Differences - Princess vs Costa

[Cruise2End]

Can anyone who has recently used both lines for cruises advise me of the differences between the two lines.  We have been on NCL, Celebrity, and Princess - mostly Princess.   We have an upcoming cruise with Costa and just curious what to expect.   Anyone out there with experience on both Princess and Costa?   Would love your feedback.

[JF - retired RRT]

2 hours ago, Cruise2End said:

Can anyone who has recently used both lines for cruises advise me of the differences between the two lines.  We have been on NCL, Celebrity, and Princess - mostly Princess.   We have an upcoming cruise with Costa and just curious what to expect.   Anyone out there with experience on both Princess and Costa?   Would love your feedback.

Did you post this question on the Costa board, too? 

Also, might try asking on your roll call thread.

[Cruise2End]

20 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Did you post this question on the Costa board, too? 

Also, might try asking on your roll call thread.

Yes, however there is little to no response on those boards.   As Costa is mostly used by Europeans, it appears very few are ‘Cruise Critic ‘ members, thus little info available which is why I thought I might get some response here....just hoping.   Thanks! 

[Bayouqueen]

It's been about 10 yrs since I cruised Costa. The food was not good for the first 3 days then it improved, worse coffee I have ever drank. Announcements  will be in several languages. At that time, ship was beautiful. It was a transatlantic cruise .

 

[JSandage]

16 hours ago, Cruise2End said:

Can anyone who has recently used both lines for cruises advise me of the differences between the two lines.  We have been on NCL, Celebrity, and Princess - mostly Princess.   We have an upcoming cruise with Costa and just curious what to expect.   Anyone out there with experience on both Princess and Costa?   Would love your feedback.

I personally don't like Costa but it has been about 10 years since we sailed on them. We did 2 cruises and they were Rock n Roll cruises put on by Concerts at Sea. If not for the fun concerts and partying with the bands we never would have gone again. We have been on Princess 4 times and will be going again in 5 days on Princess to Alaska. The Costa ship was nice, our room was very nice (we had a suite), the butler was wonderful, the crew was great. Food was mediocre and service in the dining rooms was terrible. All things that could very well have improved since then. Enjoy your cruise!

[Cruise2End]

Thank you for your feedback.    While I definitely want to try to see the glass half full, sometimes expectations can be too high.   So I find it’s easier just to know the pitfalls beforehand and then work around them.    Enjoy your Alaskan cruise!!!

[Cruise2End]

3 hours ago, Bayouqueen said:

It's been about 10 yrs since I cruised Costa. The food was not good for the first 3 days then it improved, worse coffee I have ever drank. Announcements  will be in several languages. At that time, ship was beautiful. It was a transatlantic cruise .

 

Well it’s good to know they at least offer you coffee.    I plan to take some coffee and tea bags - assuming hot water is available.    No one on the ship would want to live with a decaffenated me !!   😂 

[laughing husky]

1 hour ago, Cruise2End said:

Well it’s good to know they at least offer you coffee.    I plan to take some coffee and tea bags - assuming hot water is available.    No one on the ship would want to live with a decaffenated me !!   😂 

Have been thinking about doing Costa myself.  It is hard to imagine a basically European ship being without coffee.  Typically coffee in Europe is much stronger than American coffee.  Maybe that is why most Americans don't like it.  I have no problem with announcement in several languages or being around mostly Europeans.  Have lived in several parts of Europe off and on for years.  They have some very interesting ports that most "American" cruises don't go to and the price is usually wonderful.  Hopefully they have taken steps to avoid drunk Captains these days...:)  I think I just talked myself into one.  🙂 

 

[BarbinMich]

1 hour ago, laughing husky said:

. . . They have some very interesting ports that most "American" cruises don't go to and the price is usually wonderful.  . . .

 

Curious as to what ports those are which US cruise ships don't go to, avoid or whatever, but Costa does call at.  Thanks!

[laughing husky]

Martinique, Tortola, (for the most part) Dominican Republic, St Lucia, different ports in Europe such as Marseilles...Savona...take a look at some of their cruises.  They are ports that many of my European friends want to go to visit. 

 

[laughing husky]

there is an excellent review right now on Costa CC boards about a TA that a couple just took for her retirement from the air force.  I would suggest that you take a look at it.  She has posted lots of photos as well as all of the menus on the ship.

[beg3yrs]

We've been on three Costa Cruises and at the time we'd sailed Carnival, NCL and Celebrity as well. And, like other posters, it was just over 10 years ago.

 

Loved the two cruises on their more modern ships but the Costa Classica was awful. That ship is gone so no worries there.

 

They're Italian! They're gawdy! They're loud! Did I say they're Italian? Yes, announcements will be in up to five languages and English won't be first or even second on the list. It was fun for us to try to figure out what was being said and then hear it in English. DW is fluent in Spanish so if the Spanish announcement came before the English one, she got her answers first.

 

If you like an international mix of people, this could be for you. We tried Princess right after the Costa Classica cruise and haven't been back to Costa but ... we'd certainly consider going back with them if the stars aligned right.

 

One caveat, ship's excursions are divided up by language. We had several canceled because not enough English speakers signed up. Took one in Spanish so DW could translate for me. Took another in German just because we really wanted to see the places. Some of the other German speakers also spoke English so they helped out.

[imsailin]

We sailed on the Costa Mediterania  (sp?) it was about 6 years ago. Our room was wonderful. The ship is extremely clean and beautiful - not one bit tacky. I don't know what they do but the air flow all over the ship but it was amazing - I have never had a better sleep than I did on this ship. The food was good - similar to Princess. The only complaint was the entertainment in the theatre - not so good. Hope this helps - I am sure you will love the cruise.

[beg3yrs]

Oh yes, entertainment! Comedy will be more visual than verbal, probably because of language issues.

[MishelleMcc]

We have our first Princess cruise scheduled for December so I can't compare Costa to Princess yet and most of our previous cruises have been HAL but we did sail Costa Last year.  Here is my full trip report at the time:

 

"Costa Deliziosa Jan 13 2018 10 day Caribbean Cruise

Our travel documents said that we could begin boarding at 13:00.  We arrived at about 13:30 and it was a Zoo!!  It took over two hours to complete!  We were moved by group through three different rooms.  We waited the longest in the last room.  Only 2 crew members to check boarding tickets to board the ship was seriously inadequate.  Then once aboard, crew herded everyone to elevators to go to buffet.  I’ve never boarded a ship and not been allowed to navigate freely.   We were told the cabins weren’t available and an announcement would be made over the PA when they were, which never happened.  We took a chance and went up at about 16:30 and the room was ready and our luggage already delivered!

We had to switch out our cards... as others have said, the previously purchased drink plan (Piu Gusto)   was not listed on them. We used the receipt that I printed off at home to obtain our first drinks.  The bartender said that my receipt showed a cost $30.00 pp higher than the schedule he had.  So we questioned the price at customer service when we went to exchange our cards and she first said she didn’t have the ability to adjust pricing for previously purchased services, and when I said that I would check with Corporate after the Cruise, she asked to look at my receipt again and then stated the bartender was wrong and that the schedule he had was $30.00 pp more than what we paid.  I think she was lying but since I didn’t see the schedule, I can’t prove it.

Even though we knew in advance that the departure was at 23:00 the wait for Bon Voyage was agonizing!  Ha!  I did later confirm that this is done to allow for late flight arrivals from Europe.

We originally booked an Aft Premium Balcony through Costa.  We later found through an online TA, a lower price for an Aft Mini Suite at a savings of $469 pp!  I called Costa to ask if they were okay with my cancelling the first booking to book through the TA and he was very encouraging and said that it was a regular travel partner of theirs and to feel confident in their services!  And that once new reservation was complete, to call Costa back with the new booking number and they would cancel the old booking and move my deposit over to the new booking!  This was accomplished easily and I realized afterward that they would have no problems re-renting the original cabin at a higher price so this was a win – win for both parties! 

We loved our Mini Suite!  Although it does not have the amenities that full suites have, we were surprised that we indeed did have a coffee machine in our cabin!  The pods are $.50 ea so we opted not to use it.  We did not receive the mini-bar price list until the 3^rd day but knew there would be a cost so didn’t use it either. The TV is not interactive and there are no game consoles.  In fact we were unable to retrieve messages and the TV would start flipping through channels on its own. There are no English speaking movie channels but two foreign speaking movie channels.  …About 3 or 4 English speaking news channels... cbs, abc, cnn Asia and another Asian documentary channel that we enjoyed. The cabin was spacious!  Although I’d previously read that the storage was inadequate, we found that for a 10 day cruise we had enough room for our clothes and belongings.  The Head is small but the glass shower stall is a nice upgrade.  The balcony was delightful!  It was not windy (as port or starboard balconies are) well shaded and the balcony chairs were quite comfortable! Our Cabin Steward was responsive and did a great job!

Morning room service is very limited for “premium” cabins / mini suites. (the only benefits derived over “classic” cabins are this limited room service and ability to choose early or late dinner seating and maybe a better cabin location.  You would have to decide for yourself if these meager benefits are worth price difference) Full room service for breakfast $7:00 pp. premium or not. 

Dinner experience (always something I look forward to on a cruise) was delightful! We chose 1^st seating, upper deck.  We liked the variety and pacing of the courses.  Always managed to eat something great and usually ate too much!  Our waiter was excellent and prompt.  Never an empty glass!  We noticed that we consistently received our dishes before those on the main floor!  It may be because of the large dance group presence, but I was pleased to see most diners beautifully coiffed at dinner!

Here is the dress code/themes:  Nights 1 & 2 – Informal.  Night 3 – Gala (formal).  Night 4 – Tropical.   Night 5 – Masquerade/Informal (wear Masks!).  Night 6 – White Night!  Night 7 – Casual. Night 8 – Formal.  Night 9 – Casual.  Night 10 – Green, White & Red!  (Italian night!).

Key West: one ship in port. (Us!) It was cold and windy but we still enjoyed walking around and stopping for appetizers.  Everyone was friendly!  We even saw a newly married couple, in full bridal costume, returning to our ship!  They got married in Key West! What a wonderful memory for them!

1st sea day:  Experienced a little rough Seas but that was the worst of the trip.  There were lots of activities on board.  Lunched at buffet. Octopus was inedible. Other foods were disappointing as well. We avoided the buffet after that.

The great banana hunt! I was getting leg cramps and repeatedly asked buffet, room service and customer service for bananas. They all said they didn’t have bananas. Really? After another agonizing talk with customer service, we got two bananas. Low and behold, on fourth day, buffet had large bowls of bananas! And they were gone at 09:40 – both the bowls and bananas!  Three days later, we received 2 more!  Desperate times call for desperate measures!  I Started each morning with banana coladas (double the bananas NOT the liquor!)

The Diario di Bordo. Comes late evenings for next day. Found out what time excursions are at that time. A bit concerning to me as there is no coffee available on board ship before 07:00. Had to call customer service as soon as I realized this and insist on 06:00 coffee service for following morning! Very upsetting to me as I did not expect the timing issue or the reluctance of customer service to help me. I did manage to get this done after raising my voice and insisting. Totally not necessary for them to allow the issue to escalate like that.  We later spoke with Ciara during “hospitality time” and she told us that the room service time adjusts depending on ship’s arrival time in port. So if reaching port at 08:00, then room service is available at 07:00. If ship arriving at 07:00 then room service available at 06:00. If arriving at 06:00 then room service at 05:00.  HOWEVER, we attempted to get 0600 coffee room service the morning we arrived in Roatan ( 07:00 arrival time).  Room service DID NOT deliver until 06:50. Also, we always ordered 2 coffees, 1 hot milk, 2 hot coco packages, 1 OJ and sometimes croissants each morning.  They had 9 mornings to get this right and they never did.  So my conclusion is that this department is not customer oriented and needs a robust overhaul!   (btw, we continued to tip the delivery person each morning in spite of this)

Grand Cayman: Five ships in port. Very crowded. Turtle farm and rum cake factory tour. The turtle Farm was very crowded and I felt we didn’t get the full sea turtle experience I had on a previous cruise 15 yrs ago but it was still entertaining thanks to our guide! Made for an interesting trip and we made great acquaintance with our bus-mates!

Sea day... warm and raining! Pool/hot tub pump problems...  We were aft deck 8 and that is where these pumps were located.  They opened the doors and the compartment was flooded and hot!  They managed to fix the problem that day.  The Next morning, they were going to perform an electrical system test.  Don’t know if it was related or not but The Diario di bordo stated that areas of the ship would be without electricity for several minutes.  This would effect elevators, air-conditioning, etc.  They even made an announcement 15 minutes prior to the scheduled test.  We made sure any electrical needs we had were out of the way prior to that.  Ultimately, the test was cancelled.  It was an ominous sign when the hall lights outside our door started flickering after the cancelled test!  Ha!  But that was rectified that day!  Ha!

Roatan: one ship in port.(Us!)  It stormed all the previous night and it was truly torrential! Amazing experience! It’s been said that there are two kinds of people when it rains: some who get wet and some who FEEL the rain!!  The port was very nice.  It rained lightly through the morning and was cloudy during day. You don’t need to pre purchase “swing” tickets. They are same price ashore. It’s actually a ski lift. We took a lot of pictures on there. We really enjoyed the beach... walked to the end and had a nice spot to ourselves.  

Sea Day:  Warm and beautiful!  We made acquaintance with many couples on this trip (4 of which we exchanged emails and addresses with!)  We very much enjoyed the mix of Europeans and a few Americans.  We socialized, gambled and napped.  It was a great day!

Belize:   one ship in port.(Us!)  20 minute tender to shore. Diario di bordo warns of crime and to be vigilant. Sure enough... went to shops and restaurant in port. Ordered cocktail at entrance of a restaurant to the right.  Then went in for an appetizer and more. When we settled the bill, we walked out on dock for pictures and as we walked back, a restaurant worker said we still owed for the first drinks ordered at entrance. We knew that was b.s. but paid it with no extra tip. We had observed another table having problems with a credit card and one of the gentleman went back to ship for cash. In hindsight, we wonder now if there was another fleecing under way.

Costa Maya: two ships in port. (HAL arrived at 12:30.) Very nice port area. Dolphins, flamingos, & parrots. Lots of shops and restaurants/bars. First one we ate at watered down the wine! Hope they used bottled water! Second one, down by the little beach wonderful spot! Started raining on way back to ship and we were drenched! Had to take off my glasses to see!

Cozumel:  2 ships in port.  We docked at the “down town” port and walked throughout town with another couple we made acquaintance with on the ship.  The other couple had been there before and also to other areas in the vicinity. It was a sleepy Sunday and enjoyed the park and appetizers at a nearby restaurant.    We really did enjoy this port.  It had an “Old Mexico” feel.

Sea Day:  Last day of the Cruise.  Seems like everyone was out and about the ship this day!  This was the most crowded we’d experienced even compared to the other two sea days.  It felt festive and busy!  We took lunch in the dining room.  Not many people chose to do this that day.  The food was COLD.  So sigh, another disappointing meal.  We missed dinner but met up with friends that evening!

Disembarkation:  The ship arrives in Port Everglades at 06:00.  The airport is only a few miles from the port.  There is no room service this morning and they did remove the coffee machines. The Buffet is open 06:15 – 09:00.   If you desire to self-disembark, the earliest time would be 07:15 and you must manage your own luggage and transportation.  If you want to utilize this method, you must register with customer service the last 2-3 days of the cruise so that they can arrange your immigration clearance prior to the rest of the passengers.  General disembarkation starts (by color coded groups) at about 07:30 to 11:30.  Cabins must be vacated by 09:30.  As we were not flying out until the next day, we left at about 09:30.  Luckily we’d been assigned 08:30 so they let us go right away whilst there was a very long queue for the other groups of that time.  U.S. Immigration was about 30 minutes since there were so few of us.  The Europeans were not so lucky….  Their queue was horrendous and I have no idea how long they languished.

Overall impressions:  We really did have a wonderful trip!  We spent 4 days in Lauderdale by the Sea prior to cruise just to relax and unwind and were ready for adventure when we boarded Costa Deliziosa!  The ship is bright and shiny!  The public areas (including restrooms) were very clean and well maintained.  Our cabin showed its age and desperately needs the mattresses and TV replaced.  We enjoyed the entertainment and music on board even though there is no way to experience it all.  The Piu Gusto drink package was a great bargain as it includes Cappuccinos and ice coffee – delicious as well as alcohol!!  I had 2-4 of those a day! I am going through caffeine withdrawals as I type!  Ha!  If you can, book an Aft balcony, it was wonderful!! Customer service and room service departments desperately need an overhaul.  It felt like they would find ways to say no before trying to find a way to say yes.

Would we sail Costa again?  DW says no but I say Sure!  There are no bad days cruising!!  If you have any questions, just ask away!  Happy Sailing!!"

[MishelleMcc]

It's been a while since I've read this and two more things come to mind: 

 

1.  Costa DOES allow smoking on balconies.  It's the reason we tried them - we are smokers. (I know, I know...tsk tsk...)

2.  The drink package INCLUDES Cappuccinos and there is an espresso machine at EVERY BAR!!!!  loved loved loved this!!!!  😎

[tcdcruiser]

4 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

We've been on three Costa Cruises and at the time we'd sailed Carnival, NCL and Celebrity as well. And, like other posters, it was just over 10 years ago.

 

Loved the two cruises on their more modern ships but the Costa Classica was awful. That ship is gone so no worries there.

 

They're Italian! They're gawdy! They're loud! Did I say they're Italian? Yes, announcements will be in up to five languages and English won't be first or even second on the list. It was fun for us to try to figure out what was being said and then hear it in English. DW is fluent in Spanish so if the Spanish announcement came before the English one, she got her answers first.

 

If you like an international mix of people, this could be for you. We tried Princess right after the Costa Classica cruise and haven't been back to Costa but ... we'd certainly consider going back with them if the stars aligned right.

 

One caveat, ship's excursions are divided up by language. We had several canceled because not enough English speakers signed up. Took one in Spanish so DW could translate for me. Took another in German just because we really wanted to see the places. Some of the other German speakers also spoke English so they helped out.

 

Cruised many, many times with Princess and once with Costa.  I can agree with the general observation from above.  Costa is culturally very different.  As an english speaker only, the entertainment events are quite a challenge or even a waste of time. 

 

 

[silversneakers]

On 5/12/2019 at 5:49 PM, Cruise2End said:

Can anyone who has recently used both lines for cruises advise me of the differences between the two lines.  We have been on NCL, Celebrity, and Princess - mostly Princess.   We have an upcoming cruise with Costa and just curious what to expect.   Anyone out there with experience on both Princess and Costa?   Would love your feedback.

We did a Costa cruise out of Stockholm about 2 years ago.  There were about a dozen Americans on the cruise and the rest mostly from Italy and Spain. It was just okay and I personally would not sail with them again.  The pricing was right and it fit our schedule before we boarded a Holland America Cruise in Amsterdam.

[Cruise2End]

7 hours ago, MishelleMcc said:

We have our first Princess cruise scheduled for December so I can't compare Costa to Princess yet and most of our previous cruises have been HAL but we did sail Costa Last year.  Here is my full trip report at the time:

 

Thank you for the detailed review.    Sounds like it will be a true “adventure “ for us.    

[MishelleMcc]

12 hours ago, Cruise2End said:

Thank you for the detailed review.    Sounds like it will be a true “adventure “ for us.    

You will have a great time!  The Europeans are very friendly!!!  No bad days cruising!! 

[mystik]

On 5/12/2019 at 6:49 PM, Cruise2End said:

Can anyone who has recently used both lines for cruises advise me of the differences between the two lines.  We have been on NCL, Celebrity, and Princess - mostly Princess.   We have an upcoming cruise with Costa and just curious what to expect.   Anyone out there with experience on both Princess and Costa?   Would love your feedback.

We have been on both companies many times. Service is the same and the ship also what i find different is the food, Costa has alot of italien food which is excellent, also the guess are more international. The shows are differente. They have alot more parties themes. (this is for costa) you will like it i sure. 

[mystik]

On 5/13/2019 at 2:05 PM, laughing husky said:

Martinique, Tortola, (for the most part) Dominican Republic, St Lucia, different ports in Europe such as Marseilles...Savona...take a look at some of their cruises.  They are ports that many of my European friends want to go to visit. 

 

you are right for the ports different from other company we do costa because of the ports. 

[donaldsc]

On 5/14/2019 at 10:35 AM, MishelleMcc said:

You will have a great time!  The Europeans are very friendly!!!  No bad days cruising!! 

 

I am not picking on you but responding to you and the many others on CC who say "No bad days cruising".  That is an absurd statement.  I can think of lots of scenarios that we make a day cruising bad and sometimes really bad.  Let's be realistic here.  Of course, there are also very many days cruising that are good but your statement is simplistic.

 

DON

[Steelers36]

On 5/14/2019 at 12:44 AM, Cruise2End said:

Thank you for the detailed review.    Sounds like it will be a true “adventure “ for us.    

I have to ask... did you not investigate/research Costa before booking with them?

 

[tailspintom]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

I am not picking on you but responding to you and the many others on CC who say "No bad days cruising".  That is an absurd statement.  I can think of lots of scenarios that we make a day cruising bad and sometimes really bad.  Let's be realistic here.  Of course, there are also very many days cruising that are good but your statement is simplistic.

 

DON

Perhaps we can take exception to your absurd and simplistic statement that of "there are also very many days cruising that are good". Perhaps there are those who find no day is good on a particular cruise. You are right that you are not "picking on" the person.  It is worse, you are being condescending.