Just back from the Costa Toscana and happy to answer any questions

[Alex71]

We just disembarked the Costa Toscana today. Happy to answer any questions regarding this ship and current procedures on board.

[hammo]

Hi Alex , 

Thinking of booking Toscana for 7 night Dubai cruise . We have never sailed with Costa - are Elite with Celebrity and RCCL and sailed NCL and Princess several times - just once with the doomed Crystal - and have just been reading many reviews of Costa and MSC who both sail the region in January . Sadly positive reviews are few and far between for both Costa and MSC . Can you put a positive light on anything ? Seems dining is not that good and we usually sail with a beverage package , so any info on those experiences would be helpful as you have just been onboard . Thanks for any advice .

[Alex71]

3 hours ago, hammo said:

Hi Alex , 

Thinking of booking Toscana for 7 night Dubai cruise . We have never sailed with Costa - are Elite with Celebrity and RCCL and sailed NCL and Princess several times - just once with the doomed Crystal - and have just been reading many reviews of Costa and MSC who both sail the region in January . Sadly positive reviews are few and far between for both Costa and MSC . Can you put a positive light on anything ? Seems dining is not that good and we usually sail with a beverage package , so any info on those experiences would be helpful as you have just been onboard . Thanks for any advice .

 

The Toscana is a nice ship, would definitely cruise it again. I especially liked the very wide infinity walk area on deck 7 and 8 on which one could completely circle the ship. I've never on a ship before felt so connected to the sea.

 

The food in the MDR is the classic four course Italian meal sequence with one starter, two main courses and a desert. I found the food quite good and the portion sizes adequate. 

 

One of the main complaints is about the opening hours of the restaurants and buffets. This did not bother us at all. There is always a lunch restaurant open till 4 or so, so that there is the option to eat lunch when coming back from a shore excursion. 

 

I manage my weight by not snacking between meals, but a person who likes to eat all the time might be diappointed or might have to plan for a bit of extra budget to pay for food when the included restaurants are closed. I thin the burger place, where a burger costs just 2 EUR stays open until 2 am. The Heineken Pub also has food available for purchase until late.

 

I found the My Drinks package to be excellent value and service great. wine and water in the MDR was always refilled, when the glass was still half full, never a need to wait for anthing.

 

Drink service in all bars was also excellent and drinks good. 

 

Here are some examples of some of the meals:

 

Breakfast from the buffet:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some example of some of the MDR meals:

 

Lunch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

900 g Tomahawk steak (22 EUR surcharge, anough for several people):

 

 

Osteria (included alternative restaurant):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by Alex71

[jennjess]

16 hours ago, Alex71 said:

We just disembarked the Costa Toscana today. Happy to answer any questions regarding this ship and current procedures on board.

Sounds like you had a good time onboard.

The insurance thing worked out OK? Did you need to produce any test results before boarding or was testing done at the port?

[Alex71]

5 minutes ago, jennjess said:

Sounds like you had a good time onboard.

The insurance thing worked out OK? Did you need to produce any test results before boarding or was testing done at the port?

 

Was definitely very nice, especially since it was not overcrowded due to capacity restrictions. 

 

The insurance documents were not even checked, so I suspect it only was an attempt to upsell their own insurance. It did cost me quite a bit of waiting time on the phone to get the documents issued. So not crazy about hem doing that.

 

There was no upfront Covid test required. They did a rapid test for free during check-in. Results were made available after about 10 minutes, so this did not cost us any time at all, as we received the results as we had already progressed to the next building.

 

The had talked about a mandatory test mid-cruise, but this was not done. The mandatory daly temprature checks were not enforced either. I only found out after a few days where the stations were.

[Dancer Bob]

I'm told the theatre has a somewhat unusual layout, it was described as sort of a theatre in the round. Did you find it works OK?

[Alex71]

7 hours ago, Dancer Bob said:

I'm told the theatre has a somewhat unusual layout, it was described as sort of a theatre in the round. Did you find it works OK?

 

There is the lagre Colosseum in the middle of the ship. It is sourrounded by bars and a place where one can enjoy a drink and watch a bit of the shows in the background. It is definitely a different vibe than these large theaters where you stay for an entire show.

 

 

 

 

Then, there is the Frau Arena that is more separate, but it is important where you sit if you would like to have a decent view. It it's a popular show, it may make sense to be there 10 minutes befire the show.

 

 

[Alex71]

BTW, I'm writing a detailed trip report in German (hope it's allowed to post the link, if not, please delete): https://www.amerika-forum.de/t/pandemic-cruise-eine-woche-mit-der-costa-toscana-durch-das-westliche-mittelmeer.253963/

[sarunas12344]

Jumping to this thread as well as it's already two weeks since we disembarked from Costa Toscana 7 night round cruise from Barcelona, visiting Valencia, Palermo, Rome, Savona and Marseille.

 

It was our first cruise ever and we would give it overall mark of 9/10. We were sailing as a family of 4, and had a fantastic time.

 

Embarkation was easy (took around 30 minutes) but stressful as we were waiting for Covid test results which were fortunately negative. We have also bought a costa insurance which they have indeed checked while scanning our tickets (it showed that I had 200 EUR of onboard credit and the whole family had Costa "Relax" insurance).

 

The ship is huge and very new - everything was polished and each corner of the ship felt like it was made just few weeks ago. We had a balcony cabin on Deck 15 which was not very huge but it was satisfying to be able to go out in the balcony to enjoy the view with the sound of waves (strangely, the ship did not make any engine/diesel noises as I think it utilizes hybrid engines).

 

There were enough of cafes and restaurants all over the ship, we were assigned an earlier dinner seating which we later successfully changed to be able to enjoy our meals later. We had Brindiamo drinks packages which really paid off - as we would have spent much more money on soft drinks and other beverages. I must say that in the first days food felt fantastic and we wanted to try everything. However, after few days in the ship the food felt bland and everything tasted basically the same - the food in breakfast buffets and lunch/dinner was repeating. That is why we enjoyed the food on shore while visiting cities much more as Costa does not really include too many options for our taste (I can add some menus from bars and restaurants if you want).

 

Other than that, we did not spend too much time on recreational things and entertainment, as most of the shows were either oriented to Italian audience or were too boring. However, some jazz or violin music can also be found which was totally worth it.

 

The staff is very friendly and helpful, our cabin steward Kumar was top-notch with different towel sculptures each day. Our waiter and other staff spoke satisfactory English, we even had a separate welcome time for English speakers which made us more comfortable. Of course, most of the ship (I should say around 60-70% was Italian).

 

We enjoyed the pool, water slides a lot and it was fun both for the younger member of our family and for the parents. Of course, we wanted to explore and do our own sightseeing - that is why we spent most of the time when available on shore visiting different old towns and cities - which were spectacular on their own. One thing is that Costa try to offer their own excursions and trips which cost way more than travelling by public transport. In some ports (like Valencia) it's even almost impossible to go out in the city centre without buying Costa shuttle bus which both ways costs around 17 euros - which is a bit too much.

 

Anyway, the whole experience was very good, especially considering price/value as we bought the 7 days cruise before covid and got balcony cabin + drinks packages for 4 people for around 2000 EUR. 

[Alex71]

On 5/2/2022 at 3:14 PM, sarunas12344 said:

I must say that in the first days food felt fantastic and we wanted to try everything. However, after few days in the ship the food felt bland and everything tasted basically the same - the food in breakfast buffets and lunch/dinner was repeating. That is why we enjoyed the food on shore while visiting cities much more as Costa does not really include too many options for our taste

 

We felt exactly the same. Super impressed by the first few meals, but then variety was lacking a bit. The Osteria was a good alternative, but food there was not drastically different either. We ate at the Poke Bowl place once, which hat only a modest surcharge.

 

While I in principle like how they carry the Italian theme through, some other included options would have been good as well.

[talkone]

Hi Alex……could you let me know the main dining rooms,I appear to have a choice of 5🤔

[Alex71]

On 5/17/2022 at 7:44 PM, talkone said:

Hi Alex……could you let me know the main dining rooms,I appear to have a choice of 5🤔

 

We had four to choose from. Food is the same in all of them, so not much of a difference. I had looked at Youtube videos before the cruise and picked the one I liked best from a design perspective, but in the end, we were given a different one anyway. Looks like one can pick the time, but there is little one can do to influence the location. 

[inside cabin]

Booked on the Toscana in November. Marseille to Dubai 20 nights ocean view cabin  with drinks package at a great price

we’ve done this same trip 8 years ago on Costa Fortuna and have also done Barcelona to Argentina on Costa Pacifica

always had good service and found the ships very nice. Much better than MSC and on a par with NCL

[Alex71]

On 6/27/2022 at 7:58 PM, inside cabin said:

Booked on the Toscana in November. Marseille to Dubai 20 nights ocean view cabin  with drinks package at a great price

we’ve done this same trip 8 years ago on Costa Fortuna and have also done Barcelona to Argentina on Costa Pacifica

always had good service and found the ships very nice. Much better than MSC and on a par with NCL

 

Sounds great! I'm also keeping an eye on that trip. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time.