Should I be scared?

[cruising maniac]

Hello fellow travelers-

My husband and I have been on about 15 cruises over the years. Celebrity, HAL, Carnival, and my favorite Norwegian. I booked with Costa on the Atlantica for the eastern Caribbean over Thanksgiving week. I am starting to second guess my choice due to some negative things I have read, but the deal was too good to pass up. We booked an amazing, large balcony cabin for under $100 per person per day. I would love to hear some feedback on Costa from anyone with experience. Thanks

[cb at sea]

I haven't sailed Costa, but you know what to expect from a cruise....I doubt you'll have a "bad" time! It may be "different", but all cruiselines have their differences!

Sounds like you got a bargain! Don't start 2nd guessing...just go, and enjoy!

[leeanninfla]

My only experience with Costa personally was on a Travel Agent Overnight. The food and service was AWFUL. I had ordered the beef steak for dinner, with NO mushroom or pumpkin sauce, when brought to me the mushroom and pumpkin were both there. I mentioned that, and they took the steak to the back, wiped it off, flipped it over and brought it back. I could not eat it. I am allergic to pumpkin and all varieties of that.

The service was VERY slow, took 3 hours for dinner, and our server only had 6 tables.

 

My daughter on the other hand went on a 1 week Costa cruise with friends 4 months later, and those friends have been on MANY cruises, with all lines, at least 2 a year, they did the Costa because of the kids sail free promotion, and took my daughter with them, as they have done on many vacations in the past. When they came back they all said the food was awful, the service was not good, and that they would never sail with them again, even if it was free. The ship itself they stated was wonderful, and very clean, which is the same as I found, the ship was beautiful and very clean. I was on the Fortuna she was on the Mediteranea

 

Hello fellow travelers-

My husband and I have been on about 15 cruises over the years. Celebrity, HAL, Carnival, and my favorite Norwegian. I booked with Costa on the Atlantica for the eastern Caribbean over Thanksgiving week. I am starting to second guess my choice due to some negative things I have read, but the deal was too good to pass up. We booked an amazing, large balcony cabin for under $100 per person per day. I would love to hear some feedback on Costa from anyone with experience. Thanks

[WineDarkSea]

I did a 17-night transatlantic on the Fortuna earlier this year, and I had no problems whatsoever. I thought the food was good (for mass-produced cruise ship fare). I can't comment on the entertainment as I stayed far away from that. The ship was clean and everything was just fine. The only minor issue I had was with some customer service people not knowing what other customer service people had said/done. It was like they didn't communicate very well among each other. But honestly, the trip was just fine!

[RetireeWannabee]

scared? can't imagine why you would be scared.

 

relax, look forward, don't worry about what you can't control. pack a positive attitude and enjoy your bargain cruise.

[FlyerTalker]

I am starting to second guess my choice due to some negative things I have read, but the deal was too good to pass up.

You sold out your concerns when money spoke louder than other factors.

 

You made a choice of your own free will.

 

Next time, remember there is more to value than price.

[sail7seas]

For what you are paying, keep your expectations reasonable and you probably will be fine.

 

Can't expect a $500/day experience for under $100. ;)

 

[TrentS]

No reason to be SCARED! :confused: :rolleyes:

 

I'm approaching 100 cruises and I've never had a bad one. Sure some have been a lot better than others, but I've never had one I've regretted taking. You do however get what you pay for.

 

Costa/Carnival is certainly not my favorite, but with as little as I've paid for the ones I've been on I had no problems with Costa. The food, service, etc. was fine. Costa IS Carnival IMO - Same gaudy ships with a yellow logo instead of red and they make announcements in more languages. I see no other difference. If you like Carnival you'll like Costa.

 

If you go into anything thinking you're going to hate it and only looking for the bad then you'll be miserable. IMO there's no such thing as a bad cruise, go in with a positive attitude and have a great time!

[kitty9]

You know the saying "you get what you pay for"? That applies to cruise ships in many respects also. There are reasons why some cruises are so cheap. Costa is considered a rather bargain basement line. My cruises on Costa were not the best, to say the least, but they were OK because I was very young and any kind of cruise was fine. I disagree that Costa is Carnival. Carnival has greatly improved in the last three years and they have a good product.

 

Unless you don't mind everything on board being done in 6 languages, including things like their many announcements, bingo and trivia, you won't like Costa. Unless you really, really like Italian food, you won't like Costa. Unless you're not bothered by a lot of smoke and smokers, you won't like Costa.

[boating girl]

Hello fellow travelers-

My husband and I have been on about 15 cruises over the years. Celebrity, HAL, Carnival, and my favorite Norwegian. I booked with Costa on the Atlantica for the eastern Caribbean over Thanksgiving week. I am starting to second guess my choice due to some negative things I have read, but the deal was too good to pass up. We booked an amazing, large balcony cabin for under $100 per person per day. I would love to hear some feedback on Costa from anyone with experience. Thanks

 

If you like NCL, I don't think you will be disappointed in Costa.

[kadey]

We are coming up on our 10th cruise! We have sailed with HAL,Carnival,RCI and Costa. We did the Costa cruise that you are booked on a few years ago. We LOVED this cruise! We enjoyed it so much that we choose do do Costa this past June in the Eastern Med.! Another absolutely fantastic cruise. When we did our first Costa trip I didn't know about Cruise Critic. After I booked the Eastern Med. trip I found Cruise Critic and read some really mixed reviews on Costa. I considered cancelling our cruise,but I kept thinking about how much we had enjoyed our first cruise with them, and that was why I had rebooked with them. I am so glad that I didn't change this past cruise. Stay with Costa! For some reason people tend to post their bad experiences and there are probably so many more good experiences that people don't post! Have a wonderful trip!-Kade

[Hamburg Avon Lady]

:) Don't read too much into the negative posts about ANY cruise line. You

will always hear the good and the bad for any trip - cruising or land based.

Our very first cruise was on the Costa Atlantica and we have a really good

time --- we went with a group of friends from Buffalo --- The crew and

particularly, the cruise director's staff was extremely warm and friendly.

Got everyone up and dancing --- the Toga Party is a blast and really

convinced my DH and I that more cruises were in the future for us. The only "downside" to the trip was the cuisine in the main dining room. Coming from Western New York --- we are more accustomed to

the "pasta and red sauce" type of Italian cooking --- on the ship, the

menus were more from Northern Italy --- the food was very good but just

different than what we were used to.

 

Keep an open mind and a sense of humor --- and at the conclusion of your trip --- you will

have a better idea about whether you will be cruising with Costa again.;)

[Goldryder]

Not all of the Costa ships are Carnival jellymoulds, the older and smaller vessels are from before the Carnival days and it shows...there is a different atmosphere on the older ships, more genuine Italian than faked mass produced Italian.

 

The announcements are in different languages BUT only at muster and when all passengers require talking to at the same time about one event. Otherwise the announcements are according to the nationality the message is aimed at...ie if the Germans aboard are having a specific thing organised, the announcement is in German only so as English speakers you ignore it.

 

The food is really very good...just do not go expecting to be given American/Italian restaurant fayre...this is properly prepared Italian/Italian so the pasta won't melt in the mouth etc. As for choices, well last year aboard Allegra it was 10 course choices for lunch and 12 for dinner...you would be extremely picky if you couldn't find something not to your liking out of that little lot.

 

Drinks are no more expensive than other lines...they often seem so due to the exchange rates sometimes, but that is just one of the irritations of international travel.