Costa Victoria 13/1/18

Riana,

Have an amazing trip!

Thanks Tanya

Hope the cold is better. A few more days work and I am off.

Riana

Hello Alicat,

Thanks for the great review.

Do you know the prices of drinks on the ship? And is it true that there no free drinks are on board, only at breakfast?

Im looking at a Europe cruise and thinking of a drinkpackage is worth it (stil no prices from the website but i think 25 euro a day).

Hi

I enjoyed writing the review because I hope it gives people an idea of what you can see and do in the ports.

We always buy a drinks package. Usually you will have coffee, tea water and juice at breakfast. Lunchtime I think only water in the buffet.

They are charging the whole setup from April and except for the most basic tickets you'll have some type of drinks package included. I have no idea whether they will still sell packages aboard.

We don't only drink alcohol from the current package but also juices cappuccino, other coffees and water.

They charge for bottled water. Bottled water by the glass is part of the drinks package.

We are currently on the Diadema. If you want prices of specific drinks send me a message on this thread and I will look for you.

Costa is still more affordable than most of the other lines and despite a few irritations not bad at all.

Alicat

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Thank you so much. Because the heavy program of the cruise i dont know yet of a drinpackage is well worth it. Costa dont have soda only cards. Im looking for a 8 day cruise starting in Savona. Do you know wat basic drinks like cola etc cost on board?

Hi

I am pretty sure there is a non alcoholic drinks package that includes soft drinks and alcohol free cocktails.

Pepsi,pepsi light and max. 7up and orange all€3. Same for lipton ice tea, mixers and squash by the glass.

Juices between €2.60 and 3.50.

Cappuccino €2.70. Most cocktails €8.20.

All the above has an additional 15% service charge.

I'll see if I can get any of the drinks brochures and give you an idea of prices.

Where do you live? Which ship and which ports. Sorry I am being nosey. I might be able to give you information if you want.

Alicat.

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Thank you so much!

I live in the Netherlands.

I have seen a drinkpackage for 20 or 40 drinks but not a alcoholfree package a day.

Im looking At Costa Victoria.

Route: Savona, La Spezia, Civitavecchia / Rome, Napels, Seaday,

Valence, Palma(Mallorca), Tarragona(disembark).

So pretty intensive.

Hi

You are right. No daily alcohol free package. Only the 20 or 30 drinks.

I assume you have cruised with costa before and as you live in Europe you'll know most of the ports.

I'll try and answer any questions you may still have.

We do our own thing in most ports. This time round we actually booked some with Costa. Mainly transfers to towns a little way from the ports. Cheaper than doing it privately.

Alicat

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Hi Alicat

I hope you are enjoying your latest cruise on the Diadema. I know you said previously that you weren't going to be doing a review........ but I for one would really like to know how you are finding things onboard now.

We really loved the Diadema the first couple of times we cruised on her but we were disappointed about one or two things on the last cruise we had in January including noise level everywhere which we found unbearable.

The food in the MDR was hit and miss and overall quite disappointing. Our cabin (premium balcony) was great as usual and we had a brilliant cabin steward.

We have, however, booked another cruise on Diadema for later in the year when we'll be in a suite. I did see that the Club Restaurant has two sittings now and we even noticed people queuing and I have read a post saying the food there has changed and not for the better.

I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts. We try to be as fair as possible in our comments, nothing is perfect and we have always thoroughly enjoyed our cruises with Costa with one or two minor annoyances but mainly many positives. We have a couple of cruises booked with them for this year but we"ll have to see how things pan out.

We most certainly don't like constant noise everywhere and they turned the main atrium bar into a 'market' area a few early evenings where counters were set up selling bags, jewellery, sunglasses etc.which we thought was so tacky and NOISY!! It was impossible to sit anywhere in that area and enjoy a drink with all that going on.

Hope you'll have time to write a few thoughts and thanks so much. Enjoy the remainder of your cruise and hope your cats won't tell you off too much when you get back home.

Hello Alicat, we never been on a cruise before. Still not sure if we book this one.

Thank u for u help.

Hi Bob and Sweetsugar

In Palermo today. I only have Internet in ports.

I will definitely write about my thoughts but I have taken minimal photos.

We are totally hooked on cruising. The Victoria is an older and smaller ship. The ports for the one you're looking at are great. I'll be home on the weekend but have a business meeting Sunday morning. I will try and get to info Sunday afternoon before I pick the cats up. 🐱. Poor boys.

Rome tomorrow and drizzle forecasted. Drat!

Alicat

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Hi Alicat & Sweetsugar

We are also totally hooked on cruising and I would say, Sweetsugar, don't miss the opportunity to give it a try.

Thanks Alicat and I look forward to your thoughts. Have just checked the BBC weather website re. Rome for tomorrow and it shows sunshine and showers so I hope you will be lucky with mainly sunshine and the temperatures around 16 degrees look pretty decent.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Cheers

Bob .

Hi

Rome was overcast /sunny today. No rain. Walked 16800 steps.

The Victoria was in port this morning.

Alicat

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I will give it a try but not sure when. Thank u for u help.

Nice review with lots of photos (I like lots of photos). 😁 Also lots of info about ports that we will visit next year. Not all are the same but many are so it has been useful to read.

BTW, you have just reminded me that I need to rebook Zaidee, we had to cancel our MSC cruise earlier this year so never got the chance to utilise his services. I think I still have his contact details on my phone.