From Italy to India - a diary

I've to admit being late, but here are my experiences when I sailed on the Costa neoClassica from Italy to India.

Indeed, if something is going wrong, you may experience the quality of the customer service. Or in this case how bad it can be! No, not my entire cruise was ruined, absolutely not, but the way Costa treated all of us during embarkation was horrible. And at the very end they deny any responsibility.

I booked my cruise through a German TA, as they sent me an offer with an incredible price for a four week cruise from Savona to Mumbai, not available in the country I live. Flight and transfer I organized myself and booked a hotel in Savona for the night before embarkation. A few days before departure Costa informed me that I have to embark in Genoa in place of Savona. If I have no other option they would bring me by bus transfer from Savona to Genoa. As my hotel room was booked at a not refundable tariff I told them that I'll use the transfer. Embarkation was at noon in Genoa or access to the terminal in Savona also at 12:00.

The day before embarkation I had a pleasant flight to Milan, took the airport shuttle bus to the train station and went after a cappuccino further to Savona. With a taxi I went to the hotel and made a walk along the old port, where I sat down on a restaurant terrace, where I had a great seafood pizza. This was the evening of the last Friday of October, a very mild day.

Day 1, Savona and Genoa. After breakfast I walked again along the harbor up to the castle, which I visited.

The castle

The harbor from the castle

In town

Another cappuccino later I collected my luggage in the hotel and walked the few steps to the terminal. A few minutes before noon I showed my ticked and was directed to someone who organized the transfer to Genoa. Half an hour later after a couple of checks of tickets, passports and lists I was allowed to enter the first bus. One hour later we were in in the port of Genoa. So far so good.

After arrival, but still in the bus, we were given our embarkation numbers - and a letter that the neoClassica would arrive later by “weather circumstances” and we could embark at 7 pm. For the time being we could use a shuttle bus to the city center and spend the time there. Last bus back to the port at 6 pm. Costa did not provide lunch, but offered an onboard credit of 25 € for lunch instead. I went into the city and revisited some of the highlights of Genoa.

Piazza De Ferrari

Porta Soprana

The way back already was chaotic, as there weren't enough buses available. Finally back to the terminal no ship has been in port. Only service was a stand with water, but the glasses weren't even filled half, as they hadn't enough water. Finally at 8:20 I saw the Classica arriving. But neither embarkation nor information since the letter we got in the bus.

Obviously the long cruise attracted a lot of senior citizens. But also for them there wasn't enough space to sit down and most people had to stand for hours. Without information and even without water - the stand was already closed a long time when the ship arrived. When embarkation finally started I was able to sit down on a luggage trolley someone left. At the end I was aboard the Classica more than ten hours after embarkation should start and I showed my papers first at Savona. Up to now Costa held the records in fast embarkation, but now also that one for the worst embarkation ever.

Finally arriving!

Dinner was in open seating during the first evening, I went to the MDR immediately after collecting my Costa Card from my cabin. I just had my first course when the captain had the glorious idea to do the safety drill. I had embarkation number 12 and met people with number 26, so embarkation was far from being completed. The reaction of the people in the restaurant was remarkable: everybody remained seated and was served as if nothing would have been announced. It was already past midnight, when I went to the bar and I saw through the atrium still people coming aboard.

Day 2, at Sea. I slept long (guess why) and when I went up and left my cabin I found in my letterbox the invitation to the repeated safety drill, which was already over. Later I found a letter telling me to watch the safety instructions on TV. I used the day to explore the ship. It is small indeed, but offers some nice spaces. Unbelievable that they are mostly deserted or like the observatory, which offers 360° sea views, was just used for some children entertainment or handicraft lessons or as training space for dancers and the bar is just manned during very few events. Overall much less colorful than other Costas, more decent design. You can see her age, although generally maintained, in details you'll find wear and tear. I think within a little time she should be overhauled to preserve her. Obviously Costa won't do it any more.

La Trattoria

Bar Il Dolca Amore

Grand Bar Piazza Navona

again in Piazza Navona

In the theatre at daytime

and at night

Day 3, Reggio Calabria. Costa offered a boat trip to Scilla, I was interested in, but Costa canceled it. So I decided to walk through the town. The distance from the port is small enough doing all walking. Along the seafront Lungomare Falcomatà, which is made very pretty, but suffers by a lot of traffic next to it.

Lungomare Falcomatà

I went southwards. I visited the Cathedral Maria SS. Assunta in Cielo, went to and climbed the remains of the Aragon Castle.

Aragon Castle

Chiesa Degli Ottimati from the Castle

Slowly returning I was very surprised to see that the Museo ****onale della Magna Grecia was open although it was Monday and should be closed according to their own information. Obviously there was a cruise ship in town and brought quite a lot of visitors. It was luck at all, as it was the best the town has to offer.

Bronzi di Riace, two magnificent Greek sculptures - the one

and the other

and a lot of other treasures from the area as this stone carving.

For the rest Reggio is a typical small town in southern Italy with a few nice historical buildings the a wide boulevard along the Strait of Messina, nice to spend a couple of hours, but not the most remarkable destination.

Day 4, Katakolon. Here I had made a reservation for a car as I wanted to go to Bassae. After I have left Pygros and the route with the taxis and buses rushing to Olympia the broad street brought me more or less along the coast through forests and along small villages until I turned onto a small street into the mountains. With wonderful views over countryside, sea and villages I went continuously upwards. Suddenly I arrived in Bassae, where only one car was in the parking. I looked onto the opening hours and it was open indeed. I walked upwards with a gigantic tent on my right. No Apollo wasn't camping, the temple is covered for renovation works since decades.

Ναός Επικούριου Απόλλωνα

Inside the tent the temple is an absolute beauty, but as pretty everything is working area you can't walk around a lot. I want to go back when the tent is removed - if archaeologists ever will finish their works.

Inside the tent

and now imagine how the temple is situated in this landscape!

From Bassae I took the way down to Olympia. The weather was great and indeed this was my first visit of Olympia at all with sunshine. After being to Bassae first only few tourists were in the excavation site, the buses already had taken all the others back to the ship. Just when I was leaving the site the buses returned, a MSC ship has arrived to Katakolon as well.

no Olympic games...

... and nobody visiting

I spent some time in the museum as well and drove back to the port.

Praxiteles Hermes

Day 5, Athens.

Sunrise while arriving

As these times in Greece often enough strikes happen I decided to take a hop-on-hop-off bus instead of public transport. I have been to Athens not long ago and skipped the National Archaeological Museum during that time, so I decided to focus onto it this time. It is that huge with so many interesting artifacts that even an entire day is short. Absolute highlight again was the Santorini exhibition.

Jockey of Artemision

Dolphin vase

The Antelopes Fresco

Detail out of the wall-painting of spring

Mask of Agamemnon

Day 6, Heraklion. Here I took the hop-on-hop-off bus as well and went fist to Knossos. It is spectacular again, although the difference between archaeology and fantasy is hard to determine. I had not that luck as in Olympia, the entire ship has been there together with me.

North Entrance

Grand Staircase

But during my next stop, the archaeological museum I had the exhibition just for me most the time, just one group rushed along me. The museum has been completely renewed since my last visit and I am very pleased with it.

The bull-leaper

Bull-leaping fresco

After a walk through the city center I arrived at the old Venetian harbor. Just too late to visit the fortress from the inside, as they closed very early.

The Venetian loggia

Fortress of Castello a Mare

So I decided to take the bus to the city walls and walk over them. In a lot of historic cities such a walk is a wonderful chance to see the center from different interesting positions, but in Heraklion it only offers sights of backyards and streets in modern quarters. As I was pretty close to the sea I decided to walk back to the ship instead of waiting for the bus.

Days 7 and 8 at sea. While leaving Europe we were further sailing to the Southeast. Having relaxing days, the weather was fine, not too windy and getting warmer and warmer. On the afternoon of day 8 steadily more ships came in sight, all in the direction of Port Said. During the evening hours we waited in front of the city waiting for the passage of the Suez channel.

Day 9 Suez passage. In the night our convoy started crossing Egypt, the time was announced in the Diario, but I decided to get up for sunrise instead. Watching sunrise on a ship in the dessert is kind of a curious. The channel is under construction of a second line, so there was no waiting any more at the Bitter Lakes, but the northbound sailing ships came across nearby Ismaileya. The passage was wonderful, a changing scenery all day long, but also the first day I felt the need of hiding from the sun after some time. In the afternoon we arrived Suez and turned onto the Red Sea.

Day 10, Aqaba. In the morning we docked at the port of Aqaba. I decided to go with a Costa tour to Petra. Our guide did a very good job, so even the time in the bus driving through the dessert didn't seem too long. In Petra itself the guiding was done very interesting with many details and the old town is breathtaking indeed. I have seen pictures and films before of course, but the personal experience is just unique. An absolute highlight during the cruise. Within the tour there was offered a late lunch, but I decided to stay in Petra longer and to skip lunch. So I was able to see some more than the others of these enormous carved facades and caves, I was even able to get walk through of some of them. I walked through a huge temple and two byzantine churches and was able to enter a couple of the “kings tombs”. You should wear some good shoes, but then it is an unbelievable encounter to see these things. A place to return to with more time you have on a cruise.

The Siq

Arriving at the Treasury

The Colonnaded Street

The Great Temple

The Palace Tomb

The beauty of simple Rocks

Day 11, Eliat. Gotten up early, because the Costa tour to Masada and the Dead Sea started very early. We traveled through the same dessert as the day before, but nevertheless landscape and villages were very different. It was a pity that the guide wasn't as capable as his Jordan college the day before. Little information and worst was during our stay in Masada: he started explaining when three people were close to him and forty weren't able to hear what he said. Nevertheless an impressing location absolutely worth the trip.

The cable-car

At the Snake Path Gate

The Tower

The Northern Complex

The Roman Ramp

After we drove to a hotel-restaurant on the beach of the Dead Sea. The buffet offered was very good, the best on a Costa excursion during this cruise. In the afternoon I was swimming in or should I say on the Dead Sea, a strange experience to sit on the water, but fun to try out this kind of water.

Well done Stefan. Fabulous review.

I was booked on the neoClassica in March but it was cancelled so did the neoRiviera from Mauritius to Savona instead. Similar ports Eilat Aqaba and the same as yours in Europe except Athens. Should have stopped in Rhodes but delayed in Egypt disembarking a sick passenger.

Just noticed Josie is doing the Costa Victoria Mauritius to Savona next March.

What a coincidence you both posting on the same day.:cool:

Hello Maryann, thank you. Glad to hear you like my posts. What a pity you missed Rhodes, I really like that port. How did you experience the more southern part of the Indian Ocean?

Days 12 to 15 at sea. A good moment to reflect about the onboard entertainment. An example for a very good performance I can give with the “Tree Gees”, you already guess right, a Bee Gee cover-band. They came on day 2, so they made a great start. Entirely the shows were a bit less than I expected from Costa. Like the singer who told endless stories in Italian, while others just say a few words and even this in several languages to ensure everybody understands at least something. Acrobatic is a fix part of Costa entertainment. Everything in this genre presented was okay so far, but this is not my personal favorite, but this is personal taste of course. Worst evening presented a women who tried to sing songs of Mina. The theater was packed in the very beginning, as it was the one and only show that evening and obviously Mina is very popular among the Italian guests. Already during the first song the first left already the theater. I decided to wait for the second, it couldn't get worse I thought - but it did... I sat down in the Dolce Amore bar and saw continuously people leaving the theater. I don't do the “Voice of the Seas” evenings, because for me entertainment may be a bit professional, but that woman mustn't enter any stage at all! The life music throughout the ship was on the usual level, no complaints behalves the usual: a few decibel less please.

Day 16, Salalah. Finally a new port. As there were no serious other offers I again decided for a tour with Costa. We had a capable guide, who did his best to get us known to his country. After quite a long drive - mostly along boring suburbs - we were able to see the lane leading to one of the sultan's residences. To Buckingham Palace you get a little bit closer... our first stop was the excavation site Sumharam, an old port-town from where incense was exported during the first seven centuries AD. The site itself doesn't offer a lot of explanation, so we were lucky to have a guide who enjoyed to share this with us and the old walls came into new life. But anyway the place itself above a bay of the Indian Ocean is wonderful.

We went further to Taqah Castle. This used to be the home of a Wali, a local governor. It is nothing I would compare to a castle, it is a fortified house with pretty small rooms where we got an impression how those days the rich people used to live.

We went further to the city center of Salalah, to the incense market. No, this town is not remarkable at all. After some explanation about production and use of frankincense in a shop we had the chance to walk around. At all really not the best oriental bazaar I've seen. I've made a short walk over the beach, which is on one side blocked by another palace of the sultan.

At noon we had a stop in a hotel, where locals tried to switch to international cuisine, I am sure the local version would have been much better, so it was just okay. Next stop was the Museum of the Frankincense Land. Small exhibition but informative, a good addition of our visit to the excavation site. At the end the main attraction for most of the fellow travelers were the camels,

but the original plan was to visit the Marneef Caves, where with the right winds waves from the Indian Ocean are pressed into caves and spitting out of the rocks above in high fountains.

At the end a short walk over a beach and watching greater flamingos.

Days 17 to 19 at sea. Time to talk about food and beverage. As I said more often: although American owned and carrying an international crowd, Costa is still Italian and so the food is: Italian with an international touch. So if you like the Italian style kitchen you will be pleased - and I am now not talking about the man some tables further who got literally every evening a big portion spaghetti and nothing else. The dinner menu was offering a wide variety of meals, for every course between two and four choices plus the courses “always on the menu” from international and later also Indian kitchen. I always found something I liked, sometimes even too much I wanted to try. But there was no problem to take two antipasti and to skip the pasta for example. All was prepared between fine and delicious, but part of that of course also depended on my own taste. I only found one fault, when I ordered a wild boar and it turned out to be an ordinary house-pig when alive. But at the end it seemed to be a translation problem. I believe this, because I always got the German menu and once I was unable to understand the menu at all and asked for the English instead - that was readable. Mainly on sea days I used the MDR also for breakfast, although offering a delicious range of breakfast specialties, when the time was limited it wasn't the best option as service was unbelievable slow - just the opposite from the evenings, my waiter Brandon was very alert and did a fabulous job. The buffet I used only for breakfasts or for a snack at noon or during the tea time, not in the evening. No complaints about the food itself, but the atmosphere was not really appealing. The bar service was limited to a few places, although having great locations Costa didn't use them. So everything was very crowded and the bar crew had often enough difficulties to serve everybody, although doing their best.

I am not taking pictures of the meals I have, so I put here some more impressions of the neoClassica.

Day 20, Malé. We were passing through slight rain when the first island of the North Malé Atoll became visible. After a big turn around the airport island and Malé itself we anchored in the north of the capital. Tender boats went that frequently that I got off without any delay. I walked a bit through this capital city and I've to admit that it is quite disappointing. Only a very few spots have some charm, mostly it is an average South Asian town with probably the worst air I ever experienced - extremely polluted by masses of motorbikes. No, Malé is not the place to be and I returned to the ship early.

Male' Island

Presidential residence

Tombs of Sultans

Fishmarket

Vegetable market

Tsunami monument

Day 21, Malé. For today I have booked a day at Club Med Kani. I have booked through a local agency as the offers from Costa were ridiculous. For a full day I paid the same price as Costa offers started for a half and Costa offered in their best deal a buffet without drinks and nice rules as “no use of the pool” and so on. I booked all inclusive. Starting point was the airport and the speed boat ride took about 20 minutes. At the reception the day guests got yellow bracelets instead of those with room or cabin number. We were told about the free sports and where to find towels, restaurants, bars and so on. I first went to the beach and swam in the ocean. I wandered around on the island, took an aperitif with some appetizers - a grey heron also was also very keen on and proceeded to a buffet restaurant with an enormous selection of different national cuisines. All very fresh and tasty. After another swim I went by boat to the house reef on a snorkeling tour (part of the all inclusive formula). I just needed to proof that I am able to swim up to the nearest buoy and back.

Beach with jetty

Just beach and sea

Terrace of one of the restaurants

Appetizer with grey heron

Powderblue surgeonfish

Indo-Pacific sergeant

Day 22, Malé. This day I discovered the Maldives from another angle, from air. The seaplane companies connecting the airport with the resort islands sell seats not sold to arriving or departing tourists as photo flights. In advance you never know where you will go to, just at the moment you get your ticket. For me it was the first seaplane flight at all and I went to Kuramathi Island and Veligandu Island. While sorting the pictures I recognised that the pilot even flew a big turn as I have taken pictures of flying along Veligandu, thereafter other islands, before we went down at Veligandu.

Flight over the neoClassica

Giraavaru

The two small Madivaru Islands in front, Rasdhoo in the middle and Kuramathi at the back

Veligandu Island

Veligandu through the cockpit window

Aramh, the presidential island

Day 23, Malé. The last I visited in Maldives was a so-called local island. I booked another tour than I was actually on, but because of some ferry issues I was offered an alternative. Different to the days before it has been much more an informative and up to some level a culinary tour with less spectacular things to see. We went by ferry to Villimale', just a few minutes from Male' itself, but a very different world. The ferry was as hectic as Male' is, but as soon as we went off things changed. First of all there are no scooters and motorbikes on the island, only motorized means of land transport are two taxis and a few small trucks for delivery. I learned a lot about the daily life of the Maldivian people, how life is in such a small country spread over those enormous distances and also where the problems within society can be found, especially the environmental dangers of a plastic loving nation where nobody cares about littering the entire islands. On Villimale there is an NGO project ongoing, there are bins everywhere, but those are empty, while the streets are full. At teatime we sat down in a restaurant at the shore and typical snacks have been served with the tea as locals are supposed to use them – the local guiding himself decided to take a soft drink made by an American company... After this informative stay we went back to Male' and I returned onto the neoClassica. It was time to leave the Maldives as well and we sailed further in the direction of Sri Lanka.

On our way to Villimale

Villimale

Villimale beach

Unknown vegetables for sale

Sea transport is most important

Departing from Male'

Hello Maryann, thank you. Glad to hear you like my posts. What a pity you missed Rhodes, I really like that port. How did you experience the more southern part of the Indian Ocean?

I had been to Rhodes a few times and agree it is a lovely port.

We boarded in Mauritius and I arrived on Friday morning with boarding the ship on Sat and leaving on Sunday evening. Had a message from my daughter as Costa had contacted her (but not me the one travelling??) that the ship was leaving on Sat evening instead as a cyclone was expected. Eventually I did get an email from Costa. Also they had contacted the hotel I was staying at.

So I was only able to see a little of Mauritius (Port Louis). The taxi from the airport crossed the island ,about an hour's journey.so got to see a bit that way. I had had a catamaran (private tour) booked for the Sunday which I had to cancel.

So the sea was rocky when we left for a couple of days but not bad.

Next port was Seychelles and we were there 2 days. Easy walk into the capital Victoria. Very warm but a nice breeze. Then after that was Salalah and your ports.

I did the ship tour to Petra and Masada Fortress and Dead sea.

The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm every day until we reached the Mediterranean and then it got really cold. This was at the end of March.

I am booked on the Costa Fortuna from Singapore next March and will visit Malaysia , New Mangalore is the only port in India, think I will be able to get an evisa, and Sri Lanka. However does not stop at all after Salalah but goes straight through to Crete.

Love your photos. Thank you for taking the time to do this review.

Thank you for the very interesting report of your cruise.

The photos are very nice.

I was wondering whether to book this cruise next year or do a Transatlantic. I opted for Deliziosa USA to Italy as both me and my husband prefer bigger ships.

Thanks again for sharing

Caryl

Hi Stefan

Great report and lovely photos.

Did you have lots of activities on the pool deck in the late afternoon? We had great fun when we did the India cruise on her last year.

Keep it coming.

Riana

Indeed, the neoClassica was a very small ship, absolutely not comparable to the size of the Deliziosa. This limits of course in several means, but it was possible to find some space at any time completely independent from my needs of joining a group or having some quiet moments. And yes, there was animation at the pool at least every sea day. Their games didn't appeal so much to me, there were always the same people participating. I think it's a question of personal taste.

Day 25, Colombo. I decided to make a tour with Costa - which was a big mistake. A relevant part of the promised itinerary did not happen or was just ridiculous. For example the stop at the old parliament happened indeed - but nobody was allowed to step out of the bus. Another photo stop happened at red traffic lights - imagine what wonderful pictures have been taken during this unbelievable long visit. The visit of Pettah Bazar was completely missed (wonder whether we drove trough at least and nobody noticed). But we had a very long time to visit a jewelry shop while we even weren't allowed to go back to the bus. We had a rush at Cathedral Santa Lucia and went to Kelaniya Temple, where we were allowed to explore on our own, while even other Costa groups were guided around. The stop at the National Museum was interesting indeed, but short. The photo stop at Seema Malaka took place, as well as the visit of at the Gangaramaya Temple. There we got a guiding and time to explore, but to be honest, it seemed to me less interesting than Kelaniya, both from historical as from cultural point of view. I am pretty sure out bus also went along the highlighted Viharamahadevi Park, as it is next to the National Museum - but this I learned from Google Maps, when writing this, but not on the excursion.

Cathedral Santa Lucia - could be anywhere in Europe as well

Kelaniya Temple

Kelaniya Temple - inside

National Museum

photo stop at Seema Malaka

Gangaramaya Temple

Day 27, Mormugao. That day I took the Costa excursion Culture in Goa - which should be renamed as it was much more Toilets in Goa. After all trouble people had who didin't apply for traditional Indian visa - e-visa for cruise tourists just had been introduced and politicians were faster than incredible Indian bureaucracy getting ashore was pretty easy. No queues, just a short look at our landing cards and we were in the country. By bus we were taken to the Shree Shantadurga Laxmi Narsinha Temple. Itself it is a pretty typical Hindu temple from the 18th century. About the temple itself we got little information only, just a short introduction about Hindu temples in general. The time we had to explore it on our own was okay.

From here we went to a very long stop at a souvenir shop. I didn't use the toilets, but they seem to be extremely interesting, as people made from the 15 to 20 announced minutes nearly an hour. A littlebit further we reached the center of Velha Goa (Old Goa). Most of it is gone, mainly the churches remained and are maintained and in use until today. First we visited the Basilica of Bom Jesus, one of the oldest and most important churches in India, where St. Franci Xavier is buried, a prominent catholic missionary of the 16th century. Already half a century after his death this cathedral was erected.

After 20 minutes I already was told to hurry up as there won't be any time. At the opposite site of a small park there were Igreja do Espírito Santo e Convento de São Francisco and Sé de Santa Catarina, the Goa Cathedral an seat of the local archbishop. We weren't given time, I was rushed out while taking pictures.

We were brought to Panaji, the modern capital of Goa. There we had lunch, the worst on this cruise. If this ever had been my first Indian meal I'd never tried Indian food again I'm afraid. Thereafter we had the obligatory toilet problems as we had to wait for a long time until everybody was ready to step into the bus again. Just a short drive of five minutes we were in the historical center of the town. Instead of guiding us the guide was searching for toilets. So I've here two pictures for you and no idea what they show, the guide was busy...