CupKayke

I am going to try to make this short and if you have questions, ask away. I will answer anything. Let me say something quick - COSTA is a great cruise line and they are doing a wonderful job. They are a lot like Carnival, HAL, RC, etc. They are a normal cruise ship. However, COSTA is NOT meant for Americans or English-only speakers and quite frankly, they need to remove themselves from allowing anyone who writes or speaks English from booking their ships. That is my opinion, and I will stand by it. Having said that, my husband and I, two Americans who are well traveled (not just on cruise ships), flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina and took a 9-day cruise from BA, Argentina to Rio, Brazil and back through two more stops in Brazil then to Montevideo, Uruguay and back to Buenos Aires. We did have a nice time and we did enjoy ourselves because we aren't pushy or rude Americans and we always find the best in every situation. Also, we booked a suite which came with a lot of perks that we didn't realize and made our cruise enjoyable. Had we not booked a suite, I think we would have been upset. Also, we were told by the tour/excursion desk and by the hospitality desk that we were the only Americans onboard (which surprised us) and we were the only English speakers onboard until Rio when two Australians got onboard. We did meet a couple of people here or there that knew some broken English and one very American-looking man who was married to an Argentinian lady and he spoke excellent English as did his daughter. The cruise holds 2,057 passengers with only a handful of English speakers. Thank goodness for our dinner staff who all spoke English! Having said that... here's the deal. Costa is 100% setup to NOT cater to ANYONE who speaks English. NONE of the announcements are in English. Near the end of our 9-day cruise, there was an announcement for the crew, asking the "Stretcher crew" to get the stretcher and go to a room number (1108?). They said it over and over in English. My husband and I looked at each other, sorta sad for whoever it may be or whatever was going on, and then it dawned on us that was the FIRST announcement we'd ever heard in English. By the way, all of the crew speak English (some not very good). You cannot use an American iPhone on their ship... not for anything, including to access the Costa App - where your bill, your menus at some restaurants, your excursions, etc are located. We did speak with the lovely Israel IT guy twice (I really liked him and his brother is an American) and he told us he always feels terrible telling anyone with an American iPhone that they cannot use their phone on the ship but it is what it is. Also, Costa blocked all the websites I use. I asked if I could please access my blog (it is on travelblog dot org) and nope - Costa has that totally normal website blocked. So odd. The only website I could access to contact my family was Facebook. NONE of the excursions are available in English. On this cruise, they tried to split the excursions between Spanish speakers (the older Argentinians/Italians) and Portuguese speakers (Brazilians). They would not allow us to take any excursion spoke in Portuguese-only, even when we asked. We did have two excursions we signed-up for pre-cruise cancelled by Costa because they didn't want us taking excursions in Portugese. I could write a lot and I thought about writing a full day-to-day review of this cruise but really, I just don't want to encourage any Americans to book a Costa cruise again. It is absolutely not worth it. We greatly regretted not booking Holland America or NCL for this cruise, but we still had a good time, it just wasn't enjoyable as it could be and there were some concerns occasionally that we did not have a clue what was going-on. I do want to say the myths and the crap reviews about Costa are just that - crap. Costa is a fine cruise line. They are doing a great job. They are feeding their people, giving them water, selling them drink packages, and taking them on excursions. Is the food or the eating times anywhere near normal for an American cruise? Absolutely not - but that is to be expected. Is the water rusty brown or the rooms or hallways dirty? Absolutely not! This ship was in tip top condition (kinda) and the water was fine. So, there are some goods and bads but basically, Costa isn't meant for English speakers. Period.

Your post is SO incorrect I don't even know where to start but I'll say this for a FACT - I just got off a Costa ship and they had an indoor smoking lounge. I can post pictures of the outside of the lounge and of my husband smoking inside the lounge if you don't believe me. Other things I 100% disagree with from my 9-day journey on Costa through South America which I stepped off the ship on March 18th (I believe)... The food on Costa is not good. It's not necessarily bad but it's not what you think it's going to be. There are no long, amazing Italian meals like you speak off. They have things like Chicken Stroganoff on the menu and when they bring it to you, it looks like cow brain - jellied and gross. Every time you order, this is sorta how it works out. I think the food is, for the most part, catered toward Brazilians. That's fine. We never complained but having traveled to Italy on many occasions and had amazing meals throughout so many regions, I completely disagree with your post above. Please do not let people think they are going to get authentic Italian cuisine on a Costa ship. That's a joke. Language is a HUGE problem on a Costa ship if you speak English. We were the only Americans onboard for our 9-day journey. We were the only English-speaking guests onboard until we got to Rio and two Australians boarded. We were told this by the hospitality desk and by the tour desk because they ended-up canceling several of our tours because they were only going to be in Portugese. Frankly, Costa went above and beyond and WAY out of there way to modify their tours for these two English-speaking Americans. We were thankful however... we both agreed Costa should ABSOLUTELY NOT be selling these cruises to Americans and their website should not even be offered in English. WHY? Because you cannot use an "American iPHone" to access their app - where all the menus are located, where your daily bill is at, where the activities are listed, etc. They have one restaurant (speciality) where the only way you can order in the restaurant is with the Costa App. We sat and spoke for a very long time on several occasions with their lovely IT guy from Isreal and he told us he feels so bad when anyone with an American iPhone gets onboard because they can't use it on the Costa ship. Also, Costa bans A LOT of American websites. He said he has no control of over it. I even went to the hospitality desk. I was not able to access my blog the entire trip. The ONLY website I could access to keep in touch with family was... of all dang things... Facebook. Eh. Water is an issue on Costa for SOME people. We had a suite. We had four bottles in our room daily and we could go to any bar and get a bottle (small or large) free all day long. However, if you had to eat at the buffets (we did not have to because we had a suite but we did twice)... you cannot get your own water. They have it roped off. There are attendants there and they will hand you a small glass of water. It is INSANE to me but it is what it is. If we had not booked a suite, I would have been floored having to do that on a regular basis. There was no fee to have an attendant hand you a glass a water - but only during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is no water outside of those times so you better have a drink/water package or a suite (it's free for suite guests). I agree food is available all day, basically. We were never hungry. The meal times are plenty long enough for someone to eat. They do start later meals than American cruise ships but they still have regular meal times. We thought it might be the humidity or just the lack of food we like overall but we did skip meals. We were still never hungry. They had a burger place that was open from like 10pm to 6am (or so we were told by our waiter) but we never tried it. I think it is $5 for a bacon double cheeseburger and fries - that's what he told us multiple times but we were never hungry on this cruise. There was nothing different about our Costa ship that is any different than any other ship. There was no design shift that they should be "proud" of - quite frankly, it looked like an old Carnival ship to me - very old. ALL THE WINDOWS need replaced badly. I believe this ship is going to drydock in August so there's that. I just cannot agree with you saying their ship design is so very different than any other ship when it is the exact same as the other ships we've been on. You do pay for pizza. The margherita pizza is good. It was on sale because they never had any patrons so you basically got a large pizza for $4.50. The other toppings were strange for an American and we tried several pizzas but in general, you do pay. It's not any better or worse than the free pizza on Carnival. There is no free ice cream and the gelato is just so-so. We don't cruise for the pizza or the ice cream so there is that. The ship is clean. It's just like all the other ships. It's a good working cruise ship and is kept to the same standards as any other cruise ship we've cruised. I don't know what you are trying to say about the "Master Drill" but if you are talking about the muster drill, you do have to PUT ON your life jacket and stand in line and check in and they are serious about it. THey even scan your id cards. No phones allowed (I took two pictures and got told no-no) and then everyone must be quiet why they talk. Yes, people were blowing the whistles. LOL ALso, for the record, the next day we had a letter in our cabin telling us we didn't attend and we had to go to some room. I took the letter to the hospitality desk and she had us both sign the letter saying we attended. Also, I told her I took pictures so I had proof. I think she thought that was funny. I know Costa has a past so maybe that's why they are so serious about the muster drill but come on, it's the year 2023... Lastly, COSTA is NOTHING like being in Italy. That is the funniest statement I've read. I love Italy. LOVE Italy. We have been to so many regions in Italy. Costa is like being on a cruise ship with SOME Italians. Our boat sailed from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Rio, Brazil and back down to Uruguay and back to Buenos Aires. This Costa boat never had a zero count. They loaded passengers in Buenos Aires, Rio, and Montevideo. The majority of the passengers from Buenos Aires were warm, lovely, much older Italains. I loved these people. They were so sweet and wonderful. The majority of the passengers from Rio were younger Brazilians and wealthy Brazilians. They seemed to hate the English speaking Americans. Everywhere we went, most people spoke Portugese (the Brazilians), or Spanish (the Argentenians and/or Italians). We had arranged a private tour in Argentina before we left and we were told 70% of Argentenians have Italian ancestry. This is probably why they are so nice. However, it's still different on the ship. This is not an "Italian" cruise ship when it is sailing in South America - there were many meals that were a "Brazilian mix" or "Brazilian delicacy" and the cruise we took for 9 days was catered toward Brazilians with a smaller mix of Italians. I just saw your post and wanted to set the record straight. I was thinking of writing a full photo review of our cruise but I didn't want to encourage any Americans to ever book Costa (as we will never do so again) so I was being quiet on the boards but I couldn't let the misinformation stand.

Also, the water on the ship was clean and I never saw anything rusty and we brushed our teeth with it and didn't think twice. I felt like the ship was just like any Carnival ship except long overdue for a rehab which it's about to get this fall.

We just got off Costa Fortuna in South America a couple of weeks ago (March 18th I believe). We had a suite and we had unlimited drinks plus with the suite (it came with it) and our "Mini Bar" was underwhelming. There were NEVER any snacks, M&Ms, pringles, or any food whatsoever. The fridge had Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta (orange), and some sorta of horrible lemon/ginger tea soda and mango/tea soda (and I looooove tea). Oh, it also had two Heinekens in cans in it. He asked what we wanted refilled. We chose the Coke, Coke Zero, Fanta and Sprite. He left the Heinekens but we never drank them. I told him please don't put those teas back in there. That's all the mini bar had - NO small bottles of liquer anywhere on this ship. However, the Drinks Plus service was immaculate. We could go to any bar, all day long, ask for two double vodkas on the rocks, a Sprite or Fanta in a can, and walk away. ALL. DAY. LONG. NEVER had an issue getting anything we wanted to drink. We could get a small bottle of water or a GIANT liter bottle of water at almost any bar all day long, too. I did this only once because we our Butler left four bottles of water in our room daily. At breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they served us cold water in glasses - which they filled with bottled water in front of us.

Tony - can you add a link to your review? I am not sure where to look for it?! Thank you

I see you are doing a back-to-back. Your first 8 days are the same as our cruise the 8 days prior. There is no one in my roll call on here so I'm going to go check yours for ideas...

Hello 🙂 I answered in the other forum but I just spoke with Costa. It must be medically supervised. Can be PCR or Antigen. You can also do one of those tests where the company mails you the test, you take the test on your own, then you do a Facetime with the medical professional, then the medical professional emails you the results. You cannot just show-up with a test you bought and took yourself. I hope that helps. 🙂

This may be absolutely useless to you - but Costa Cruises is offering an 8-hour "SUPER RIO" tour where we will be doing all three!! I can't wait!! 🙂 Good Luck

My apologies. I do see today it is about 25 minutes taxi from EZE to the BA cruise port. The bus is what is showing as 1.5 hours. We will be doing taxi or Uber... haven't really decided which is safer yet.

Thank You for this information. Am I correct (?) that from EZE to the cruise port is 1.5 hrs??? That’s what I keep reading??

I had no clue! Interesting it is!!

Yes, I’ve written a lot of other reviews - some of them may be highlighted in my signature? I can’t wait to see what happens on Costa! I mean, I’m sure it will be all good but the South America board is not very active nor are some of the posters friendly or accurate.

Costa Fortuna in March. No real info on here most of the time - just people with ideas. I can’t wait to return an write an in-depth review. Seriously lacking on info it seems - probably due to COVID the last couple of years.

I’m glad everything seems so clear to YOU. I could post some screen shots showing you otherwise but it’s okay.., you do whatever you need to do for your Costa cruise since you are so clear about everything.

When are you leaving? Would also love to know this... crazy how little info there is for cruises out of South America for Americans.

How long did it take for you to get from EZE to the cruise terminal? Is it still 6,000 pesos or $40 US American dollars? Did you simply use a Taxi or Uber? Thank you for answering my questions. I appreciate it.

We are cruising out of Argentina in March with Costa and I am getting these same notices but then I also get these "we are staying on top of the current situation" blah blah blah emails. If you go to book my exact cruise with another company, they have a big post saying "COVID TESTING NOT REQUIRED FOR ANY VACCINATED ADULT" so I called that company and that is exactly what they told me - for MY Costa Cruise?! So odd. I'm waiting to see what really happens.... 24 hours is going to be almost impossible for us but we'll see...

I feel your pain. We are cruising on Costa Fortuna out of Buenos Aires, Argentina in March and I am getting mixed signals/answers. Basically, some places say in order to take a cruise out of South America, ALL ADULTS must have a COVID test at least 24 hours pre-embarkation or they will be denied boarding however, I was looking at this cruise on another website and it specifically says that COVID testing is only required for those who do not have vaccines and boosters and vaccinated adults do not need pre-cruise tests. We are fully vaccinated and have had 3 boosters each at this point with our most recent one being in October. The Costa website and emails are not helpful and simply say they are staying on top of the changes. Umm... okay... but we are like 60 days out at this point. When it gets closer to time, I suppose I will call them. The thing with us is... we embark the boat around 4pm (???) I don't know... at some point on March 10th we will be allowed onboard. Our flight arrives into Argentina at 7am that morning (debarkation/sailing time was moved from 4pm to 7pm). We don't know how early we can get onboard the ship on the 10th.... but we leave Miami (straight flight) at 8pm THE EVENING PRIOR so If we are going to get a COVID test, we'll have to do it in the Miami airport around 2-4pm or so?? I mean... that's more than 24 hours or we will be possibly cutting it really close.... but we have no other choice. Unless they are going to offer COVID tests at embarkation, this all seems like a mess.

We will be sailing on Costa Fortuna in March. Interesting.

Thank you for your kind comments. Frankly, ALL the lines are more alike than different. We've cruised on Royal Caribbean, HAL, Carnival (we are Carnival Gold Members), and now we are trying Costa in a couple of months. You will LOVE HAL in Alaska. And I knew we were friends the minute I saw your St Louis Cardinals pic! I'm a HUGE baseball fan and rarely miss watching a game (on TV). 😍

Hello. I was able to sign-in tonight and book excursions with no issues. It does look like they are going to issue a transfer from the airport to the ship but it shows it will be available at a later date or as suggested above, I will simply call and request their transfer. Thank You Perhaps I need to remember they are probably doing Internet/maintenance issues "overnight" which is actually daytime here. We are quite curious about this trip and are hoping for the best. I do find it interesting they have stated on the website that the COVID/testing pre-cruise requirements are unknown at this time. Of course we have our COVID vaccines and 3 boosters at this point but it will be interesting to know if we will be scrambling around in Miami or at the Miami airport trying to get a COVID test pre-flight. I am hoping this is not the case.

I'm an America booked for a Costa Cruise out of Argentina in March (82 days). I am not able to use the website to do anything hardly. I had no problem booking and paying earlier this year but now when I try to add excursions or see what is available, I keep getting error messages. Anyone else have consistent problems with their website? They also are not showing any type of transfer from the airport to the ship in Buenos Aires which is almost unheard of for any cruise ship. Anyone else ran in to these types of issues? This is aggravating and does not bode well for the trip. Eh.

Thank you 🙂

I do not know the answer. I am also hopeful the pre-cruise testing will be stopped but we shall see. I will tell you, if it helps, I learned that MIA (Miami International Airport) actually has two on-site quick testing facilities for you pre-flight if you need them (which we may need). FYI Following this discussion and hopeful for all the pre-testing to be stopped... I mean, if you don't have COVID... when are you going to get it?? While you are traveling more than likely... which makes no sense why you need to test pre-travel. Eh.

Starboard side. I firmly believe it was by far the best side for stopping in the ports and of course we cruised up the coast at a slower pace and stopped more places than when we flew home.