How does Costa compare to Princess and RCI?

[Jo and Rob]

I am looking at a cruise with Costa in Feb but don't know anything about the line. We sailed our first cruise with Princess last Feb and absolutely loved the main dining room, afternoon tea, the formal nights etc. In June I did a mini cruise with RCI and it seemed to be a bit more mass market. How does Costa compare please?

[RoadTripFanatic]

Our first Costa cruise was last February. Our ship was actually modeled after a Carnival ship so it felt a lot like Carnival ship. (Same ship design different decor) We had actually been on that ship before. :) BUT our service was outstanding. Our cabin steward was the best one we had ever had! Our waiter was really good too! In fact he was apologetic about his poor English skills. LOL! This man spoke better English than a lot of native English speakers I have met!! He also spoke 6 languages. He had nothing to apologize for! Only 10% of those cruising spoke English. It was an older crowd. We (In our late 30's early 40's) were some of the youngest on the boat. The two things that I noted about Costa are

1. You have to read your evening news letter. Announcements about when you are in port do not happen. We would watch off of our balcony to see if it was time to exit the ship. :) They also would not announce when to be back on the ship. It was in the news letter and on a sign by the exit.

2. The food quality is not very good. Some meals are fabulous but for the most part the quality is below average. It seemed that breakfast and lunch were the best meals. Also the evening buffets were only 2 pizzas and 4 side dishes. The only time there was a full evening buffet was when we were in port past dinner time. Other than that if you wanted a real meal you had to eat in the dinning room.

 

As for a comparison I haven't been on RCI but I have been on Princess. I would say excluding the food my service was just as good or better than what I received on Princess.

[kuldalai]

Princess - give 4 out of 5 .

Costa - 3 1/2 out of 5 . Great itineraries and cruises keenly priced . Strengths excellent cuisine, generally good staff, cabins and cleanliness fine. Weaknesses - Entertainment of poor quality and variety on Asian Cruises , and general organization of on board affairs , - but then organizational skills have never been an Italian strength . Cruising "Italian Style" can be a bit chaotic at times. But if you are prepared to roll with the punches then cruising with Costa is fine. But if you expect everything to be just so, then no good complaining as we observed the Staff just go into defensive mode, and if all else fails they go for the language barrier thing .

[billie5]

I think what you read is quite accurate. Choose Costa because it has the itinerary you want -- and it does have some good itineraries.

 

Bill

[CtheW0rld]

I think what you read is quite accurate. Choose Costa because it has the itinerary you want -- and it does have some good itineraries.

 

Bill

 

i agree. thought the service on costa was at least as good as princess. drinks and excursions are more expensive on costa.

 

i found the food on costa pretty good, but that is subjective. certainly a bit different than princess.

 

costa's afternoon tea was much better than princess - costa had real bulk tea (many varieties) where they would make a custom bag for you.

 

i would not hesitate to sail either lines again.

 

i've only been on two of costa's older, smaller ships. i liked them. compared to the grand princess, though, they were not as 'glitzy' if that is what you like.

[Winters in NZ]

The 2 week repositioning cruise which we took in April, Fort Lauderdale to Quebec City was quite enjoyable. The majority of our 16 cruises have been with HAL, with only one cruise aboard Princess 13 years ago, San Fran to Alaska return. Aboard the clean and well maintained Atlantica we did find the crew to be enthusiastic, helpful and friendly, and the front desk particularly professional. This cruise did not skimp on expenses, as we had 2 nights aboard in NYC as well as on our arrival in Quebec City. How do you say FANTASTIC ? The one key difference aboard Costa is the cappuccino served in the MDR at breakfast...superb ! There could be some work done on presenting more varieties of American desserts and the soft ice cream machine dispensers just don't do it for me.

I have never been on a cruise which I did not enjoy, even when some things in certain situations could have perhaps been better. It's all subjective anyways. One hint...we always had our made-to-order omelettes in the buffet before proceeding to the MDR. They taste so much better right off the skillet. Enjoy !

[jotabecu]

I chose Costa because of the itineraries.

Most of the time I travel Princess or HAL and definitively prefer them but on ocassions because of the particular place I may take Royal Caribbean or Costa.