Costa Secrets they usually don't tell you about

[Mjasp]

Oooh I like that secret. I would have never thought of that. Thanks

[Cruise4Andy]

Thanks, Pigsty333!! Great hint... I'll try that!

 

Andy

[coopeg2]

We are travelling Magica Feb 12 and would like to know if anyone has used private companies in either St Maarten, Tortola or Nassua for excurisons and what excursions are recommended for these ports. Two families of 4 with kids ranging from 13 to 17.

 

Stoon Traveler

[Joyce and Tim]

We're traveling on the Victoria in March/April in Greece. Any hints about this ship or European cruises on Costa in general?

We anticipate a more international group of pax, more Italian style dining (later start, no iced tea, e.g.) all of which delight us. More smoking, which we'll deal with. Anything else? We're looking forward to "remaining in Italy" while cruising to Greece!

[goldencup]

I did the Costa Victoria 'Grecian Splendour' cruise in 2004 and the whole family thoroughly enjoyed it. The ports were all good except Bari (San Torini probably being the highlight). We couldn't fault the food or entertainment and the ship is beautiful.

[GA Shag Girl]

Having last sailed on Norwegian Spirit, we were allowed to wait in our rooms until our color was called for debarkation. Does Costa make you go to the public rooms?

[Cruise4Andy]

Yes, Costa usually wants you in certain public areas, until it's your time for disembarkation. If you are cruising in a suite, you have a special waiting area, otherwise it is usually the buffet area or the theatre.

 

Andy

[jeb9860]

If you are travelling with children, head straight to Virtual World when you embark, they have a selection of the video games for free until the ship leaves port. Also at the Kids Club they offer group babysitting from 11.30pm to 1.30am every evening except the first with 24 hours notice. This is a free service and if you don't ask about it they won't offer it. We used this service alot on our cruises but we did give them a tip each evening when we picked the boys up. We asked them if other people did and they said no. They never refused to watch our boys so a few dollars for an evening without the boys was well worth it.

[Colton's dad]

On the Costa Fortuna in August we had Lindor chocolates on the pillow because we are in the Costa Club but I can't say it was an important feature of the cruise. I did, however, hear of somebody who had rather too much to drink on the first evening and collapsed in her bed unaware of the chocolate nestling on her pillow. She woke in rather a mess the following morning....

The cruise Director on the Carnival Miracle stated in his 10 dumbest question talk:confused: , "why does the room steward keep putting the single pac of butter on my pillow" :eek: . BTW that came right after , " does this elevator take us to the Front of the ship" :D C YA , enjoy

[randych]

If you are travelling with children, head straight to Virtual World when you embark, they have a selection of the video games for free until the ship leaves port.

 

My son will love this tip :) . Which ship is this for? All of them? We're scheduled to sail on the Mediterranea in April.

[jeb9860]

We were on the Atlantica last year and the Mediterranea this year, so I can only imagine it is fleet wide.

[Mjasp]

If you are travelling with children, head straight to Virtual World when you embark, they have a selection of the video games for free until the ship leaves port.

 

Which video system do they have on the ship? Does every cabin have one?

So you just have to go get games?

 

TIA

[jeb9860]

Virtual world is an arcade and the games are free in there. They do not have a game system in the cabins.

[Mjasp]

Cool, thanks for the tip

[JoshGrrrr]

Surely there are more tips.

 

I'm new to Costa, I need all the help I can get.

[cedez]

Host star: you mention being Costa Club members. Apr 2 will be our third cruise with Costa and we've signed up but have yet to receive our Costa Club number, did you receive one and if so what did you do to get it?

[lskoob]

We're traveling on the Victoria in March/April in Greece. Any hints about this ship or European cruises on Costa in general?

We anticipate a more international group of pax, more Italian style dining (later start, no iced tea, e.g.) all of which delight us. More smoking, which we'll deal with. Anything else? We're looking forward to "remaining in Italy" while cruising to Greece!

Joyce and Tim

I'm cruising the Greek Islands on Costa Victoria in June 2006. I found lots of tips in this thread by DrCrovatt. Hope you find it helpful too.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=189172

[goldencup]

Host star: you mention being Costa Club members. Apr 2 will be our third cruise with Costa and we've signed up but have yet to receive our Costa Club number, did you receive one and if so what did you do to get it?

 

I am a Costa Club member, having done two cruises with them. We signed up after the first one and received the cards through the post a couple of months after the cruise. When it came to booking the next cruise it only gave a discount if booking through Costa direct which worked out far more expensive than using a TA so we didn't bother. On the second cruise we were only given the standard Costa key cards at first so we queried this at the desk and had them replaced with Coral cards. This meant we were invited to a small party with canapes and cocktails during the cruise but I think that was about it!

[little britain]

Thanks a lot for all these hints - especially like the one about the spa and sauna that you can use for free!

A few other questions:

• Is there a cinema or are there movies in the theatre or on your cabin tv?
  
• Someone posted the wine was expensive - can you let me know the price of a bottle of house white wine?
  
• Is there anywhere to get fresh made cookies during the day?
  
• Do they do a buy 5 bottles get the 6th one free deal on wine?
  
• Do they do a soda card - and if so how much?
  
• Is the soda diet coke or pepsi?
  
• Can you get the tip automaticaly added to your end bill [we are used to NCL and they just auto add $10pp pd] which makes it sooo much easier?

thanks

[taszmom]

Thanks a lot for all these hints - especially like the one about the spa and sauna that you can use for free!

A few other questions:

• Is there a cinema or are there movies in the theatre or on your cabin tv?
  
• Someone posted the wine was expensive - can you let me know the price of a bottle of house white wine?
  
• Is there anywhere to get fresh made cookies during the day?
  
• Do they do a buy 5 bottles get the 6th one free deal on wine?
  
• Do they do a soda card - and if so how much?
  
• Is the soda diet coke or pepsi?
  
• Can you get the tip automaticaly added to your end bill [we are used to NCL and they just auto add $10pp pd] which makes it sooo much easier?

thanks

 

 

I can answer some of your questions...

There are PPV movies in your stateroom

 

I don't think the wine was expensive. They have 2 wine packages which include 5 bottles, plus mineral water. First level is $119, better package for $130.

 

They have a Boys & Girls card for $56 - 20 non-alcoholic drinks including smoothies, juices & sodas.

 

They have Coke products (I'm addicted to Pepsi myself)

Grat are automatically charged to your onboard accounts - all cruise lines do this now, Costa is no exception. The grat is actually less than $10 per person/per day and younger children are only charged 50%

[mr_alex2]

- The tip is $8.50/person/day. (Costa Med) automatically, we added extra.

- AS someone said before - dont wait inline to register your credit card. If you haven't done so by the end of the week, you will get a notice in your cabin and you can go to guest services before youe leave.

 

- Disembarkation, they assign colors, but there is nothing special about that, it's just crowd control. We just woke up late, went to the breakfast buffet and hung out till the cruise was almost empty and by that time, they called all the numbers. We just walked right off and got our luggage (which was easy to spot becuase so many were already gone)

 

TIP - bring a radio??? my wife and I brought a portable CD player to listen in our cabin.

 

TIP - Wine on the ship is inexpensive, we borught our own though. I brought aboard 6 bottles. I also brought a case of pepsi, water, and gatorade. No hassle.

 

TIP - you can empty your mini-bar and use it as your own personal fridge! this was great!

 

TIP - Possibly illegal, but we walked off the ship with approx 10 bottles of liqour purchased abraod - really cheap. No checks...

 

ENJOY!!!

Alex

[starr517]

Just so you know, we went on the Costa Atlantica 2 years ago and my husband ordered the caesar salad the first night out and did not realize that the anchovies were a part of it. The waiter told us that the next time we ordered it to just tell him and he would make sure they sliced a chicken breast on it for us. It was wonderful that way and I guess we ordered it every night after that.:D

[Geoshar]

Our first cruise ever was on Costa Mediteranea Eastern Caribbean last month . We found the ship spotless, staff friendly and thoroughly enjoyed our vacation.

We had a veranda stateroom, and now would not go any other way.It was wonderful to sit and watch the sun set over the ocean.

 

I do have one tip. When we sat on our bed, we found the mattress to be very thin, and the bed very hard.We are seniors, so this was going to be a possible problem with our arthritic backs.

When we mentioned this to our stewardess, she brought in additional mattresses and placed them on top of the originals, as well as two extra pillows.It was like sleeping on a cloud.

 

We took several shore excursions, and found for the most part, all were a bit overpriced. Many could have been done by taxi cheaper on our own.

 

The part of the afternoon we spent on Catalina island was delightful.

We wished we had spent more time there instead of side excursions.

The tour of St Thomas, and Skyride were both enjoyable.

 

(;-) For first time cruisers, if you are interested... I have posted 77 photos of the ship and shore excursions in a photo album on WebShots ...you can browse them here.

http://community.webshots.com/user/geoshar-date

[Brian Raine]

I do not know if it applies to the Caribbean sector but in the Med you can buy your "duty free" alcohol on day one and take to your cabin. Costa's prices were very competetive with onshore "duty free" ( which is not , technically , allowed in the EU).

[GOLDENBONNY]

Our first cruise ever was on Costa Mediteranea Eastern Caribbean last month . We found the ship spotless, staff friendly and thoroughly enjoyed our vacation.

We had a veranda stateroom, and now would not go any other way.It was wonderful to sit and watch the sun set over the ocean.

 

I do have one tip. When we sat on our bed, we found the mattress to be very thin, and the bed very hard.We are seniors, so this was going to be a possible problem with our arthritic backs.

When we mentioned this to our stewardess, she brought in additional mattresses and placed them on top of the originals, as well as two extra pillows.It was like sleeping on a cloud.

 

We took several shore excursions, and found for the most part, all were a bit overpriced. Many could have been done by taxi cheaper on our own.

 

The part of the afternoon we spent on Catalina island was delightful.

We wished we had spent more time there instead of side excursions.

The tour of St Thomas, and Skyride were both enjoyable.

 

(;-) For first time cruisers, if you are interested... I have posted 77 photos of the ship and shore excursions in a photo album on WebShots ...you can browse them here.

http://community.webshots.com/user/geoshar-date

 

GREAT PICTURES:D I CANNT WAIT TO GO.SPECIALLY WHEN I SEE SAME CRUISE DIRECTOR(AND HIS HELPERS)THAT WE HAD ON ATLANTICA 2 YEARS AGO:D