Deliziosa & Costa

[TRIXON]

Well we have been and returned after all the reading of these forums I can tell you about our trip.

 

I was delighted that someone recognised me on board and asked if I was Trixon (Hello lady & friend from Buckinghamshire)

 

The ship was very clean the bedding changed about every other day. Cabin always clean glasses & towels nothing too much trouble.

 

The food was fine, I mean we are not at home and what do some people expect. Ther was plenty to eat the Buffet bar which had had bad reports on here were fine and a wide variety of food not just Pizza.

 

The shows were very entertaining and very varied.

 

As pointed out many many times the drinks are very very expensive.

 

If you do like a drink in your cabin (we took a litre each on board in our luggage) but could easily purchase spirits & soft drinks whenever we were on shore from duty free places in the docks.

 

The soft drinks package 23 euros for 10 set us up until we could purchase on shore.

 

If Costa would only realise that they would seel far more drinks if the reduced them a bit. It was very rarely that we saw people actually sat with drinks in front of them.

 

The wine in MD started at 21 euros a bottle many passengers made it last more than one meal. We dont drink wine so it didnt bother us.

If you like coffee after your meal you must ask for it and from then on they will always serve you with coffee.

 

We didnt do many excursions. Some of the ports we stopped at were disgusting and were only obviously used by Costa to do their excursions but left those of us not participating in dreary ports with little else to do.

 

most passengers thought the excursions were very over priced for what they did.

 

Dubai was fantastic. We prebooked Martina an English speaking lady who took us all around Dubai for four hours. hugotmi@gmx.de say Maggie told you.

 

All in all we made new friends and enjoyed the trip apart from trying to get home when Heathrow was closed. We will not book with Costa again their reception staff give differing instructions all the time.

 

The Embarkation was a complete farce we had travelled early morning flight then coach from Milan to Savona the Terminal at Savona was in chaos.....we had or number called and as we approched the desk the girl said they would have to close for a while this turned out to be 1.30hours. They never once gave an explanation there were about six girls walking up and down talking to each other but not appologising.

We were tired and hungry and eventually made it on board.

 

I could write a book but if anyone has any further questions fire ahead.

 

Maggie:cool:

[Goldryder]

Thanks for your insight Trixon....

 

Please do not take this the wrong way but....I find your critique a little confusing.

 

When I go on holiday...landbased or cruise...I never expect it to be regimented unless I do it all myself. So perhaps the organisational skills are a tad loose with Costa, that is part of the charm of it for me. I don't want everything to run like clockwork when I am away on holiday and to be honest, I seriously doubt anything would go perfectly when dealing with foreign ports of call and their often cantankerous & bizarre ways of getting things done.

 

Having worked in the travel industry myself as a coach owner/operator, I guess I have alot more empathy than most when it comes to organising groups of people....to say it can be a logistical nightmare, is an understatement of the highest order - and that is just in the UK.

 

I try not to get worked up over the cruise line or tour operator's foibles...yes, I probably could do things better myself but I am on holiday so am quite happy to hand it over to others and have a quiet giggle to myself when things go pearshaped...and I also have a giggle when I see passengers getting all hot & bothered too cos they cannot do anything about it except relax and go with the flow.

 

So maybe Costa is not for you...cest la vie....nobody is perfect but at least when things do go awry, the Italians usually do it with a smile ;)

 

As for the ports of call being dreary...erm...that is your fault for choosing the cruise itinerary really...had you done the homework about each port you may have discovered the hidden gems in each port rather than call it dreary and stay on the ship. Costa cannot be held accountable for your lack of knowledge about the ports and what they don't have.

 

Safaga is a bit dusty but it is the main port of call for further inland, I found it fascinating listening to the mosques calling to prayer...almost in competition with each other.

 

I loved Muscat...beautiful city...Salalah, well the eau de camel was a tad strong sometimes, so I went to the other side of the ship and did some ship watching...and watched the millions of sardines as they swam in frenetic patterns alongside.

 

One thing that you need to realise is that you got what you paid for...a cruise at a realistic fare and not one overpriced by Royal Caribbean.

 

Whichever cruise line you choose next time, I hope they suit your way of doing things better...the joy of having such a huge choice of ships and lines mean that we all find our niche in life.

 

Mine is Costa...they suit my laid back, unfussy & often comical sense of enjoyment perfectly.

 

:)

[Cruisin D]

Costa gets a very mixed write up on CC, and while I agree with Trixon that the drinks are a little overpriced and that some things could be done a little better.

Goldryder hits tha nail on the head though, Costa like all other cruise lines has its own vibe, a very Italian vibe. We love Costa and would travel with them in an instant. We love to study our destinations beforehand and make the choise to book a tour or try things on our own, sometimes we get it right sometimes not so. LOL

The thing that we have found with Costa is that if you go on holiday with an open mind and be prepared to do things the Italian way you will most certainly have a great holiday.

 

These are just my thoughts, I appreciate that we all want something unique from our holidays, we always get that from Costa.

[TRIXON]

Thanks for your insight Trixon....

 

Please do not take this the wrong way but....I find your critique a little confusing.

 

When I go on holiday...landbased or cruise...I never expect it to be regimented unless I do it all myself. So perhaps the organisational skills are a tad loose with Costa, that is part of the charm of it for me. I don't want everything to run like clockwork when I am away on holiday and to be honest, I seriously doubt anything would go perfectly when dealing with foreign ports of call and their often cantankerous & bizarre ways of getting things done.

 

Having worked in the travel industry myself as a coach owner/operator, I guess I have alot more empathy than most when it comes to organising groups of people....to say it can be a logistical nightmare, is an understatement of the highest order - and that is just in the UK.

 

I try not to get worked up over the cruise line or tour operator's foibles...yes, I probably could do things better myself but I am on holiday so am quite happy to hand it over to others and have a quiet giggle to myself when things go pearshaped...and I also have a giggle when I see passengers getting all hot & bothered too cos they cannot do anything about it except relax and go with the flow.

 

So maybe Costa is not for you...cest la vie....nobody is perfect but at least when things do go awry, the Italians usually do it with a smile ;)

 

As for the ports of call being dreary...erm...that is your fault for choosing the cruise itinerary really...had you done the homework about each port you may have discovered the hidden gems in each port rather than call it dreary and stay on the ship. Costa cannot be held accountable for your lack of knowledge about the ports and what they don't have.

 

Safaga is a bit dusty but it is the main port of call for further inland, I found it fascinating listening to the mosques calling to prayer...almost in competition with each other.

 

I loved Muscat...beautiful city...Salalah, well the eau de camel was a tad strong sometimes, so I went to the other side of the ship and did some ship watching...and watched the millions of sardines as they swam in frenetic patterns alongside.

 

One thing that you need to realise is that you got what you paid for...a cruise at a realistic fare and not one overpriced by Royal Caribbean.

 

Whichever cruise line you choose next time, I hope they suit your way of doing things better...the joy of having such a huge choice of ships and lines mean that we all find our niche in life.

 

Mine is Costa...they suit my laid back, unfussy & often comical sense of enjoyment perfectly.

 

:)

 

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate what you say. We did however choose Costa because we wanted to go to Dubai. We did overall enjoy our holiday. When booking excursions which are not by any means cheap we expected to get to our destinations on time and also have time to enjoy the venues which we were offered.

 

On the occasions when we opted out of Costa excursions we did not SIT ON THE SHIP as you say we did go exploring, and we had done a little homework on that subject beforehand.

 

We have been on many cruises and have always been happy with the selection of ports that the cruise line has chosen. I dont believe Costa bear this in mind when choosing their ports.

 

I did say that overall we did enjoy the holiday and did get on with it as you do on holiday.

 

The surcharge at the end of the holiday is a big Bug Bear with a lot of the passengers given this and the price of everything on board which has the 15% surcharge added the Costa is not a cheap holiday.

 

By the way try standing on deck in very cold weather while a life boat drill is conducted in seven languages. This took 3/4 hour.

 

Whilst we appreciate this has to be done couldnt Costa take each nationality out on deck and just do it just the once for them and so on.

 

Other cruises normally do this operation in a theatre or ballroom.

 

The Charm of the holiday is lost when nearly every bit of the holiday is wasted trying to get information about what is going on.

 

By the way if anyone else is reading this take time out to print out Maps of your port of calls as the Costa maps are totally useless.

 

If I won a Costa holiday tomorrow I would go but to actually pay for it. I Dont think so!!!!!

[Goldryder]

Royal Caribbean go to Dubai with Brilliance o/t Seas...but it costs at least double what you paid on Costa...so swings & roundabouts on the financial front really. Costa's German sister AIDA are also out there every year too.

 

In 2012 MSC are sending Lirica out there...and of course the up market lines are out there too.

[summersday]

Hi Trixon

It was lovely to meet you on the above cruise - as I mentioned I recognised you from your photo! We are from Gloucestershire and Lincolnshire!

This was our third cruise with Costa for us - the first and second cruise we had problems with Costa - This third cruise was purely because we were refunded the cost of our second cruise on the Europa plus a voucher for £399 each towards another cruise. So we went on this cruise to sail thru Suez.

We will not be sailing with Costa again - although I have learnt in life nothing is every set in stone!

Costa in the past and to some extent sail to destinations we want to visit - the cost of the cruise is well priced if you shop around.

My grouse with Costa - but again I am coming to the conclusion it applies to a lot of companies - they are not interested when things go wrong.

We had problems with Virgin this time - their quote was the best - I made quite clear we wanted to use the credit voucher £399 each towards the holiday also explaining why we had the vouchers etc.

When our final payment was made and they had our vouchers in their possession for 4 weeks we were then told we couldn’t use the voucher and we owed £399 X two -£798

After 3 Special delivery letters (otherwise “we have not received it”) at a cost of £5 each and also informing them I record all phone conversations regarding money/utilities - Virgin then agreed it had been an “over sight“!

Any how back to Costa - I agree the prices when on board are a joke - a tour around the ship 79euros

DVD “of your cruise” 69E and yes the photo 29E. This time we booked an excursion to the desert - 6 hours dune bashing in 4x4 - camel riding and dinner 112Euros each. It is the only excursion we have ever booked - I did consider booking on the net as you guys suggested on here - but doubt sets in and we ended up thinking well lets do it with Costa.

It was enjoyable although thinking we were going to walk in to the sun set on a camel was a joke - we were on the camel for 4 minutes - yes 4 minutes! We waited for the dinner 1and ½ hours then the belly dancing. Having said all that we did enjoy it the food was good and the belly dancer the best I have ever seen. The driver of the 4x4 was very good too.

I spoke to another couple the following day who had booked the bus city tour (you can buy the tickets in the terminal on the port side in Dubai I believe) any how they bought a one day ticket which had a one hours free trip sailing down the creek and also booked a desert dune bashing/dinner with the bus tour company - half the price we had paid. It also sounded as though they did not have the hanging around like us.

Because of the bad weather on our return we received a phone call at 11pm the night before we were due to fly back from Dubai with Virgin to Heathrow - it had been cancelled. We were told stay in you cabin and we will contact you by phone or rep at 10 in the morning. We waited until 11.15. My friend stayed in the cabin while I went to the info desk. As our transfer was by Alpha - same company as the shuttle buses and tours. I had all the info but I didn’t have a phone number and as the previous nights phone call had broken up 3 times I could’nt ask for numbers.

Any how I asked Costa please may I have a contact number for Alpha - this was refused - I explained but you deal with them you must have a number - No we are not allowed to give out numbers! So I went to the tour desk asking the same question - they refused. I asked could you ring them and ask for a number that I could call them on - they said no. If you do not buy a complete package i.e. flights are with a tour company such as Virgin then they are not interested. Although some one said people who had booked the Costa package had been taken to the air port to be told the flight had been cancelled. So they all returned back to the port.

I ran out to the terminal to see if I could see any reps - asked the Costa info desk - no help what so ever - until I found a young girl connected with Government tourism who rang 4 people for me even Virgin - yes we have booked you on a Emirates flight you must be in the car park in 10 minutes!. Now what would have happened if I hadn’t gone out to the terminal or the girl hadn’t helped! Any how we arrived back at Gatwick - no rep or transport from Virgin to get us back to Heathrow - but good old National Bus got us there/hotel.

So this will be the last Costa cruise we shall do - infact no cruise for a long time. The ports of call were enjoyable. The hard working staff are sooooo good - by that I don’t mean the officers/desk staff - Roberto our room boy was fantastic.

I am still left with disappointment by the rudeness of people on board - when I was talking to the tour desk in mid conversation a German came up beside me and started talking over me!

People can’t even be bothered to thank the waiters when plates are removed - a simple thank you in any language cost nothing - I include the English also in this criticism -

Any how take care every body and have a Happy New Year -hoping this reads ok as it’s the middle of the night as I ate far too much yesterday - Christams Day!!!!!!!!

Wont need any more food Trixon for a while!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Goldryder

 

I don't think any of us want our holidays to be "regimented" as you suggest. Many of us love the charm of different places we always do our own thing - we hate sitting on busses for hours only to be left a few minutes to see the one thing we really want to see

 

Perhaps if you'd been on the Costa Europa when it crashed at 4 in the morning - hearing people shouting and screaming - with no

announcement from Costa for one hour - your giggles may have worked wonders for us.

[Goldryder]

 

Perhaps if you'd been on the Costa Europa when it crashed at 4 in the morning - hearing people shouting and screaming - with no

announcement from Costa for one hour - your giggles may have worked wonders for us.

 

Summersday...

 

No I was not on Europa that morning when she had her fatal accident...however I did encounter what I call Virgin Bullies on my cruise this year. They were to lowest form of life I have ever encountered on a cruise (or any holiday).

 

They ganged up on staff...reducing many to tears...over the change of port from Sharm to Hurghada due to the quay being damaged in Sharm from Europa's tragedy.

 

One individual shouted out in the dining room how Costa murdered their own staff.....:mad:

 

Little did he realise that several of the waitstaff on Allegra had come from Europa and they had worked with the 3 kitchen porters who died that morning in the accident. Some of us tried to shut him up but he was way too interested in making trouble.

 

Watching hard working staff burst into tears infront of you or run into the kitchen distressed is NOT something I want to see ever again.

 

Mob mentality on cruise ships is way too common...Virgin cut the prices on cruises across the brands, MOST want something for nothing and when they don't get their demands, they chuck tantrums and upset & distress the crew.

 

Your gripe was with Virgin...I suspect no cruise line will satisfy you if you use them to book it through.

 

As for seeing the same ports as Costa.....try RCI, quadruple the cost but the same route to/from Dubai on Brilliance...but don't forget she just had a bad experience with 105 passengers hurt in high seas off Alexandria...so it seems that EVERY cruise line encounters problems, not just Costa.:rolleyes: