Costa vs. RCCL/Princess

[wailea4me]

We have cruise on Royal Caribbean and Princess several times. How does Costa compare to either of these lines?

[cruisetrail]

The comparison will be much more helpful if you name Princess and RCI ships you sailed on.

[wailea4me]

Freedom of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas, can't remember which Princess. I'm more interested in comparison of ambiance, general atmosphere, organization, etc. than in comparing ships.

[cruisetrail]

The ambiance and general atmosphere come from the ship design concept and amenities first of all.

You build your cruise by your own. The ship provides (or does not provide) various possibilities for you to build your cruise.

 

Let's take the Freedom of the Seas.

You will find the atmosphere of being at sea - vast wrap-around promenade from the bow to the stern, spacious open upper deck wuth beautiful panoramas.

 

Or, if you want a party cruise - you'll get it. Sleep until noon, stay in bars and casino, drink, dance, join the crowd on Royal Promenade in evenings.

 

If your atmosphere is sports and well being at sea - the largest fitness center, ice rink, flowrider, climing wall, mini-golf and of cousre the wrap-around promenade deck are at your service. This is where RCI excels.

 

If your atmosphere is a classy sea travel - yes, you can pick up a lot to buld it on your cruise on the Freedom (with some limitations in quality of food service and spa).

 

Best Princess ships will bring you the atmosphere of a perfect blend of all worlds in balance: design, food, entertainment, interiors, well-being, fantastic sea views (the only thing that is missing - hydropool in spa).

 

If you look at HAL Signature class ships - you'll find Princess in a smaller scale with a perfect spa added. So the atmosphere on these resort ships will be "a haven at sea".

 

Costa.

They have only 4 ships to consider (Deliziosa/Luminosa and Fascinosa/Favolosa). The last too are significantly improved Carnival Destiny class (1996).

All ships are smaller than the Freedom and provide fewer choices by design.

All four are plagued with Costa concept of dining - the worst at sea.

More details here.

 

The party atmosphere prevails on Costa (drinking, smoking, dancing).

 

It's more difficult to build your own cruise on the base of Costa ships:

1. Lack of "cruise food service" poisons the whole impression.

2. More passengers than on other cruise lines ships of the same size.

3. "Samsara" package (excellent) can alleviate the whole situation but it's very expensive.

4. Cheesy shows.

 

Overall Costa product quality is way inferior to RCI and especially Princess.

 

I would transfer the Deliziosa/Luminosa and the Fascinosa/Favolosa to a more reputable cruise line where they could become (after a small refit) beautiful cruise ships.

[CtheW0rld]

We have cruise on Royal Caribbean and Princess several times. How does Costa compare to either of these lines?

 

ignore cruisetrail. that one is a costa hater. i'll post a comparison of costa vs. princess when i get home. as far as ambiance and orginaztion, costa is louder and less elegant than princess. organization: well, not highly organized - more chaotic. i always say costa isn't for everyone, but if you want an experience that does NOT remind you of home give it a try.

 

take a look at this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1237738&highlight=princess

 

if you do an advanced search on princess, titles only 21 threads come up. hope that helps.

[Blondie008]

The Royal Promenade???? Thats a joke! I absolutely detested it! One man's meat is another man's poison! Had one experience with RCCI - in the very best suite there is - the Penthouse (the ONLY one on Explorer of the Seas - think its' name was "The Royal Suite") never ever ever again would I go Royal. All the baby grand piano, round bed with mirrored celing, gizmos and gadgets, hot tub on the balcony - was still a rubbish cruise! The live music was absolute garbage - and that "promenade" thing - oooh noooo ... The food was bland, the service - mediocre - biggest waste of hard earned cash we ever spent for sure! The only saving grace of that cruise was our daughters engagement on board - that's our happy memory - the ship - value for money = zero! Totally absolutely never ever be back with Royal! The worst worst worst ever pool band - only time on a cruise I have put ear plugs on to drown out the bad musicians!

 

Costa - have two totally different experiences, one on Magica, the other on NeoRomantica. Magica - we got what we paid for - but - comparing even it to Royal - love the live music - love the piano bars - big pluses for tiny expenditure. We had fun in the sun - paid a pittance - wouldn't do it again - no big loss though. Just not for us as a couple, more suiting to a young family with kids or teens.

NeoRomantica = the best!! LOVED IT! Fantastic ship, beautiful furnishings elegant ambience, faultless food, service and drinks. Chic, boutique style - gorgeous Martini Bar, incredible spa - decks similar to HAL - but at no charge for white linen style poster beds - not the cheapest Costa cruise, but zero bar tabs make a huge difference! Fantastic live music - beautiful dance floors few kids - perfect really... well for us - as a couple it is..

Royal closed down way earlier than Costa for sure!

Depends really on what you like in a cruise ship. Very open question. Are you a couple only? Family? Budget? There are loads of determining factors in choosing a cruise line for you.

Language - few English - if thats an issue for you dont do Costa!

Smoking - on Magica there were very few non smokers, on neoR, it was smaller percentage of smokers.

How important are casinos to you? For me - Costa lose points there, no casino bar - no ambience - For us, the best casinos were on Carnival.

What kind of cabin do you take? A suite? Suite perks on Costa are WAY better than on RCCI for sure..100% on that one!

I think you need to tell folks a bit more about what you like - I doubt any two Costa ships are the same - what is important to one person - may hold little concern to another.

Bottom line for me personally, I will return to Costa, I will not return to RCCI ...

[Dancer Bob]

If I'm in Florida looking for a cheap sell-off, I'll take any of Carnival, NCL or RC. But none of them is in the same league for dancers as Costa, so that's where most of my business goes. There is simply no other cruise line offering better value (but not on European vacation times/kids travel free promotions).

Cruisetrail is right insofar as if your priority is to waddle from one 4,000 calorie feeding station the the next, Costa is not a good choice. But my gluttony is far more restrained, I do just fine on Costa. If cruisetrail wants to see really bad food, go on Silversea. What a disappointment that ship was!