises weren’t to book in Europe. What makes American IPhones that special? Technically you open a pdf on the local network to see the menus. Why can’t these phones open a pdf? My laptop can’t read QRs, but the link provided typed into the address line of my browser gave me access to the menu from my cabin. Strange. And yes, when geoblocking is used a website can’t be opened. Happens when abroad and the owner doesn’t want access from other countries. For most people a drinking package makes sense. Costa has one of the cheapest in industry and it offers a lot. Waiters handing out water in the buffet had been a covid measure, which had been abolished in June 2022 in Europe, why it is in use in South America now is beyond my knowledge. Try to eat out a pizza for 4.50 in Italy! I did never see anything strange regarding the toppings offered by Costa, everything typically found in Italy as well in the ever-different combinations. To know where the own life boat is doesn’t seem to me being a bad idea. That the card reading didn’t work in your case is not pretty, but at least they did what Costa normally does, they looked for a good solution for everybody. MSC acts differently. I foresaw a possible problem. I asked long enough before sailing and got a clear answer. The answer was wrong. So I was blamed for asking in advance. And while we are comparing Costa to MSC, both have sunk vessels. Just that MSC Cruises wasn’t used as name, because this name was introduced afterwards. Surprise! Many guests from Argentina and Brazil in South America! Try a Costa cruise to Norway from German ports, I am sure you’ll find more Germans than South Americans! And still Costa is a product made by Italians for Italians with the largest nationality using them throughout the fleet and all year round being Italians.

I watched Emma's video and have some comments. Very true is that dinner is on Costa ships is much more important than on any other cruise line I have been on. This is typical Italian and who loves good food and likes to celebrate it finds here an ideal ship. Just the statement that it lasts three hours is too much, since it is held in seatings (at least in the MDR) and this just does not fit. One gets an Italian style menu, which of course is based on the Italian starter, pasta (or also called first main), second main, dessert plus optional things. Just as in a restaurant in Italy. One should know this, but the waiters usually explain the menu to those who are not familiar with Italian style dining. Great food, served as it should in Italy. MSC is neither an Italian cruise line, nor has it Italian food. It fills the stomachs of guests with mediocre food, often badly prepared, not in the Italian setup, but the originally French three-course setup. I never sent so many food back as on MSC, a single course I did with on Costa and I cruised so much more with them. Who calls MSC food Italian style should visit Italy ashore to get known what Italian food is. And whether one prefers a small table or share a large is a personal question, I tend to larger ones and when I had to sit alone by covid rules it was a terrible experience. Costa offers to put guests on table sizes they prefer and if it doesn’t turn out the right way asking for larger or smaller table is always possible and at least regarding changing seating I always got the desired place in the late one. Language is no problem at all on Costa. English is not widely spoken by native speakers, but is spoken by all staff and although I am German native speaker and German is one of the standard languages on Costa I address to people in English, because I know that is definitely spoken and in most cases better understood. The English contact person is not an act to help English speaking guests when they got lost in-between all these Italians, but is an extra service of Costa to employ native speakers of all main languages as contact persons to make communication even easier. Announcements are made in Italian first, always followed by English and the other languages are sometimes ranked according to the numbers of passengers aboard. Starting with Italian on an in Italy registered vessel does not upset me. Newer MSCs are registered in Malta and there English is an officially used language. Personally I don‘t understand the water question at all. I pay in restaurants at home, in Italy or on Costa ships for water - nothing else on Costa. Only in the buffet and at the burger stations they have chilled tap water for free. There is no tap water in the MDR at all. By the way on my last MSC cruise there was only bottled water in the MDR available as well. To end this with US booked Costa guests have free water with lunch and dinner, without booking a drinking package their cruise card shows “water USA“. Smoking on Costa is completely banned inside now, the smoking lounges no longer exist - the video is already a bit older. In opposite to MSC, where people still smoke in the casino, which makes it horrible just to pass along. MSC is much more non-smoker unfriendly than Costa. Saying this at the fresh air smoking is much more widely allowed on Costa than on cruise lines designed for the US market. Costa is very proud on their unique designs, so it is correctly stated that these ships are pretty different from all others. Food availability is on Costa from mostly 7 am until 5 am. Sometimes breakfast even starts earlier, depending on the times calling a port. This should be enough. The buffet is not open all that time, but for breakfast, late breakfast without the hot items, closed for cleaning shortly and for a long time open again for lunch. In the afternoon there is the Italian equivalent of teatime and in the evening it is open again for the few people not interested in a full dinner in the MDR. The demand for the buffet in the evening is very low and I am not surprised that the opening times are short. Italian style cruising and going in the evening into the buffet does not really fit. That you pay for pizza and for ice cream on Costa is old news, I don‘t know how it comes as surprise again and again. But honestly, the pizza they prepare in the pizzeria is worth the small extra fee, in Italy you can‘t get them for this price and the quality is remarkable. Many club members even get one for free. Just in opposite to the terrible slices offered by MSC - and ordering an entire pizza there costs money as well. I am no fan of ice cream; I prefer the pastry made by Costa, all fresh and tasty. Nothing to add about what is said about cleanliness on Costa, on MSC I never was impressed about. The master drill is done much more effectively on Costa of course, why it is stress to get the life jacket is beyond my understanding. And it starts depending on boarding, if busses or planes are delayed the start is postponed as well. There comes an announcement that it will start soon and this could be taken as hint to go already to the cabin, also by using the elevators… And of course it is only for those “embarked today”, as always communicated. The last statement about both being Italy at sea with the difference of MSC being welcoming and Costa more being Italian, whether you like it or not, does not make sense to me. Costa is pretty much like being in Italy. The majority of guests on their vessels underscores this. Who ever complained that there are too many Italian restaurants in Rome? MSC is international mass market and stating that they would be Italian, but it is not even a cheap copy.

No kettles for rent and if security works well kettles should be confiscated. Reason is simply fire protection. The eletrical network is not designed for using kettles or other high rated electrical devices throughout the ship. BTW most cruise lines have similar rules. In the buffet restaurant there is hot water available and tea bags are for free, so there is no financial question behind these rules.

Of course the plan of transferring both was announced, contracts for founding Adora Cruises including the two ships were signed, but regarding the situation in China last steps for the Mediterranea were postponed, without covid Atlantica would have sailed for Adora since 2020 and Mediterranea since 2021. Neither Carnival Group nor the Chinese state are keen on pouring money into a project that doesn't work. Of course none of the partners is interested in much publicity in such a situation, you only get snippets of information as far as reporting must be done by a public traded company. Now the situation in China changed and after three years cruise ban the project might get a new life. Costa had the last years before the pandemic regularly four vessels in Eastern Asia all year round, for the very most sailings three of them were only to book through Costa Asia. I myself was on the Fortuna returning to service in Europe again in exchange for the then just completed Venezia. For us Europeans the ships just disappeared for a couple of years, the Atlantica ever since 2014, the Serena since 2015 - and the latter will return to Costa Europe next winter only.

I completely agree! Although technically not impossible using another ship these days (new Panama locks) it would result in way higher costs for sailing with a ship only one single meter wider. Costa‘s world cruises sell very well and full ships during winter are very important! We mustn‘t forget that the European fleet of Costa will have a higher capacity in 2024 than in 2019 - and be a more modern fleet. At least a clear advantage in maintenance and costs per guest running the ship. However, I personally regret that the small ships of the neo collection offering very special routes weren‘t a success for Costa, because cruises visited very interesting places of the world. That old ships go is quite normal as we all buy another car from time to time and the two new ships that left or will leave to sail for the combined Costa - Carnival brand were never meant to sail in Europe, but were built for the Chinese market. Costa was the only brand within the group that sailed on the Chinese market until Costa started delivering for the joint venture with the Chinese to be able to offer China-only cruises as well. Ships registered abroad (Italy in the case of Costa) must call at least one port in a third country and China did not allow registration under Chinese flag without joint venture. The Atlantica had sailed for the Chinese market quite long anyway and is as far as I know the only that had been transferred, the procedure for the Mediterranea had been stopped because of China‘s cruise ban and I am not aware it has been resumed after China abolished the zero-covid strategy recently. There is no reason to speculate about Costa getting smaller and smaller, especially on the European market this is not the case, what will happen with China is another question. In Europe Costa is Carnival‘s only company serving Italian, French, and Spanish speakers in their own language. And since Aida is the second brand of Costa SpA you even may add German speakers. These are the four largest EU markets with 83% of the US population that would disappear for the Carnival group completely if Costa would die a slow death by selling the ships one by one and still no other Carnival group owned ships can be found for cruising regularly in the Med. Only MSC would have an advantage of this strange idea, but this is neither in interest of Carnival group nor of cruisers.