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First cruise with Costa, maybe .....


heatherb1958
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Hi all, have cruised a few lines but just doing some research on Costa out of Barcelona for next year on the new biggie  Smeralda, specifically a deal which includes the Brindiamo drinks package.

I have searched the net for a breakdown of the actual drinks included and could only find a PDF from Costacruisesasia.com ! 

There is something on there which I have no clue what it is , it says from “ the Chocolate bar “. Is this chocolate drinks, bars of chocolate or ice cream ?  I have no clue.

 

I drink lots of water , and I mean lots, on cruise ships due to the increased salt intake from the food, if water is served by the glass with the package what are my chances of a bottle/ jug being left on the table ? 

 

Thanks .

Edited by heatherb1958
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I don't use alcohol, so if that's what you're asking I'm not sure, but I think house red and white wine, plus a few mixed drinks, as well as several non alcoholic cocktails. The drink menus are marked with coloured dots which are a bit hard to see. Capucchino is included and recommended.

Water depends on the waiter, they're usually allowed to leave the bottle on the table, although if you take it with you, they have to charge. If you find you're drinking faster than the waiter can refill, you should certainly talk to the maitre d'.

The Chocolate Bar is a bar which serves various kinds of chocolates.

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Dancer Bob,

 

Can you clarify are you talking chocolate as in drinks because if they are giving away free chocolate I think my other half will not be moving from the chocolate counter until I roll him to bed!

 

But drinks sound awesome I must say

 

As for the brindiamo package I have it on my 2 upcoming cruises :

“Brindiamo” Beverage Package Apéritifs & Vermouth Tio Pepe / Aperol / Bitter Campari / Martini Rosso, Bianco, Dry / Pastis / Pernod 45 / Ricard / Campari Soda / Crodino /

Flûte Asti Spumante Martini & Rossi, Prosecco DOC “Valdo”

 

Beers International Draught Beer Beer (alcohol free)

Fruit Juices Pear / Peach / Apricot Pineapple / Orange / Grapefruit Soft Drinks and Mineral Water Sodas / Tonic water/ Bitter Lemon

Lemon Iced Tea Peach Iced Tea Syrup with water by glass

Mineral Water Sparkling or Natural

Hot Beverages Illy Espresso Decaffeinated Illy Iced Coffee Illy Caffè Shakerato Illy Cappuccino Illy “Corretto” “Dammann” Tea Selection

From the Chocolate Bar Coconut, Mint, Meringue, Hazelnut, Strawberry, Pistachio, Orange, Cinnamon, White, Extra Milk, Extra Dark, Light, Hot or cold Chocolate

Wines by glass DOC White Wines DOC Red Wines

Grappa Nonino Selezione Speciale Vuisinar Segnana Bianca Cognac Cognac *** Cognac V.S Whisky Ballantine’s, J&B Johnnie Walker Red Jim Beam Canadian Club, Jameson Dewar’s White Label Gin Beefeater, Gordon’s, Gilbey’s Vodka Smirnoff, Stolichnaya, Gilbey’s Rum Bacardi Bianco Bacardi Gold Bacardi Limón Myer’s Brandy Vecchia Romagna E.N., Fundador Tequila Jose Cuervo Fortified Wines Harveys Bristol Cream Sandeman Ruby Port Bitters Averna Cynar Jägermeister Fernet Branca Branca Menta Montenegro Ramazzotti Amaro Lucano

Bacardi Breezer Lime, Grapefruit, Orange, Pineapple

Liqueurs Disaronno Drambuie Peachtree Kahlua Tia Maria Limoncello Sambuca Southern Comfort

Cocktails Alcoholfree Colibrì Fruit Punch Pink Panther Squok Shirley Temple

 

I do think that this is a decent selection of drinks..... Still undecided on the Piu Gusto upgrade for our 19nt cruise but I'll decide after the 3 nighter in October 

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Thanks for the replies 

 

The PDF I have does give a full break down of the drinks available on the Brindiamo package was just not sure what the Chocolate Bar encompassed or even if it is a current list as I downloaded it from the Costacruisesasia  site. 

Could not find a current list on the UK site , only gives a brief description.

We have put the cruise on hold and will probably book it later in the week. 

 

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If I remember correctly the chocolate bar has a separate drinks menu. I don't think the chocolates are included in any of the packages but some speciality coffees are. The ones with alcohol are not even on the Piu gusto. They also have lovely looking cakes for a charge at the chocolate bar. 

 

In all my Costa cruising days I have never stopped there🤔

 

Riana

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The chocolate bar is a 'fountain' which does all sorts of 'Dips', coffees, cakes & ice cream all which are chargeable except coffee's on most packages.

 

There is no reason to up-grade your drink package unless you prefer premium drinks, just pay the extra for any you fancy it will work out cheaper. I would suggest the water package which you can purchase prior or on the cruise. That plus the glasses of water you can get at any bar/restaurant will be ample, water in the cabin is chargeable roughly 3euros with the 15% for 1.75 litres. We always take a glass back to cabin each time we return & leave it in the fridge.

 

Booking a Costa cruise now you have to pay 25% deposit but only lose £50 pp if you decide not to go before final payment date., 

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I usually upgrade to the piu gusto as there is more choice of cocktails.

I take a refillable water bottle with me and fill it up with water by the glass to keep in my fridge. They are only allowed to give you two glasses at a time.

I have never noticed a chocolate bar on a ship.

You can order a coffee, I like a latte machiato , and a bailey's or kahlua at the same time.

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This is a screen shot of the PDF I found online . Notice the chocolate bar included items.

I have no idea if this list is current as I cannot find anything else online . 

It is a moot point now as we have now booked the cruise which included the Brindiamo package as part of the deal. Happy days .

5DC317F1-1425-4AA2-9A3B-12BF6277E8E9.jpeg

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On Diadema, you can get the chocolate drinks from an area that looks like an ice cream parlor.

In the drinks package we had you could get 'cold chocolate', which was like milkshake or 'hot chocolate', which was really thick and rich - more like a desert than a drink - amazing! Both were available in lots of flavours.

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On Luminosa the gelato shop had two sides -- the actual gelato shop and then the "chocolate" shop.  Per the menu and as others have described -- they have some drinks you can order like hot chocolate or milkshake-like creations --  but I think the name is primarily because they sell chocolates (i.e. like a little Godiva shop).  It was where I went most mornings for my coffee as they have the Illy Espesso machine (I had the same beverage package).

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On 7/7/2019 at 9:21 PM, heatherb1958 said:

This is a screen shot of the PDF I found online . Notice the chocolate bar included items.

I have no idea if this list is current as I cannot find anything else online . 

It is a moot point now as we have now booked the cruise which included the Brindiamo package as part of the deal. Happy days .

5DC317F1-1425-4AA2-9A3B-12BF6277E8E9.jpeg

Thanks for this Heather, making a decision here too about Smeralda out of Barcelona.

 

Have you worked out how to choose a specific cabin number? Every time I try a booking it gives me just 1 cabin number, and there are more available in that category.

 

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55 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

Thanks for this Heather, making a decision here too about Smeralda out of Barcelona.

 

Have you worked out how to choose a specific cabin number? Every time I try a booking it gives me just 1 cabin number, and there are more available in that category.

 

 

Hi Pete, we booked through a TA, a very popular UK one who that used to advertise they were owned by RCI if that is clue enough for you. 😆

I think they were cheaper than booking direct with Costa by about £45 pp. , every little helps , 😆.  I went on to a site that shows available cabins and told the TA which cabin I wanted, job done. 

 

We are on the 20th Jan sailing . Fly out on 19th . Staying in Sitges for 4 nights afterwards. 

 

Forgot to say. Brindiano is included in the deal but to upgrade to the next package is only peanuts, €3 a day I think. On my booking it says €31.50 to upgrade but we will wait til we board. 

 

 

Edited by heatherb1958
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2 hours ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

Hi Pete, we booked through a TA, a very popular UK one who that used to advertise they were owned by RCI if that is clue enough for you. 😆

I think they were cheaper than booking direct with Costa by about £45 pp. , every little helps , 😆.  I went on to a site that shows available cabins and told the TA which cabin I wanted, job done. 

 

We are on the 20th Jan sailing . Fly out on 19th . Staying in Sitges for 4 nights afterwards. 

 

Forgot to say. Brindiano is included in the deal but to upgrade to the next package is only peanuts, €3 a day I think. On my booking it says €31.50 to upgrade but we will wait til we board. 

 

 

Thanks Heather, we’re looking at later in the year. Probably June. Didn’t even realise there is a higher package. 

 

Hope you’ve got a good place to stay In sitges. 

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3 hours ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

 

 

Forgot to say. Brindiano is included in the deal but to upgrade to the next package is only peanuts, €3 a day I think. On my booking it says €31.50 to upgrade but we will wait til we board. 

 

 

Better to upgrade before you leave.

You don't pay until you are on board and not sure but I heard that it is more expensive to upgrade on board.

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16 hours ago, peteukmcr said:

Thanks Heather, we’re looking at later in the year. Probably June. Didn’t even realise there is a higher package. 

 

Hope you’ve got a good place to stay In sitges. 

 

Pete there are actually two more packages. The next one up from ours, PiuGusto,  includes a wider selection of cocktails and frozen drinks for not a lot of money, we are not interested the one higher than that. 

Thanks , we do have a good place to stay in Sitges , will be our 5th visit there, we love the Platjador on the seafront and are staying there . 

 

1F3866EB-F49B-48F0-BF54-332DD7F83989.png

9C9C57BB-4C96-4D33-BAA0-E22F7E53843E.png

Edited by heatherb1958
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16 hours ago, maryann2 said:

Better to upgrade before you leave.

You don't pay until you are on board and not sure but I heard that it is more expensive to upgrade on board.

 

You are possibly right , you never know the pricing could change completely and the packages change just like with MSC. That was a bummer . 

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6 hours ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

Pete there are actually two more packages. The next one up from ours, PiuGusto,  includes a wider selection of cocktails and frozen drinks for not a lot of money, we are not interested the one higher than that. 

Thanks , we do have a good place to stay in Sitges , will be our 5th visit there, we love the Platjador on the seafront and are staying there . 

 

1F3866EB-F49B-48F0-BF54-332DD7F83989.png

9C9C57BB-4C96-4D33-BAA0-E22F7E53843E.png

 

6 hours ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

Pete there are actually two more packages. The next one up from ours, PiuGusto,  includes a wider selection of cocktails and frozen drinks for not a lot of money, we are not interested the one higher than that. 

Thanks , we do have a good place to stay in Sitges , will be our 5th visit there, we love the Platjador on the seafront and are staying there . 

 

1F3866EB-F49B-48F0-BF54-332DD7F83989.png

9C9C57BB-4C96-4D33-BAA0-E22F7E53843E.png

Platjdor is a great location. Obviously Sitges is a favourite of ours. 

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