Aida cosma ongoing review

[Tan1415]

Hi all,

 

I am onboard the Aida cosma.

this will be an ongoing review.

 

first time cruising on the Aida line.

it was billed as a step up compared with MsC and costa.

and i]truthfully its quite quirky compared with msc and royal carribean.

quite German in certain circumstances.

 

first thing first…when booking and pre cruise everything is in German and is quite daunting. You could google translate website but it’s quite an hassle.

and even when translated…a lot of stuff is so confusing.

 

but on the ship and when boarding…a lot is also available in English to my surprise. Also the crew speaks English.

so no worries there.

 

For example….they hold a strict 1400 checkin when I called the office of Aida.

but when i arrived at 10 am we were allowed to checkin immmediately. And I was not the only one. People on the early flights from busses checkeing in. Compared with RC in singapore it was a total breeze and was fast and smooth.

we needed towaittill 1400 forourrooms to be ready. But we could drink and eat onboard. Even though mostt restaurants were closed, a few were open.

ship is huge and needed some time to understand howeverything worked.

 

We had a rear balcony room. It was larger than the RC but smaller than the msc rear balcony hut.

the walk-in closet is nice. You could store your luggage out of sight.plenty of closet space for your clothing.

the balcony has a hammock and besides a 2 chairs and a side table. That’s a very nice touch.

 

the logging into the onboard portal is bit of a hassle due to the language barrier. But we were lucky to get an English language onboarding paper. Without this it would be impossible to understand.

this portal is extremely important. This portal has lot of important I formation. For example your onboard account. But also if you want to log into the actual internet.

this needs to be done with all your devices you want to use the internet with.

 

portal you find a lot of information and is also in English. Even though some pages stillonly has German language.

beides here you find the opening schedules of all F&B options. There are so many of them…the opening times differs.

also important you find other information like nautical info etc. What I missed was an actual map of the ship. There are plenty of screens onboard.

 

more incoming

 

 

[perakcruiser]

Enjoy your cruise. We are on celebrity at the moment and stood behind you in Gran Canaria 😄

 

Also cruised Aida one time, I found it the line that is most suitable for Asians if you are not afraid of the language barrier. But this is for the Asians who are not cruising mainly for casino. 

[Tan1415]

We are on the 3rd day.

funchal is amazing. So green and lush.
taxis use meters and cheap. But most taxis screw you over asking for 5x or at least 2,5x the fare. Use the Bolt app. Much cheaper but sometimes quite a long wait. Bolt taxis can’t pickup Athena terminaland you need to walk to outside port entrance. Taxis are reallyresonable

 

The cable car ride is an abolsute must. Be aware on long lines.

also we planned to take a toboggan down, but that’s what 100 other people were thinking.

looks spectacular…if you want to wait a few hours. They claim the line is just 1 hour…but can’t believe that. (Anyone waited on the 8-1-2024) Considering you need 2 people per slede. So we took a taxi down. Be warned we got hosed and paid 30€ for an 12€ trip. Still cheapertobuyanother1 way ticket down.

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The great thing about this cruise we get a full day per location. Arrival at 6 and leaving at 2230.

Awesome …we used everybit of it.

 

we had the rear cabins and the view when we left Funchal was amazing. Love the lights.

 

the 2nd sea day started.

i learned that the breakfasts for all places are the same. So could be really boring after a few days. Variations are quite minor. 

and for dinner and lunch…the buffets were the same all over. The dishes changes daily, but per buffet is served the same eom a certain day.0I was surprised and disappointed.

So basically you choose simply based on atmosphere. Again the difference is I. Details. Belladonna and en fuego has pizza. While en fuego caters to kids with their meals.

The odd one out is east restaurant. The smallest but also most crowded and popular buffet restaurant. Why…because they serve Asian cuisine. Always has fresh dim sum that’s really tasty. Always rice and noodle dish. Today they had good tandoori. The tandoori ovens was visible.temder meat, fresh Nan.

 

 

The specialty restaurants are really popular on ship days. These places food is included and has a menu that differs for lunch or dinner.  But drinks you need to pay. While in buffets soft drinks are free.

water by the glass is always free.

 

I have not tried the ala carte places because food on land is so much better and we have plenty of times for full lunch and dinner. That’s why it’s so disappointed that breakfast is so monotonous. That’s one meal we have everyday on the ship.

 

 

 

 

[CruiseMH]

On 1/8/2024 at 12:07 AM, Tan1415 said:

Also the crew speaks English.

 

 

Crew members are coming from dozens of different countries,so english as crew language is a must anyway. 😉

 

Thanks for your detailed review. For me as a german guy it is always very interesting what non-german guests think of this cruise line.

 

 

[Despegue]

Quick clarification regarding the buffets:

the buffet selection during dinner is completely different in each Buffet restaurant, but each individual buffet does not change their choices each day. So each day, the choice will be the same , more or less. Exemption is the Yacht Club Buffet, which has themed evenings.

 

Regarding Breakfast: choices are vast really , but do bear in mind that Germans normally have a cold breakfast with the typical charcuterie (choices are way  more than on American vessels)and breads. you can always opt to have a sit-down breakfast in French Kiss, with nice choices and great presentation.

 

In General, Aida is not a step-up from MSC or Costa. Where did you get that idea? It is a different concept, but also mass-market and especially  kids friendly. 

[perakcruiser]

On 1/13/2024 at 11:16 AM, Despegue said:

Quick clarification regarding the buffets:

the buffet selection during dinner is completely different in each Buffet restaurant, but each individual buffet does not change their choices each day. So each day, the choice will be the same , more or less. Exemption is the Yacht Club Buffet, which has themed evenings.

On our Aida cruise the choices in the 3 buffet restaurants changed every day. For example daily specials from different Asian countries and specials from different Italian regions. 

 

Is Aida above MSC and Costa? Something to discuss, at least the two others are cheaper. And Aida had indeed higher valued cuts of beef and fish and seafood. But MSC has improved the buffet in the last years (and of cause the MDR that Aida has not), so hard to say. 

[CruiseMH]

7 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

On our Aida cruise the choices in the 3 buffet restaurants changed every day. For example daily specials from different Asian countries and specials from different Italian regions. 

 

It depends on the ship.

On the larger ships they are trying the new concept with the same choice every day.

On the smaller ships they have still the daily changing choices in all buffet restaurants.

 

[Despegue]

Also take into account that gratuities are included with Aida as are soft drinks, house wine and beer during meals in the buffet restaurants.

 

One great thing about Aida are their fabulous sauna areas. 
 

The smaller Sfinx-class vessels indeed have daily changing buffets in all buffet restaurants, as they lack the included a-la-carte options ( except Almhutte/Brauhaus)

[perakcruiser]

22 minutes ago, Despegue said:

The smaller Sfinx-class vessels indeed have daily changing buffets in all buffet restaurants, as they lack the included a-la-carte options ( except Almhutte/Brauhaus)

I was indeed on one of these ships. 

[perakcruiser]

23 minutes ago, Despegue said:

Also take into account that gratuities are included with Aida as are soft drinks, house wine and beer during meals in the buffet restaurants.

 

Yes, our final bill was zero. 

[ww2ww2]