Anybody done a Costa Cruise?

[sungirl]

I usually do Princess (which we have booked for Dec yay!) but my sister found a good price on a med. through Costa. The only thing I know is that it's an italian line, true? Anyone have any opinions? Thanks!

[chris2597]

I have found some amazing prices on Costa for the Caribbean itinerary. I would love to get more info on the line. I read that the cruise line has a European flare, which would be fine. I wonder if there would be a problem with smokers? It was such a relief to find the lounges and restaurants smoke free on The Grand last yr.

[d-Lo]

We did a Costa cruise several years ago. We did have a good time but surprisingly, the food was not great. We were very disappointed in it. The ship was very Glitzy and the staff was fine but the European flare did have some drawbacks....

I found that more than on other lines, the foreign guests were very pushy when asked to get on line. We had to tender to several ports and it was always really messy. The buffet lines were also very difficult to deal with. Another thing that may turn some guests off is that topless sunbathing is permitted on all decks. While this is very normal in Europe, it can be a little strange when you have teenage boys on the ship with you (as I did). I am fine with the human body but it was just a little awkward to sit down at the pool and there sitting next to you is a topless lady (most times not ones you would even care to view) and older men in thong bottoms. It became funny at some point.

The smoking was also permissable on the ship (not sure if that is still the case as this was several years ago).

 

All in all - it was worth the money but you need to be prepared for the difference in cultures. If you are traveling to the Mediteranean, it may be the same way on alot of cruise lines.

[swscruiser]

We did Costa several years ago. It was in the carribean. However, leaving from Ft Lauderdale Americans were still in the minority. and as a previous poster wrote, Europeans can be and and are very pushy and would rather bump into you rather than move out of your way. Also all announcements were made in 5 languages. The muster drill took 1 hour, because of having to do it in the 5 languages. All in all We have seen some vey good prices on Costa but we have never seen a price low enough to get us to return. IMHO

 

Keith

[sungirl]

Thanks!

[CassCruise]

Our lawyer did a European cruise late last year and whilst she loved it she wouldn't travel with Costa again due to the smokers onboard (and she is a BIG smoker herself) - has scared me for life!!!

[West Coast]

We booked our first one for this December.

There's lots of info over on the Costa boards - be sure to check them out to look for help in making your decision:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=138

[sungirl]

I have been taking a look over at the Costa board, I was just thinking I would get less Costa-biased(?) opinions here - maybe kind of balance out the Costa lovers with the Princess lovers ;) . I'm really torn! I wonder how different the european experience on a cruise would differ from a land based european vacation - apart from the being on the water thing! It appears we have lots of research to do.

 

Have a great cruise, West Coast, and thanks again, everyone.

[NSWP]

We have friends who have done 'Costa cruises' in the 'Med'. Their thoughts were..crowded ships, full of germans, italians and spanish, who won't queue for meals, drinks, hog deckchairs - particularly the German pax. Service and dining ordinary..yes..smokers everywhere. Puts me off cruising Costa even though their ships come out to Australia.

 

Cheers.:cool:

[sungirl]

The smoking thing is kind of turning me off, but on the Costa boards some say it's no worse than on any other cruise. Hmmm......

[Starbright]

We're from the UK and have friends who took a Costa cruise for their honeymoon.

 

They said the ship was full of French, Germans, Italians etc. Every announcement was made in 5 languages with English always coming last. Smoking was allowed everywhere on the ship and the great majority of passengers were heavy smokers.

 

Although they thought the ship was OK and the itinerary was good, they said they would never sail with Costa again because they felt like "foreigners". They much preferred the next cruise they took which was on the Dawn Princess.

[SUZCRUZ]

We did Costa several years ago. It was in the carribean. However, leaving from Ft Lauderdale Americans were still in the minority. and as a previous poster wrote, Europeans can be and and are very pushy and would rather bump into you rather than move out of your way. Also all announcements were made in 5 languages. The muster drill took 1 hour, because of having to do it in the 5 languages. All in all We have seen some vey good prices on Costa but we have never seen a price low enough to get us to return. IMHO

 

Keith

decided to stick with what we like. Granted they're not going to knock themselves out for us but you would think they would have realized that we were testing the waters.

I hope they have improved their standards for those who plan to sail on her.

[JPO]

We did the eastern med on Costa two years ago and while we had a ball (after catching up with the ship in Messina due to Air France but thats another story) but we concure with the stories of things being 'different' when you are the foreigners. My wife uses a small scooter to get around and getting on the elevator was a problem because folks would flow around her and fill it up. Once we got on an empty elevator on 5, punched 7, a bunch of passengers got on at 6. The doors opened on 7 and no one moved to let her off, in spite of my saying please and excuse me in english, french, deutch, and turkish. We ended up going up to 9, then back down. Nothing approaching this has occured on our cruises with Princess or Celebrity.

[Pink-belle]

I took a Costa Cruise around the med on the new Concordia last year. Yes, announcements were made in several languages, but i do not expect everything in foreign countries to be in English, I actually like to hear the other languages.

The ship was over the top and glitzy but in a very fun way, but i am aware that it was new, might not look so great when everything doesn't sparkle.

I detest smoke and can honestly say I did not have a problem, infact do not recall smoke anywhere on board.

Yes we came across rude people, but to be completely trueful there are rude people in every country and we have never taken a cruise and found everyone to be charming.

The staff were very good and courteous, onboard activities were well run, and the food in the dining room was adaquate, (lunch was far better than dinner, and never a problem with a table for 2) I always find the buffets a scrum so avoid them where possible so can't comment on that.

The big negative for us was it was a 7 night cruise so very port intensive, but there were too many embarkation points. I felt as if i was on a long car ferry journey as many pax were embarking and disembarking almost ever day, so hallways were always full of luggage and that spoilt the ambience on board in my opinion. That is enough for us to prefer to not sail with Costa again in the future.

[Kenna]

We took a Med. cruise a few years ago on Costa. The ship was beautiful, the staff was great and the announcements were in many languages(as stated previously). The drawback was that this particular ship(Victoria) had on board around 500 HONEYMOON couples. Very interesting. As previously stated, the ship stopped in every port to unload passengers and to receive new ones. Italian money was used in the casino and many passengers did not realize how much they were inserting in the machines.

All in all, it was quite a cruise. Don't think I would do it again.

[Minoushka]

Been there done that twice .LOVED it .Great atmosphere with European flavor

Love the Toga night

Go you will love it

Cabins big and comfy

[chris2597]

I think we will stick with RCCL or Princess after reading some of the comments on Costa. It sounds like the ship is nice but the smoking and rude pax's would be a total turn off.

 

The post about the man's wife on her scooter tying to get off of the elevator was unbelieveable. What is wrong with those people? I can't believe the milk of human kindness doesnt avail itself to European's. I don't know but this Texas girl would have given those dopes an earful....and then I would have been called the "ugly American" or whatever that saying is that is so prevalent around the world about the US.

[lskoob]

We sailed from Venice last June for 7 days on Costa Victoria. While we did see many of the behaviors listed in previous posts, we felt the positives outweighed the negatives by far.

 

My daughter had just graduated from high school, and she wanted to truly experience Europe. I decided that, while the American-style cruise lines would provide a fine vacation, Costa might give us more of the flavor of Europe in the short two weeks we had for our trip. So we opted for 7 days Italy/Greece/Croatia, with a few pre/post days in Rome, Venice and London to round it out. It was the trip of a lifetime.

 

Our ship was beautiful, service was outstanding, food was just fair. Costa went out of their way to accomodate the approx. 40 English-speaking passengers (only about 25 Americans). When we arrived in our cabins, we had an invitation to a sailaway cocktail party for the Americans on board, so we all met and knew each other from the beginning of the cruise. Our dinner companions were all Americans (one service man and his wife, stationed in Germany and on-leave from Iraq). Most of the crew members spoke passable English, and many of them seemed fluent in multiple languages (which amazes me). We never had a problem communicating.

 

On the down side, the port days seemed really short (one day we did Santorini in the AM and Mykonos in the PM). It was a great itin., just a little too rushed (exhausting). If I had it to do over (and had unlimited funds and vacation days), I would take a longer cruise and make sure they have full port days.

 

The European passengers on-board were not overly friendly, but I attributed it to the communication gap and not rudeness. We only ran into one rude person near the very crowded pool on a sea day. She didn't like it when we sat at the table she vacated, but then she wanted it back. She cursed us out in Italian. Oh, and they will sunbathe topless in public . . . and some of the men wore extremely small swimwear. To each his own.

 

So, all things considered, we got the vacation we hoped for. Costa, when compared to Princess (my only other cruise experience) is not as refined or comfortable, but for our trip it was just fine.

 

I can't wait to go back. If Costa has the right itinerary, I would sail with them again in Europe. But it will be a few years before I'll have that opportunity. Until then, I'll stick with Princess in the Caribbean.

 

Lori

[CruisenOne]

We sailed on the Mediterranea and the Atlantica.

 

We liked both ships.

 

From the Costa brochure, the Mediterranea decor looked somewhat "garish". However, upon boarding, we found it much more subdued.

The decor on the Atlantica was very good.

 

Smoking: (Do hate to write this)

Somewhat of a problem on the Mediterranea. But, not too bad.

Many more areas on the Atlantica were were designated "Non-Smoking":)

 

Food:

We felt that the food was very good; wait staff was excellent.

 

Passengers:

Yes, a very international mix.

 

Only negative that we had, was the restraunt on the Atlantica.

The tables, in the dining room, were too close together.