Compare Costa to Carnival

[e058874]

Going on our first Costa cruise next month. I would like to get some feedback on Costa vs Carnival. Some points of interest below that I would like to know about for Costa, but any feedback would be great;

-Cigar lounge on board?

-full meals from room service? or only cold foods like Carnival?

-bathrobes in all balcony rooms or better?

-glass glasses at buffet or those horrible colored plastic cups?

-specialty restaurant, how much? menu choices? feedback?

-food in general? We always ate enough on Carnival that's for sure but found it pretty uneventful, nothing overly amazing for tastes or presentation excpet the suppler club

-dining room dress? Carnival tended to be less formal. Can I get away on Costa with a nice pair of designer jeans w/a cute little shirt and jacket w/shawl, fancy heels and jewelry for non-formal night dinner....think something you'd wear to an upscale lounge in the city?

[e058874]

please looking for feedback

[Yeldarb]

- plastic cups in buffet.

- yes to cigar lounge. (although I'm not a cigar fan)

- limited room service menu

- bathrobes, not sure I think I read they have them in the balcony rooms.

- specialty restaurant about 25/person. No feedback

- I personally found the food, except pasta to be very good but not great. Others have said it's great, Others have said lousy

- I would think whatever works on carnival for dress would work on costa as well.

[GreytRacer]

Well, I can't answer all your questions, but I will give you my impressions.

 

We were on the Costa Mediterranea March '06. It was a fun atmosphere with dance lessons everyday by the pool and then someplace that night to try out our new steps. The evening deck party was a high energy affair with lots of dancing.

 

There were many international guests on our sailing, so that is different from Carnival. We noticed it most during the shows in the evening. No comedians, more singer/juggler/magician types of things, so language was not an issue. Actually reminded me a bit of the Ed Sullivan show, from when I was a kid.

 

We only ate in the dining room twice, one of which was Toga Night (lots of fun!). The other night was formal night, so I'm not sure what people were wearing on non-formal nights. My husband had a stomach bug, so we ate off the buffet every other night. The food there was the same as the dining room. "Real" Italian at the pasta station and a meat and fish entrée as well. Desserts were rather plain, compared to the rich ones available on Carnival. I can't remember if the glasses were glass or plastic, but I'm pretty sure they were plastic.

 

The other questions you asked I can't address as I am not sure. I will say that the Mediterranea was the most beautiful ship I've ever been on, and I would certainly sail Costa again.

 

Have fun!

[e058874]

Thanks for your feedback guys. Appreciate any other insights too.

[Karysa]

We sailed both in 2005. Enjoyed both and found more similarities than differences. We didn't have any semi-formal nights on the Mediteranea but two theme nights instead (1 Italian-red,white and green and Toga night).

We liked the fun atmosphere of the Costa ship but found it to have more public smoking areas than on our Carnival ship or it could have just been the crowd.

[njs]

Going on our first Costa cruise next month. I would like to get some feedback on Costa vs Carnival. Some points of interest below that I would like to know about for Costa, but any feedback would be great;

-Cigar lounge on board?

-full meals from room service? or only cold foods like Carnival?

-bathrobes in all balcony rooms or better?

-glass glasses at buffet or those horrible colored plastic cups?

-specialty restaurant, how much? menu choices? feedback?

-food in general? We always ate enough on Carnival that's for sure but found it pretty uneventful, nothing overly amazing for tastes or presentation excpet the suppler club

-dining room dress? Carnival tended to be less formal. Can I get away on Costa with a nice pair of designer jeans w/a cute little shirt and jacket w/shawl, fancy heels and jewelry for non-formal night dinner....think something you'd wear to an upscale lounge in the city?

 

Sailed on the Atlantica a few years back. I remember the room service as being very limited -not as much selection as carnival. But you can order cappaccino at bkfst from room service. The dining room bkfst had a few more items that carnival didnt have, but it is pretty similar. If you are in a suite, you can order room service from the dining room menu

Dining room food in general was ok - carnival has better lobster and sweet desserts. But it was interesting having foods from different regions of Italy each night. We have gone on a trip to Italy with our kids (dh is italian) and they enjoyed the meals - reminded them of the trip. Dont expect American cuisine and you will enjoy. We all agree that Costa has everyone else beat as far as the pizza goes - fabulous. And the calamari at the lunch buffet was the absolute best - better than any land restaurant .

We found costa to be a little more formal as far as attire goes. Since it was our first cruise, we let them book our air. They gave us flights with impossible connections (from canada) and our luggage didnt make it for a few days. They discouraged us from eating in the dining room on the first formal night (my kids only long pants were jeans) even tho the lost luggage was costa's fault.

Enjoy your trip and make sure you come back on the boards to let us know how you liked Costa. We are going on the mediteranea at Christmas

~would love to hear your impressions

[fatcat04]

Just off the Costa Mediterranea so I will try my best...

 

-Cigar lounge on board? Officially, the only cigar friendly place (besides your own balcony) is the fancy resturant (Club Medusa) after dinner. Cigar and cognac bar. Unofficially, I saw people smoking cigars in the bars in the evening without worry, most especially the Roero Bar, that is the wine bar. I never had an issue with it as I myself like a nice cigar on occassion. Prefer it to cigarette smoke.

 

-full meals from room service? or only cold foods like Carnival? If you are in a suite, full cooked to order breakfast every morning including the aforementioned cappochinos/espressos/real hot chocolate except disembarkation morning. If not in a suite you get the fancy coffee drinks and a good continental selection. Anyone can order a selection of sandwiches, soups, and salads the rest of the day. I think the rule is no full meal unless one of your party is room bound due to illness. But not sure if this is true for suites as well.

 

-bathrobes in all balcony rooms or better? Bathrobes are in all suites and I think if you tip your cabin steward a little something you might be able to get one in balcony cabins.

 

-glass glasses at buffet or those horrible colored plastic cups? Horrible plastic cups, mugs, and bowls. Not attractive but functional.

 

-specialty restaurant, how much? menu choices? feedback?

Club Medusa. $25 a head for selections from the set menu, unless you are in a suite and then you get one night free. They also have an a la carte menu with lobster and such on it. Prices ranged from $10-40 depending on the extrangance of the courses. If you are doing lobster and caviar and esvargot and foie gras... you will pay a lot.

 

-food in general? We always ate enough on Carnival that's for sure but found it pretty uneventful, nothing overly amazing for tastes or presentation excpet the suppler club

 

We were thrilled with the food. Could not have been happier. We regularly eat at fine restaurants with prix fix menus before we got to the symphony or opera and considered the dining at the main restuarant on the Med to be as good on Gala nights and only slightly less on other nights. The only night we were not impressed with was the last night.

 

I saved almost all my menus for lunch and dinner in the main restaurant. The two gala nights were wonderful.

 

Highlights from lunch and dinner:

Lunch: Seafood crepes, Zuppa di pesce Cioppino (seafood soup), Ravioli di bresaola (ravioli stuffed with cured dried beef served with a tomato sauce), Spring Rolls with a Chili Tomato Plum Sauce

 

Dinner: (best dish I have ever eaten in my whole life) Roasted Tender Quails partially boned and stuffed with savory country filling served with a Lambrusco wine sauce, Duck Risotto, Duckling in a Merlot Reduction, Crab risotto, Gazpacho, Escargot, Grilled lamb chops with mint jelly, Guinea fowl, Italian style veal shanks, pan seared veal topped with proscuitto and fontina, and then the simple but lovely sliced tomatos with fresh real mozarella slices. And try at least a couple of the cold fruit soups. Delish!!

 

Every table comes with olive oil and balsalmic vinegar for dipping.. great with the bread and excellent with the tomato and mozarella salads.

 

 

 

 

-dining room dress? Carnival tended to be less formal. Can I get away on Costa with a nice pair of designer jeans w/a cute little shirt and jacket w/shawl, fancy heels and jewelry for non-formal night dinner....think something you'd wear to an upscale lounge in the city?

Europeans dress for dinner, Americans tend to be more casual. I regularly went in resort clothes... smart blouse with capri pants and sandals so I would say you will be fine. Naturaly no jeans in Club Medusa. On Gala night if you have a lot of Europeans on board, expect to see some fancy dresses. Really stunning stuff. I was glad I brought my full length gowns.

 

Hope this helps :)

[joetrizeo]

Carnival: No pool side towels! Use your own or your 22$ towel. COME ON!

Costa: Pool side deck towels, free to use, no charge :)

 

Carnival: Dinner entertainment. Waiters standing in a group, or around the restraunt singing and dancing in place. Not worth waiting for.

Costa: Dinenr entertainment. Much better. Whole acts and scripts envolving the people and whole restraunt. Shows lasting 15-20min, not just 5.

 

Carnival: 1 midnight buffet

Costa: 7 midnight booffays!

 

Carnival: F-Deck (funnel deck) only topless deck

Costa: EVERY deck topless deck

(ok that last one's a little bit of a joke)

 

Other observations:

I found Carnival just as culturally diverse as my cruise on European Costa. We saw and heard many different nationalities and languages.

Carnival was not as 'all American' as I thought - not that it mattered.

The smoke problem was the same on both lines. Some people said it’s worse on Costa because it's European and there are a higher numbers of smokers in Europe but I found the same amount of smokers on both lines.

[e058874]

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. Keep 'em coming if anyone has anything else.

 

If anyone who subscribed to this post knows which "cities" are which nights for dinner on the 7 day Carib itineraries that would be great. I have the menus but not sure which nights are which. We want to try to get an idea in advance when we want to go to the fancy restaurant on board. Don't want to miss anything good in the dining room.

 

Thanks.

[fatcat04]

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. Keep 'em coming if anyone has anything else.

 

If anyone who subscribed to this post knows which "cities" are which nights for dinner on the 7 day Carib itineraries that would be great. I have the menus but not sure which nights are which. We want to try to get an idea in advance when we want to go to the fancy restaurant on board. Don't want to miss anything good in the dining room.

 

Thanks.

 

Last night (toga night) on our cruise would have been the best foodwise to skip the main dining room though you will miss out on Caesar's procession and some of the waiter highjinks that last night. That was the most fun night in the dining room. The main entrees though.. not great. That was the night they had catfish, chicken, steak, and ham. We tried the chicken.. uninspired but then the wait staff said the chicken dishes were generally the worst on the menu. I forgot that. Both hubbie and I returned the chicken and got the steak instead.. it was good but not as great as the entrees the other nights. Our tablemates got quite a few fish dishes and loved them. Hubbie and I tried veal, lamb, duckling, quail, crab, shrimp, and guinea fowl. All excellent!!

 

I don't know if they switch up the menus or not.

 

I have tried to get the dinner menus in the right order on my menu picture page but I didn't have one for the first night and I am probably wrong with the order a bit. Wish I had numbered them.

[mondello]

Thanks for your feedback guys. Appreciate any other insights too.

Hi, I cruised Magica 3/5/06 and Carnival Destiny 6/12/06. Had a great time on both cruises. I liked the fact that Carnival had what I thought were better "free" drinks: fruit punch and lemonade. Costa had ice tea and juice. I actually liked most of the food on Magica better. But I don't really think it's a good idea to compare, too much like apples/oranges. Too many variables can affect our perception : weather, itinerary, other PAX/tablemates. Most cruisers are able to remember that we're on vacation, it's time to kick back and go with the flow. I guess the only point that I can help you with, is to point out that the tacky plastic mugs and plastic glasses are required for safety reasons around the buffet and pool areas. Nobody would want their vacation ruined by stepping on broken glass while barefoot.

[joetrizeo]

"I liked the fact that Carnival had what I thought were better "free" drinks: fruit punch and lemonade. Costa had ice tea and juice"

 

-I second that.

 

"I guess the only point that I can help you with, is to point out that the tacky plastic mugs and plastic glasses are required for safety reasons around the buffet and pool areas. Nobody would want their vacation ruined by stepping on broken glass while barefoot."

 

exactly correct. and your coffee is never going to ever be over the 450deg F needed to melt a high temp polymer.