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Wansbrough

By Wansbrough,
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Wansbrough

Wansbrough

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23 hours ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

What was your overall impression of the ship? 

We loved it, perhaps bigger than we would normally like but being as capacity was low it sort of balanced it out.

The only area we were not keen on was the Infinity bar at the back, it felt cramped and was also not the easiest to get to. Not a patch on the equivalent bar on Costa Firenze.

The Colosseo is a revelation, fantastic idea. However the theatre viewing isn't too clever, we always sat upstairs and unless you have a front row seat viewing is not that good plus there are only seats to the side. We never sat downstairs so can't comment if it was any better.

Food, restaurants were all very good, probably the best I have had in 9 Costa cruises dating back to 2007.

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the wandering two

the wandering two

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Great review, we were on Smeralda early December and mirror your views on Infinity bar, Colosseo & food.

We've never stayed up so late on a cruise in a long time as there was always so much entertainment throughout the ship. We generally caught the late Colosseo show whilst at Caffe Vergnano for a nightcap after leaving  Teatro Sanremo.

I'm guessing the layout of Toscana is much the same in that what would be the main forward theatre is very small. Our sailing was at about 60% capacity & people were sitting on the stairs due to the lack of space. 

The buffet on deck 8 was another odd design decision given that the main pools are on 16&17. The cynic in me would say that this makes you walk past many of the extra fee restaurants on your way there.

We'd still return in a heartbeat but would stick to out of season, at capacity would be mayhem. 

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gerryuk

gerryuk

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6 hours ago, Wansbrough said:

We loved it, bigger than we would like but being as was low it sort of balanced it out.

The only area we were not keen on was the bar at the back, it felt cramped and was also not the easiest to get to. Not a patch on the equivalent bar on Costa Firenze.

The Colosseo is , fantastic . viewing isn't too clever, we sat upstairs and unless you have a front row seat viewing is not that good plus there are only seats to the side. We sat downstairs so can't comment if it was any better.

Food, were all very good, the best I have had in 9 Costa cruises dating back to 2007.

Have to agree with everything you have said. I was on the Toscana a couple of weeks ago on its way to Dubai. The ship is beautiful, but would hate to be on it if it was at its full capacity of 6500. There was only 2500 on the cruise to Dubai. 

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Edinburghgirl1

Edinburghgirl1

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Thanks for that. We board on 3rd February and am very much looking forward to it. We have the basic drinks package. Does that have a good enough selection of cocktails or will we have to upgrade in your opinion? 
was the passenger demographic mixed nationalities or mainly Italian? 

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the wandering two

the wandering two

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Based on our experience on Smeralda, the basic package was great. We normally avoid cocktails on cruises especially on American lines as they tend to be really sweet & use a lot of syrups, whereas Costa used more fruit purees instead. 

Look out for ones that can only be got at the branded bars like Campari (grand sidecar) or Ferrari spritz variations. 

The ship wide prosecco is Sant orsola, but again you can get Campari prosecco and Bisol 1542(Ferrari) at their bars.

Boarding P&O Iona today, our third sailing on her, seem to have a liking for Excel class ships, it was interesting to see the differences between the two.

 

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Wansbrough

Wansbrough

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23 hours ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

....was the passenger demographic mixed nationalities or mainly Italian? 

Interestingly, the Italians were not the largest contingent as there were a lot of Indian passengers who were the largest nationality onboard. I got this from one of our waiters.

I always try and get specific passenger mix from the waiters but wasn't able to this time. They have it broken down on a pin board in the galley/servery area.

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At7Seas "Live from...." Rare

At7Seas

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Regarding the package My Drinks I only can agree that it is great, the best value of separate packages I found on cruises. If you regularly want to use the mini bar, or want a lot of bottled water or canned drinks, or want high priced spirits you should consider an upgrade, if not give My Drinks a try. If you have already sailed Costa My Drinks is exactly the formerly second largest package Piu Gusto plus a small bottle of water every day. The third package is completely abolished, the smallest only available on world cruises now.
 
About the nationalities aboard I am not too surprised. The share of Italians differs on Costas with the area the ship sails, it is always substantial, but they are not everywhere in the world the largest group. And Costa had many winters a ship in India before covid, so Indians sailing not too far from home is no surprise, just a sign that in their country is also returning to normality. The largest chance of having a maximum of Italians is in the Med during summer school holidays.

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At7Seas "Live from...." Rare

At7Seas

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1 hour ago, Wansbrough said:

No mini bar in our cabins on Firenze or Toscana, looks like it may become a thing of the past like the table cloths in the MDR.

 

These ships I haven't sailed yet (Firenze is booked for this year). Definitely another argument not to take My Drinks Plus. In 2022 I sailed on Deliziosa and Fascinosa and on both the mini bars were in use.

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Wansbrough

Wansbrough

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11 hours ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

We have just been given our boarding time as 22.00pm. We are overnight on the ship in Dubai. Is there the option to drop off our luggage at the port prior to this time as I seem to recall we were able to do this 7 years ago when we sailed Costa from Dubai. 

I would say as long as your labels are attached it should not be an issue. Both times we have embarked at the Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal, we have handed over our cases as soon as we have entered the building at ground floor. All that is done at that stage is to just double check you have the correct papers.  BTW, as people are boarding throughout the night, the buffet will remain open until about 3:00am. The new terminal is excellent and if you cabin looks out over the marina it is an amazing panorama at night.

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Edinburghgirl1

Edinburghgirl1

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1 hour ago, Wansbrough said:

I would say as long as your labels are attached it should not be an issue. Both times we have embarked at the Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal, we have handed over our cases as soon as we have entered the building at ground floor. All that is done at that stage is to just double check you have the correct papers.  BTW, as people are boarding throughout the night, the buffet will remain open until about 3:00am. The new terminal is excellent and if you cabin looks out over the marina it is an amazing panorama at night.

Hopefully we can as we will have to check out our hotel around 12.00am do if we can drop off our cases we can enjoy another day in Dubai and we can  return at 22.00pm to check in. Ironically our hotel is closer to Port Rashid! 

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gerryuk

gerryuk

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8 hours ago, greg2014 said:

I have about port of Doha. Had Costa or port organized any bus transfer to city for passangers self-visiting city (with no excursion) ? Thank you for any help in advance 🙂 

Don't know about Doha , i think it depends on how far the ship docks to the port entrance. I was on Toscana on its way to Dubai in November and the only bus that took you to the city centre was at Abu Dhabi. That was provided by the port and they took you to the Mall in the centre.

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