Costa SMERALDA November 2019

[Bigmaan]

Hi All

 

I have placed a deposit on the new Costa SMERALDA for a cruise departing Savona on 16th November, 2019.    We are actually doing a MSC Cruise 3/11 to 10/11/2018 from Venice.   Decided to try our luck with this brand new ship and never been on a Costa ship.    We have been 4-5 times on various Royal Carribean ships, couple of times on both Carnival ad MSC..... so hard to work out what this will be like. I figured a brand new 6000 passenger ship might be worth trying and the price was fantastic. We like nightly shows, decent food but not overly concerned but like good coffee and plenty of on board activities for the kids ( teengagers ) and love a good beer. 

 

Concerned about the weather mid to late November, 2019 ?  We are visiting Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Rome, La Spezia ..... Not that fussed about swimming and sunbaking but hoping to capture the sights in the days and not being blown away by rain....Hard to predict weather but are we being crazy fools booking a cruise this close to winter ? 

 

Finally, we are looking at booking our flights back to Australia out of Milan  so any advice on  options etc greatly appreciated.   Undecided what we will be doing from venice on 10/11 to Savona on 16th November, 2019.....  Like to be adventurous and hire a car and drive but Italian roads freak me out...

 

Kind Regards

 

Bigmaan

Sydney

Australia   

[CASPALL]

Hi there

No need to worry about anything here - it’s all good!

We cruised from Venice last November (mid to late) and got nice blue skies. You could also be lucky!

Italian public transport is very efficient so you really don’t need a car to get to Savona. There are some great places to visit on the way. Verona is a fantastic town to spend a night or 2. Milan is just a busy city but you might like to take in the sights there. If you stop at Genoa for a couple of nights you can take the train down the coast and see some very pretty little towns. We especially love Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino. Both doable in one day.

if staying in Genoa I would highly recommend the Grand Hotel Savoia as it’s just across from the train station.

We always stay in Savona the night before a cruise. The NH Darsena is right at the cruise terminal. 

You’ll get on fine on Costa. They’re very laid back - no fuss!

 

Caryl