Is Costa really that bad??

[RN1986]

I have 2 cruises booked for New Years sailing with my kids ( 20,17,13). One on the Costa Fortuna(eastern)-2 1/2 ports-------and Carnval Valor (western)-3 1/2 ports. Price difference is about 1000 overall--Costa cheaper.

I am so worried about all the negative reviews on Costa. We have sailed Carnival before with the kids and liked it.

I would like to save the 1000 bucks but not if it means we will have a lousy time and the kids will be bored. Final payment is due on the 13th!!!!!

[jimbo5544]

I have 2 cruises booked for New Years sailing with my kids ( 20,17,13). One on the Costa Fortuna(eastern)-2 1/2 ports-------and Carnval Valor (western)-3 1/2 ports. Price difference is about 1000 overall--Costa cheaper.

I am so worried about all the negative reviews on Costa. We have sailed Carnival before with the kids and liked it.

I would like to save the 1000 bucks but not if it means we will have a lousy time and the kids will be bored. Final payment is due on the 13th!!!!!

 

I cannot imagine having a lousy time on a cruise. Never have sailed Costa, but they are a European line and no doubt will be different (notice I did not say better or worse) than the traditional lines. We cruised MSC this year and found the same to be true of that line. It's a great deal (price wise), if you decide to go enjoy your cruise and don't get wrapped up in a comparison of the lines.

[cruzeluver]

Costa has been around for a long time. If they were "really that bad" they would have gone out of business long ago. No cruise line is going to please everyone, but Costa is a mainstream cruise line like Carnival. So, more than likely, if you were happy with Carnival, Costa should be fine.

[uppitycats]

Isn't Costa actually connected to Carnival? Thought I read somewhere that it was the European Carnival.

 

I've not cruised on them before, but from I gather from the reviews, these things were worth nothing: They do give announcements in several different language, and English won't be the first, so you'd have to listen carefully through several "versions" until they got to one you could understand.

 

Then, smoking: There seems to be much more smoking allowed on Costa ships, and -- broad statement here -- many more smokers. So if that is an issue, you might want to think about it.

 

Cuisine: tends to be a lot of Italian cuisine. Good, but more than what you might find elsewhere.

 

We considered Costa for a couple of different cruises, then found a really good deal on Hurtigruten..our next cruise..so skipped Costa this time.

[marco]

We've been on Cossta a few times. It it was fine! Yes, it's different. There usually are at least 25% Europeans on board, so they don't cater completely to the American market. But the sun, the beaches, the sites and the shopping are going to be the same, no matter which line you sail on, so I'd use that $1000 to enjoy myselft on the cruise!

[RetireeWannabee]

I've not sailed Costa, but save the $1000 and try a new line. Could be a great cultural intro for the kiddos (that are nearly adult now!)

[kitty9]

Remember, you get what you pay for, so as long as you go with that idea, you'll be fine. There is a reason why the Costa cruise is $1000 cheaper. I'm not a fan of Costa, mostly because I found their food to be pretty bad and the service was not great. I can tell you that my cousins recently returned from a Costa cruise (they've been on RCI, Carnival, Cunard and Celebrity before) and they came back and said "never again". The cabins were smaller than on any ship they've been on before, they didn't care for food at all and a number of other things. Yes, Costa has their fans, I think mostly due to the low cost. But like I said, if you're prepared for it not to be like other cruises you've been on, you should be OK. And, btw, as for smoking, Costa hasn't changed their smoking policies like many other lines have done. They still allow smoking in cabins, on balconies, in all their bars and casino, and on all open decks. They only place they don't allow smoking is in the main dining room and the show lounge.

[jimbo5544]

Isn't Costa actually connected to Carnival? Thought I read somewhere that it was the European Carnival.

 

I've not cruised on them before, but from I gather from the reviews, these things were worth nothing: They do give announcements in several different language, and English won't be the first, so you'd have to listen carefully through several "versions" until they got to one you could understand.

 

Then, smoking: There seems to be much more smoking allowed on Costa ships, and -- broad statement here -- many more smokers. So if that is an issue, you might want to think about it.

 

Cuisine: tends to be a lot of Italian cuisine. Good, but more than what you might find elsewhere.

 

We considered Costa for a couple of different cruises, then found a really good deal on Hurtigruten..our next cruise..so skipped Costa this time.

CCL does own Costa and Princess and Seaborne and Holland America...

[CFD130]

We were on the Valor last winter and a Costa ship was next to us in Cozumel. They were identical ships

[K&RCurt]

CCL does own Costa and Princess and Seaborne and Holland America...

 

 

And Cunard and P&O and AIDA and Iberocruceros and Ocean Village!

[BIG_Steve]

Haven't been on that line, so I won't offer advice.

 

About the bad reviews you saw. When you read reviews, remember that more folks will share bad experiences then good. The happy folks go on their merry way, and the folks who had a bad trip feel it's important to share it. It's like that with reviews of any kind of product. Remember too, that some folks go out of their way to nit-pick, likewise, some folks would never-ever admit to something not being perfect in their lives. You have to keep this stuff in the back of your mind as you CAREFULLY read reviews.

 

One last thing....... Check the dates on the reviews. If you see a rash of bad reviews from a year ago, but good reviews now, that means there was a problem, but they fixed it. Our first cruise was on the NCL SKY. I saw a lot of horrible reviews and wondered what I had gotten myself into. But, as I said above, the newer reviews were pretty much positive. We went and loved everything about it. So read the reviews carefully.

[Cruzman]

Cabin size on Costa's newer ships are just about the same as Carnival. We enjoyed our one cruise on Costa Mediterannea. It is basically a Spirit class ship and is laid out much the same. Just think of Carnival with an Italian flair.

[cschultz]

I have been on 1 costa cruise, and 8 Carnival cruises. The food is a little different on Costa than Carnival. (I preferred Carnival) That being said, there are still plenty of choices, so I'm sure that there will not be a problem.

 

Costa seemed to be slightly more formal or upscale than Carnival. They do however, have a toga party one night that was a lot of fun.

 

Costa cruises seem to have a greater proportion of guests speaking languages other than english.......German, French, etc, and they make their announcements in at least 3 languages each time an announcement is made.

 

Other than that, everything was basically the same. If you can save $1000 on the Costa cruise vs the Carnival Cruise, I would not hesitate for a minute.

 

(I have to say that I did not use any of the services for Children, like Camp Carnival, so if

you thought your children would be spending a great deal of time there, you will need to get some input from someone who used those services.)

[trish1c]

You can find negative reviews about anything if you look hard enough. Go read the reviews for cruises you have actually taken & see if your experience was different than that poster's. I bet it was. I love NCL but you don't have to look far to find people that loathe it. Personally, I'd almost ;) rather stay home than sail Carnival. It really is different strokes for different folks. You'll be fine.

The Costa ships I have seen were a bit smaller than the mega ships of carnival, NCL & RCL but they seemed just as clean & all the passangers were smiling. I have heard that there are more smokers.

[RN1986]

I would love to find more reivews to read--but the pickins are slim. The Costa board has no action and the review on CC are very old. It concerns me that I can't find more info--good or bad.

The cheap price does concern me though. But with that said, we sailed on the Ruby Princess last year--beautiful boat but sooo boring!

[uppitycats]

I would love to find more reivews to read--but the pickins are slim. The Costa board has no action and the review on CC are very old. It concerns me that I can't find more info--good or bad.

The cheap price does concern me though. But with that said, we sailed on the Ruby Princess last year--beautiful boat but sooo boring!

 

If you type: reviews of Costa cruises into Google, you'll come up with several sites that have reviews, both positive and negative, of the line.

[ecpc1302]

DH and I did a transatlantic (16 night) cruise on Costa last year. We had a great time. We have sailed CCL, Celebrity and RCCL. We had a balcony cabin the same size as a CCL cabin. Food in the buffet was good, MDR was a little different (pasta course every night) and breakfast was better in the buffet than MDR (our opinion). The staff was wonderful, my DH has trouble walking long distances so they met him in the terminal with a wheelchair and wheeled him to the cabin. We enjoyed the entertainment (because of the language variety it's a little different, but good). The casino was good as was the gym. Ports were same as any other cruise. They do make announcements in 5 languages, but we didn't find that a problem. There was a special English speaking group that met every sea day to play games and keep us happy. We sent our clothes to the laundry and they did a beautiful job. We didn't have any children or teens with us, so can't speak to that. Happy Cruising!

 

Elsie:cool:

[windsor26]

I would love to find more reivews to read--but the pickins are slim. The Costa board has no action and the review on CC are very old. It concerns me that I can't find more info--good or bad.

The cheap price does concern me though. But with that said, we sailed on the Ruby Princess last year--beautiful boat but sooo boring!

 

 

Go into tripadvisor.com and if they do not have a comment now ask a question and you WILL get a reply

[velvetred]

Costa is not that bad. I sailed the Costa Mediterranea with my sister in 2008. We had a wonderful time. The crew was terrific and they really tried to make sure everyone had a great time. The ship was beautiful - the food was not so good in some cases but excellent in others. The pasta and pizza were delicious with lots of variety. Many Europeans on board but this in no way detracted from our enjoyment of the cruise. We met some wonderful people from many different nationalities. I think Costa must tend to arrange seating in the dining room with people of similar nationalities as much as possible. Everyone at our table of 6 were from the US and Canada while the tables around us were chattering in Italian, French, and German. The evening shows were of the type that were easily understood no matter what language one spoke. There was singing and dancing in the dining room similar to Carnival. They have a toga night where those who want to participate don a bed sheet and wrap in toga style just like imperial Rome. Nightlife was very active - on our cruise there was lots of dancing in the clubs at night and on the pool deck with the band.

 

Costa is not my first choice of cruise line but it is not my last choice of cruiseline either (I have cruised on Costa, NCL, Carnival, RCI, Princess, and Holland America). A thousand dollars is a lot of money and if the choice is Costa or Carnival for a thousand bucks I would go on Costa for the week and enjoy!

[velvetred]

Continuing from my earlier post... We had the best dining room servers of any of our cruises. Jonathan and Francis (see I still remember their names and I sure can't say this about most of my other servers) were fantastic servers and very caring about their guests. For example, one evening my sister was seasick and too ill to come to the dining room - they took the time to make a special dinner for me to take back to the cabin to her and gave me suggestions to help her with her seasickness. The next night when she returned to the dining room they were genuinely happy to see her again.

 

Daytime entertainment was similar to other cruise lines although trivia was conducted in Italian and English. There were more arts and crafts classes than on any of my other cruises and all for free. I took three Italian lessons while onboard (my sister passed on this but I enjoyed it). There was a beautiful card room with views out to the sea and my sister and I played a few hands of cards in the afternoons on sea days when not lounging around the pool with a book. Muster drill was a drawn out affair as it was conducted in five languages. We did not experience any problems with our cabin or cabin service. I am a dessert lover and I thought the desserts were only average at best in the buffet while generally good in the dining room (but not exceptional by any means). The cruise director (a British gentleman) would frequently sing "that's amore" and get the guests to sing along or play bars of it piped in at the beginning or end of shows. Anyway, we found many more things right than wrong with our Costa cruise including the fantastic price we paid.

[matj2000]

I looked into Costa but the itineraries changed from 4 ports to only 3 ports on 7 day cruises and very generic. For some reason they dropped the Dominican stop? I lost interest after that. But I like the Italian aspect and sounds like fun and definitaly would try it.

[mahalogirl]

Remember, you get what you pay for, so as long as you go with that idea, you'll be fine. There is a reason why the Costa cruise is $1000 cheaper. I'm not a fan of Costa, mostly because I found their food to be pretty bad and the service was not great. I can tell you that my cousins recently returned from a Costa cruise (they've been on RCI, Carnival, Cunard and Celebrity before) and they came back and said "never again". The cabins were smaller than on any ship they've been on before, they didn't care for food at all and a number of other things. Yes, Costa has their fans, I think mostly due to the low cost. But like I said, if you're prepared for it not to be like other cruises you've been on, you should be OK. And, btw, as for smoking, Costa hasn't changed their smoking policies like many other lines have done. They still allow smoking in cabins, on balconies, in all their bars and casino, and on all open decks. They only place they don't allow smoking is in the main dining room and the show lounge.

We were on the Costa Fortuna in March of this year, and it was our first cruise so we didn't have anything to compare it to, but I can tell you the staff was good, and the food... well, I wouldn't worry about gaining alot of weight on your trip. My personal recommendation is to eat in the dining room for breakfast and dinner. The buffet was forgetable. As for the smoking, I, as a smoker, was very aware of the smoking areas, and believe me there were very few outdoor areas where it was permitted. I don't remember the name of the deck on which the buffet is located, but there are tables outside the buffet, and only one half of one side of the outdoor area allowed smoking. I only remember one bar where smoking was permitted, but we didn't go into many, and generally were just passing through (thank you Rum Runner). The ship is Italian, and almost all of the senior staff were Italians, but language was not a barrier. I would say more than 50% of the passengers were European, and many of them were "pushy"; some were down-right rude, but that is certainly not exclusive to Europeans, there were plenty of "ugly Americans" on the trip. I guess the bottom line is that I would not hesitate to book again on Costa, especially if it would save me $1000. We are booked on Carnival in December, so I'll have a better perspective for comparison. Like most everyone else said, just go, enjoy, and don't spend your vacation "what-if-ing".:)

[ovccruiser]

Costa is predominently Italian as P & O is British and Aida is German and Carnival is US. All part of the same cruise group just trying to supply different markets and tastes. As mahalogirl said don't worry about what if.... just do it and enjoy the cruise.