Italian_Cruiser

11 minutes ago, ahkahn said:

Worried about this ship.  Scheduled to go on our first Costa cruise in March.  

 

- I've heard now that you literally cannot drink on the ship anything for free.  No iced tea, no water.  I'm seeing some reports of free drinks for breakfast...  not sure if that's the only time?  We did not pay for a drink package.  I'm good with water or iced tea, if it's free, but I can't believe a ship literally doesn't even have free water with (or without) meals?  Can someone please shed some light on this?

 

- I've also heard that there is no soap, shampoo, or conditioner in the cabins.  Should we pack our own? 

 

 

On the drinks the rumors are indeed correct - no free drinks except for breakfast (and possibly water in the buffet dureing opening hours, but cannot confirm).

There is a all-in onw soap/shampoo dispenser in the shower - always advisable to bring your own.

16 minutes ago, 2020cruiserider said:

Thank you very much! I plan to board at 4pm on embarkation day to avoid any crowd. I should just go straight to my room guess it should be ready by then right?

 

Does buffet close early like 20:30 for other Costa cruise I read online?

 

Is it cool onboard indoor? Thinking if I should bring a thin sweater for indoor while I have thick coat for outdoor?

 

Reserved a wine tasting session (but they don't allow me to choose the date) I'm guessing it might be in my MDR too.

Yes, should be ready by then.

Nope, buffet is open for dinner - not sure when it closes but I had dinner one night in the buffet and it was in normal dinner hours.

Its not super cold but a sweater may be useful.

The wine session may be at the wine bar, but it's an educated guess.

On 1/13/2020 at 10:56 PM, heatherb1958 said:

Thank you Italian cruiser for posting your thoughts on Smeralda, we join on 20th January for 7 nights , first cruise with Costa but have done many on other lines , mainly RCI and more recently been on quite a few MSC on their new ships. 
 

interesting your comments on the MDR , I changed from the Arlecchino one to the Il Meneghino because the Arlecchino one looked like a cafe from the photos on the app.

I don’t mind not having table cloths but still want to feel like I am going out to a restaurant . MSC ‘S new ships spacing and layout in the MDR is awful , looks just like a school canteen in some areas though we still enjoyed our food experience . 
 

We had a Brindiamo package included with our booking and have upgraded to Piu  Gusto as I like Aperol spritz and other cocktails. 
 

What type of hairdryer is supplied in the cabin and where is it located ? , please do not say in the bathroom ! I always take my own travel hairdryer but see it is noted on the website as a banned item. 
 

Cheers 
 

 

Re: school canteen, definitely Colombina and somewhat Meneghino are the most 'canteen' like restaurants.

Hairdryer is the common hairdryer you can find in cruise ships - in my balcony cabin was located in a drawer below the small desk in the main room.

On 1/15/2020 at 11:03 AM, 2020cruiserider said:

Hi Italian_Cruiser, thank you for sharing all the info as trip advisor ones are all for Dec sailings and quite negative (for first few sails I assume it's chaotic). I'm completely new cruiser and would like to seek some advice!

 

Is the buffet still chaotic? Is there a lot of food choices in buffet?

 

I reserved a lamb rack meal for my 5th night, do I need to reconfirm with reception once onboard which restaurant I will have it in?

 

What's the dinner times for MDR? Is it difficult to change onboard?

 

Where could I get hot water for free? (Assume no kettle and fridge in cabin)

 

Is embarkation security tight for every port? I usually bring a thermal bottle with water with me and some snacks, worry that they might prohibit these. 

Buffet: chaotic as usual in Italian ships, food choice is ample but the portions are made by staff behind the counter so it feels less as a buffet than usual.

I suspect that the lamb will be served in your assigned dining room.

There are 2 different time slots: an early and a late slot - rugantino and arlecchino slots are 15' later than meneghino and colombina. On your embarkation day you will find an hour slot in colombina to change your assigned MDR, depending on availability.

Hot water only in buffet, during opening hours.

The checks are always done at the port and never on the ship, so I guess the attention towards food is lower.

6 hours ago, Vald78 said:

Dear Italian Cruiser,

Thanks for the great tips for us waiting for our next cruise. More than dozen negative reviews on TA and CC have been published already (there really are no positive ones!). One common complaint seems to be the food and dining experience. You already commented that, but may I ask some further questions:

- Were the dinner menus similar to your previous Costa cruises? Typically antipasto, primi, secondi, cheese and dessert, with optional salad and soup?

- There are several complaints of food being cold. Did you experience this? If yes, did it seem to be due to the kitchen or the waiters?

- People are complaining of food quality and portions being returned to kitchen. Did you encounter this?

- Breakfast and lunch being only buffet has been mentioned. Do they still serve ala carte lunch (with menus quite similar to dinner) at some of the restaurants or are there days when they have buffet only? Do they still have the ala carte breakfast (American, English, Belgian, etc) added with cold buffet?

Many thanks!

 

 

Yes, they were similar. Correct: antipasto, primo, secondo, cheese and dessert.

Food was never super hot but I would not say cold. Service (at least in the rugantino) is not one of the fastest.

Never seen a plate being sent back.

On lunch there are half MDRs offering full buffet and the other half a mixed experience with mains a la carte and appetizers/dessert buffet style.

23 hours ago, ighten said:

Can you still upscale to club dining for a weekly charge when you get on board like the other costs ships

There is indeed a new club restaurant reserved for the upper tier of costa club. No info about the upcharge, but heard on the web they are already very tight on space with existing club members.

15 hours ago, glorialagos said:

Do you know if there are hair dryer in each cabin?

 

Also, what can you tell me about room service?

Yes, there is the hair dryer.

Not used.

On 1/9/2020 at 1:48 PM, glorialagos said:

Thank you for your help!  It has been hard to plan this cruise with no reviews and the first ones I saw have not been very encouraging!!  I am interested in knowing what the spa has to offer?  I mainly like to relax in a hot tub (without kids) and love the heated stone chairs - do they have these?  Also, is there coffee available in the morning anywhere?  We do not have a drink package.  Will there be free drinks available - water?  coffee?  tea?  Or is there a charge for everything?  I don't mind paying but just need black coffee, nothing fancy, especially in the morning but would love to have it with desserts at dinner.  Thanks!

Hi Gloria,

there's indeed a very large hot tub, heated stone chairs, a salt room, a dry and wet 'hammam' sauna, a snow room and a relaxation lounge. The SPA is not huge compared to the ship but I never felt it crowded even sailing with all staterooms occupied, but not at full capacity.

The coffee should be available in the morning in both the buffet and restaurants.

Free drinks are generally not available anywhere except during breakfast, I understand that free water is offered to bookings made in certain jurisdictions.

As far as I know coffee is not served at dinner (but can be bought for a fee at bars I imagine).

On 1/9/2020 at 9:58 PM, Plan B said:

 

I have taken this from Costa's website:

“Brindiamo” Beverage Package

• Apéritifs & Vermouth Tio Pepe / Aperol / Bitter Campari / Martini Rosso, Bianco, Dry / Pastis / Pernod 45 / Ricard / Campari Soda / Crodino / Flûte Asti Spumante Martini & Rossi, Prosecco DOC “Valdo”
• Beers International Draught Beer Beer (alcohol free)
• Fruit Juices Pear / Peach / Apricot Pineapple / Orange / Grapefruit
• Soft Drinks and Mineral Water Sodas / Tonic water/ Bitter Lemon Lemon Iced Tea Peach Iced Tea Syrup with water by glass Mineral Water Sparkling or Natural
• Hot Beverages Illy Espresso Decaffeinated Illy Iced Coffee Illy Caffè Shakerato Illy Cappuccino Illy “Corretto” “Dammann” Tea Selection
• From the Chocolate Bar Coconut, Mint, Meringue, Hazelnut, Strawberry, Pistachio, Orange, Cinnamon, White, Extra Milk, Extra Dark, Light, Hot or cold Chocolate
• Wines by glass DOC White Wines DOC Red Wines

Is the Chocolate Bar part of the Illy Coffee Shop or is it separate?  I'm assuming that it is chocolate to drink rather than to eat?   Thanks

Hi Plan B,

There's a gelateria that doubles as chocolate bar. Chocolate to drink.

18 hours ago, Stadleter said:

 

 

+1, i also would like to know is the spa good. 

Italian cruiser, which line is better for you, MSC or Costa? 

 

Hi Stadleter,

for the SPA see above.

I have a slight preference towards MSC, but I would say that in the end both are comparable products. I would say MSC is more 'classy' while costa is more 'young'.

1 hour ago, dethman said:

thanks for the info!  i'm booked for a march cruise embarking in barcelona with my wife and two kids (6 and 4).  i'm not sure if you went with any children, but do you happen to know anything about the kids' club or activities?  any decent kids' food options? 

 

we have a 16th floor balcony room, i wonder if that would be affected by the noise much? 

 

we have never cruised on costa, only princess, RC, carnival, and NCL.  we are american and hope it's not too much of a culture shock.

No children - but there's is a kids' club (called squok club), no idea about the programs.

There's a dedicated buffer restaurant for families (called 'tutti a tavola' - italian for 'everyone on the table') in fron of the kids' club - I saw a dedicated kids menu in the MDR, but again cannot advise.

Noise: cannot tell, had to say that at 14th deck the cabin was very quiet.

As per my understanding Costa service is more or less aligned to Carnival - never cruised with any of the companies you listed so cannot really compare.

2 hours ago, Vald78 said:

Many thanks for the comprehensive responses! We actually have one of the four staterooms with "hump" balconies reserved for my parents-in-law... Will change our preference for MDR to Arlecchino. How about the indoor pool area, I assume it was quite busy? Were the outdoor pools/ water slides closed during your cruise? You mentioned special coffees included in the corallo tier. How were these different to the comprehensive menu of coffees included in Piu Gusto?

Thanks again!

 

Indoor pool area was indeed quite swarmed by kids - poolside whirlpools were better.

Outdoor pools were open, with heated water.

Water slides were closed the only time I passed by - honestly I don't know if they have been closed the whole cruise.

Special coffees: I suppose those were 'more premium' but just an educated guess. 

47 minutes ago, Vald78 said:

Many thanks for the excellent responses and being available to help on Smeralda, for which there is not much information from the cruisers yet!

 

We are boarding from Civitavecchia in Feb. I have a couple of questions:

- By default, the requested MDR for us is Meneghino. You preferred Arlecchino and Rugantino. We are looking for the most "up-scale" MDR (table clots etc) with possibility for a table for 6 and not too noisy. Should we change to e.g. Arlecchino? I assume we are still able to visit the other MDRs as well during lunch/ breakfast?

- Do they have the same wines included in Piu Gusto as usually (3 reds if I remember correctly)? Is it an issue to get wines by the bottle (the one you prefer) with Piu Gusto at the dinner, or do they just pour from the bottle they happen to have in hand (we experienced this in our last cruise from Japan but newer in Mediterranea, where we always had the right bottles waiting for us at the table)?

- Do you know when it is possible to board in Civitavecchia (still in time for ala carte lunch)?

- Do you have any experience on balcony cabins in the middle part of the ship (we reserved one from deck 12 which looks a bit bigger in the deck plan, above Colosseo)?

- Which ports of call provide shuttle service that you would advise to use (last time I remember that in Marseille there was a huge queue for the shuttle)?

 

Many thanks in advance!

Hi Vald,

in order:

- you won't find any tablecloth in the whole ship - they have eliminated all the tablecloths to be more 'green' - plates are put directly on the table. Arlecchino in my opinion is the most stylish avenue, is 'built' like a home so there are multiple rooms with different styles in the same restaurant (on costa website you can have a glimpse). Rugantino is a bit inferior in terms of furniture but has the nice perk of having direct access to the aft terrace. Meneghino and Colombina are much more packed in term of available space between tables. You can visit all MDRs during lunchtime, they have different opening hours, Meneghino and Colombina are buffet style while the other two are a-la-carte.

- I honestly don't know as i'm not very picky about wines at dinner time (I drink half a glass per dinner) and I always had what they offered me.

- I boarded in Savona, however they usually let you board before the advertised time, lunch should be doable.

- I had room 14216 and the balcony was more spacious the I expected. From outside all the balconies seemed to be more or less the same size, except for the balconies at the corner between the 'humps' on the side - those are also huge on the deck plan (eg. room 12099).

- I usually go ashore c. 1h+ after docking so I usually experience less queue than people going ashore straight away.

   * Marseille: shuttle is always in the usual place, but they have newer buses;

   * Barcelona: there's a shuttle just at the exit of the terminal for 4€ return (brings you to the end of the 'rambla' in 5 mins);

   * La spezia: no need to get shuttles, the port is in the city center, but you need to get a 1' bus trip to go out of the port provided by the port authority;

   * Palma: there's a public bus service close to the terminal, but a taxi ride to the city center is c. € 15 so I would suggest you to take a taxi (to be found just outside the terminal);

   * Savona: no need to get shuttles, the port is in the city center;

   * Civitavecchia: did not disembark, but it's your embarkation port so not really applicable.

3 hours ago, Plan B said:

Thank you for answering our questions - hope you had a good time?  The reviews on TripAdvisor are not too good!

 

I have read somewhere about about a Chocolate Bar or cafe or ???  Did you see or use it?

 

Thanks for any advice

 

 

Yes I enjoyed it, but again - it's a Costa cruise, no less no more, with a newer ship. If you look at the average review of Costa here on CC you'll see that reviews of Smeralda are aligned.

There is an Illy bar at the center of the ship (coffee) plus a gelateria on the front of the ship that also serves hot chocolate.

I got tho special coffees included in the corallo tier - nothing special to be honest.

17 hours ago, Bobbingbob said:

Hi

Hope you enjoyed your cruise and Happy New Year to you.  We have done quite a few Costa cruises and have been very happy with them. We are booked on Smeralda later this month.

I would like to know what kind of entertainment you found onboard, please? Did you go to the theatre?  What sort of shows? Was there live  music in any of the bars and, if so, what kind? 
We are ‘older’ guests and some of the venues are too loud for us ( even though our hearing is not as good as it used to be).  
Did your Piu Gusto package cover a drink in most of the bars? We know that you pay at the Ferrari bar  (unless you are on the Intenditore package) but we were wondering about the other bars as there seem to be several different ones such as a wine bar and a Campari bar? Were all the bars open?

Thanks very much in advance for your help.

Bob

 

Hi Bob,

unfortunately for you most of the entertainment is on the loud side - there are 3 different 'crews' for the entertainment with two on the 'acrobatic' side and one slightly more on the dancing side, plus 2 or 3 singers. The shows are repeated several times during the cruise in different time slot.

There are two theaters, the 'real' theater and the Colosseo, both have moving stages and double as disco by the night. The theater is very badly laid out with a lot of columns in the line of sight.

Live music is present in at least two bars but never enjoyed it as is not of my interest.

All internal bars were open (external were closed given the season), I did not go to the ferrari bar but piu gusto covered everything else (for sure aperol spritz bar and campari bar).

22 minutes ago, alicat58 said:

Regular mixed drinks are Gin and tonic, Whisky cola, Vodka tonic, Vodka lemon and Cuba Libre(rum and coke I think.) This is from a very old menu but I don't think it has changed.

 

Spirits are basically the gin etc without the mixers. You can order a spirit and a separate glass of mixer if you want to. Drinks like mojito, aperol spritz etc is not included in Brindiamo. 

 

Riana

Correct

2 hours ago, floridagirl21 said:

I  just booked this ship for our family vacation in May, I am hoping by then all the "Kinks" of a new ship will be worked out. I can't find any reviews from anyone that has been on board yet. I want my kids (age 20, 24 and 25) to experience Europe in all her glory, so I thought an Italian ship would do just that. Then I read all the negative reviews of the other Costa ships, and I am getting a little nervous about my decision.

 

I am hoping we will enjoy the food enough to not go hungry, and find enough drinks in the "Brindiamo" package so I don't feel I have wasted my hard earned money.

 

Could you tell me a little about the food, and the difference between the drink packages?

I have read over and over that once on board they charge you for everything, did you find that to be true??

Did you do any of the excursions that you would recommend?

I don't expect everyone on board to speak English, but hope there will be enough English Speaking staff to help us if we need it.

 

Thanks in advance!

Hi Floridagirl,

it is definitely a Costa Cruise, with a much newer (and better) ship. Don't expect anything better or worse service wise. For me the value for money of Costa is fair but do not expect anything luxury (I've done a total of 5 cruises of which 3 Costa and 2 MSC - not YC). I don't know what are your expectations so YMMV.

There are 4 included MDRs and a buffet (plus 2 restaurants - teppanyaki and a masterchef-style 'lab restaurant' + 1 pizzeria for a fee). Breakfast is served in the buffet and one of the MDRs; lunch can be a-la-carte in 2 MDRs or buffet style in the buffet or in one other MDR; Dinner can be a-la-carte in the 4 MDRs (which one is assigned to you for the whole duration of your cruise) or in the buffet. There is a light sweet snack an tea in the buffet from 3 to 5 pm. The service is equal in all 4 MDRs - from personal taste the MDRs from best to worse are: Arlecchino, Rugantino, Meneghino and Colombina - but again the only difference is in the layout.

(There are also 2 further restaurant reserved to suite guests and top tier costa club members.)

I have to be honest that to date this is the cruise where I ate the least, not for the quality of the food (aligned, if not better, with the previous 4 cruises) but for the portions that were more 'human' size than usual. Buffet is also served by the chefs behind the counter so no oversize plates.

(Gained ~1kg for 1 week cruise.)

I went for the piu-gusto package that is basically brindiamo plus alcoholic cocktails (not included in the brindiamo) - should be ~30€/person/cruise on top of brindiamo, circa the price of 4 cocktails. If you're not interested in cocktails brindiamo should be sufficient.

There is a 10€/person/day mandatory service charge. I paid extra for the SPA access (105€/person/cruise for unlimited access) and for a dinner at the 'restaurant lab', WI-FI access is also for a fee everything else is included (drinks are included according to your drink package).

I never take excursions. Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma and La Spezia city center are reachable by walking and/or by the free shuttles provided by the port authority. 

Most of the staff is foreign and is probably more at ease to speak english than italian.

Hope this helps.

I did the NYE cruise on Costa Smeralda - ask me anything!

Addictedinflorida, thanks for your review.

Did you had the chance to visit the onboard SPA?

I'm willing to buy the weekly pass, but i fear that the SPA will be packed during the new year's eve cruise.

4 hours ago, blondelinda said:

Hi All

My daughter , from Australia is flying to Miami next month, to work on the MSC cruiseline on the Seaside ship I believe for 7 months

We are trying to find out the best options for getting a sim that will work at sea? Mainly for data so she can email and call via wifi

Does anyone have any options? I have searched online and found various sims for the Caribbean but they say they dont work at sea

 

Will she be at the mercy of the cruise line and chargers. or is there another option?

Due to the technological implementation on how mobiles works at sea there is no way to have a working "sea sim" without being at the mercy of the cruise line

1 minute ago, BubMunkeyBles said:

 

It was definitely not full. 🙂 I felt like they were doing quite a bit of soliciting day of and a couple people at my table were able to book within 30 minutes of wanting to get in. 

Great, thanks!

1 hour ago, BubMunkeyBles said:

Day 5: At Sea. The second sea day was mostly a repeat of the first one. Main addition is that I got a Bali Massage which was really nice. I did status match before I got on the cruise so they gave me a deal of buy one get one 50% off for the second massage (which I got on the 3rd and final sea day). I read a lot, took the kids to the pool, took a nap when they went to the kids club. Since I was solo with the two kids it was just nice to be able to not do a lot. We homeschool so the kids did do some schoolwork also. I'm so mean!

Hi BubMunkeyBles, thanks for your review.

Could you please advise if the SPA was full during your visit?

Thanks

4 hours ago, Skier52 said:

We did get some vibration plus a small amount of noise when the ship maneuvered in port.

We also noticed, at certain speeds/propeller revs, a side to side rock at a frequency of 1 to 2 times a second. We have experienced this 'rock' on other ships, again at certain speeds/propeller revs. I think it must be caused by the vortexes of the props interacting with each other and pushing the ship to give the rock.

 

Pete 

Thanks - you're not the first claiming about the rocking of the ship - so I guess it's a shipwide problem.

1 hour ago, Skier52 said:

I had the exact same cabin on the repositioning cruise 5 weeks ago.

The balcony is a bit bigger than a standard balcony.

here are some pictures of the cabin and balcony

Hope this helps

 

Pete

Thanks Pete, appreciated.

You had any issue in the cabin during your cruise (noise, vibrations, ...)?

Thanks!

Hi fellow cruisers, I've been here a lot lurking around until today :)

I already cruised 1x with MSC (Splendida) and 2x with Costa (2x Luminosa) so I already somewhat know what to expect.

I'm booked on the New Year's Eve Cruise departing Genoa on the 26th, and I have some questions, I would be tankful if someone is able to answer some of the following:

1. Restaurants (1) - which one is better? L'edera (Deck 5) or Quattro Venti (Deck 6)?
2. Restaurants (2) - anyone got luck to have a table for two for the dinner (I'm fantastica)? Are many available or just few?
3. Restaurants (3) - anyone went to the oriental plaza with the pre-paid package? What's included?
4. SPA (1) - I'm keen to purchase 76£/person for 11 days/10 nights (yes... I'm Italian but I work in London so £ prices...), what is the price on board? Any chance to score the cruise pass for less?
5. SPA (2) - Ship is nearly full capacity (>10 cabins available 4 weeks prior to departing), will be the SPA actually usable or it will be extremely crowded?
6. Cabin - I will be cruising in cabin 10247 - facing the wake of the ship - does anyone have any picture of the cabin? I'm especially curious about the balcony size (should be bigger than average?)
7. Drink package - I've been able to purchase a package of cruise + classic package - after the packageGATE of the last week anyone had any issue on utilizing the old packages on board?

Thanks in advance for your kind answers :)