Costa - will a Princess/Celebrity and even occassional Carnival cruiser be happy?

[CruiseVirginfromBrooklyn]

Both my wife and I are Italian-America and are curious about Costa. We've cruised numerous times...mostly Princess and Celebrity, one glorious Crystal Cruise, and, yes we cruise Carnival on a fairly regular bases, usually once a year on Carnival. So, we're not snobs. We've heard mixed reviews about Costa and we're really curious about it.

 

So how about it? Tell us why we should give Costa a try. - I should mention we're only interested in new or newer (2 - 4 years old) ships.

 

Thanks!!

 

Vinnie and Valerie

[CruisinMatt]

I'm a snob and I like it! :D

 

You sound like you'll have a good time.

[CruiseVirginfromBrooklyn]

Sounds like you were enjoying the Celebrity Snobs threads as much as I am! Glad to get a thumbs up on Costa. Do you recommend any particular ship? Itinerary is secondary...

[Ta421sBtrHalf]

I'm not a snob, I just like nice stuff and I loved Costa.

[CruisinMatt]

Of course the newer ships like Costa Altantica and Mediterranea are fabulous and the ones I have sailed on.....and I am sure the even newer Fortuna and Magica are nicer! Some of the "older" Costa fans prefer the older ships.

[CruiseVirginfromBrooklyn]

Ok, I'm getting really interested now! I've been reading mixed reviews about the food and I'll admit it, I'm a foodie :D I know that Costa isn't typical American fare and more Italian...elaborate or please share menus if you have them!! Can I expect Northern Italian or Southern or a pleasant mix of both?

[Ta421sBtrHalf]

I can't say a whole lot about the different types of food because I only ordered from the vegetarian menu, but my husband loved the food and he is the pickiest eater. He found everything perfect. There was a lot of pasta and fish. My son found everything good as well. Hope this helps.

[rocktheboat]

CruiseVirginfromBrooklyn,

 

Are you from Brooklyn, I just moved to bensonhurst.

 

The food is not Italian, it's Italian style. Pasta was just a dish of pasta with canned seafood thrown on top. There was nothing Italian about their food. There was nothing good about there food. Great ship, great service, horrible food.

[CruiseVirginfromBrooklyn]

Bay Ridge here...yep Brooklyn born and bred...complete with the 4'11" Italian grandmother with the big pot of gravy and wooden spoon on Sundays. Now I'm concerned again, I don't want a week of mid-western spaghetti (noodles and ketchup) and that sounds like what you're describing.... Alas, perhaps we should just stick with Princess...

[rocktheboat]

I was born in Italy, came here when I was 9. I think I know the difference between Italian style and Italian food. I did meet people on board the ship who thought the food was great. When I told one women I thought the food was not good, she said you must be Italian and from NY. She said all the New Yorkers she met on board hated the food. Is our food so much different than Italian food in other places? I was expecting it to be what I knew, and it wasn't.

I loved the ship and the service was great. The food was a big disapointment.

 

I have cruised on RCCL, Celebrity and Carnival before Costa. Was on the Celebrity Century over New Years. If you have children you can;t beat Costa's price, They have the best deals for children. I am going back to Celebrity for our New Years cruise this year.

[randyat1001]

We sailed the Costa Victoria a few years ago and both Dw and I were very unimpressed with the food. Compared to Princess and Celebrity it was sorely lacking in almost every category.

[MortgageChick]

My Husband and I and my daughter and her friend sailed on Costa Dec 12 2003. The ship is beautiful, the cabin was gorgeous, the food and service left a lot to be desired( we were on the Mediterranea) The dining room service was the slowest I have ever experienced and the Italian Officers would not spit on you if you were on fire(unless of course you were speaking Italian) I was thoroughly disgusted by the attitude of the staff . We are not snobs , and feel every passenger deserves to be treated with decency regardless of their Nationality. It was very obvious that they wished they were back in Europe and not catering to N Americans. We will Never sail on Costa again. I filed a formal complaint regarding a number of mishandled situations, and the 2 page response I received back from Costa might as well have called me a liar. Carnival Corp. may own this line, but they are running wild on their own.

 

Here is a list of our cruise experience just so that you can see we have a wide range of experience to compare this fiasco to.

 

Oceanbreeze -October 1995-5 night W. Caribbean

Destiny -May 1999-7 night Eastern Caribbean

NCL Majesty- August 2000 -7 night Bermuda

NCL Sun-November 2001-13 night Repo Boston to MIA

Paradise-May 2002- 10 nights S Caribbean

Carnival Legend-Sept 2002-15 night Transatlantic Crossing

Royal Olympia Voyager-Feb 2003-15 night Amazon River

Rotterdam- June 2003-7 night Canada-New England

Enchantment of the Seas-Sept 1 2003-5 nights Cozumel and Belize

Costa Mediterranea- December 14 2003 Western Caribbean

Oosterdam-March 14th 2004- 7 nights Eastern Caribbean

Westerdam Nov 12 2004- 17 nights Barcelona to FLL

Mercury Feb 7 2005- 11 nights – Mexican Riviera

Summit Sept 16 2005- 14 nights- Vancouver-Alaska-San Diego

[Ta421sBtrHalf]

That is how Carnival treated my husband and I, like S#!%. I have been to Europe and I never felt disrespected there or on the Costa cruise like I did when I was on Carnival. We are new to cruising, but not new to traveling and I see that many people like Carnival, but my one experience has totally turned me off from them. We had over a dozen serious complaints and not one was addressed. The truth about the food is it comes from the same company. How it is prepared is one thing but when someone says "the fish was frozen" well duh it is on every other cruise line. It depends on the cooks not the restaraunt. Ever go to a chain restaraunt and think it is awful and you go to another branch and it is better? Until you go on a cruise for yourself you cannot go by people's advice. Every person has their own taste. People will always have their favorites. There are people here that only go on Carnival and people that only go on Cunard and people that only go on Silversea. It is all personal taste.

[ILov2cruise]

I do speak Italian, my husband does not. I didn't find the Officers spoke Italian to people, I heard them speak english. My husband had a very long talk with one of them and he spoke very good english. I don't even know if he was Italian. I didn't find alot of Italians in the crew. I didn t find any of the crew to be rude. I spoke very little Italian while on the ship since my husband does not understand I think it would be very rude if I talked Italian with him not understanding. Everyone here knows I hated the food, but I still had a great time. Service was wonderful.

[marco]

I am Italian-American. I speak Italian. Occasionally, I would speak Italian to officers on occassion, they would reply, but they were not my new best friend and it didn't land me in the penthouse suite. Most staff and crew are not Italian and speak it minimally or not at all. The common language is English. The food was "OK". Maybe we were disappointed based on what we were expecting. I expected it to be more like "the olden days" when sailing on the Italian Line's LDV, Michaelangelo/Raffaello. It was not. I notice you are from NY. If you are going to the Caribbean in the winter, no matter what ship/line you are on, it will be 80 degrees, sunny, crystal blue water, and sandy beaches, how could NOT enjoy?!?!?