Costa classica

[B+K CRUISING]

Hi,

New to Costa,doing a Hong Kong to Singapore return on Classica in March.

anyone been?tips?info?

B

:)

[ozlady55]

Hi there.

 

I have just arrived back home from a 2 week Costa Classica cruise - boarding in Hong Kong and visiting Manila, Koto Kinabulu, Brunei, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Sanya and then back to Hong Kong. The cruise was supurb and everything went very smoothly. I was very impressed with the effeciency with whichthe the ship was handled. We arrived at each port and left always on time and the crew were very friendly and helpful. There were some minor problems with some of the other passengers -bad air conditioning etc but the cabin I had , although an inside one, had very good air con and was kept spotless by the cabin steward. If I did another cruise I think that I would spend the extra dollars and book an outside cabin with a window as even though the cabins are same size, by having the window it does make a world of difference. I was on deck 7.

The ports of call were very interesting and the food on board was wonderful, I now weigh a few kilos more. There was always plenty of it and a very wide variety to suit all nationalities. The drinks were quite expensive - 5 euros upwards and I thought it would make a difference to me, although I don't drink much but is nice to have a cocktail or two, but there were happy hours enough - (2 drinks for the price of one) - to make everyone happy.

There are 2 pools and even though they are only small they are very pleasent and plenty of deck chairs.

 

If you go with an open mind and don't expect the world I think that you will enjoy your Costa Classica cruise very much.

 

Regards

Ozlady55

[soldham]

We too just returned from the same cruise. I usually travel with HAL so was not sure how I would take Costa but I have to say (for the money) it was a most pleasant cruise.

Comments:

- I agree that I would pay just a bit more for an outside - the portholes are quite large and add something to the cabin.

- Cabins are spacious if a bit underfurnished. If I could have brought my own cocktail table on board I would have.

- Dinner was always good (especially the pasta) but I would steer away from beef.

- Breakfast was good albeit always the same.

- We purchased water and pop on shore and never had it taken away.

- Ports were great -especially DaNang - I highly recommend Hoi An which we were able to do (along with many other side trips - China Beach, Marble mountain, and the buddha on the hill) for 90 USD spilt between 6 of us.

- Drinks were quite pricey but there was almost always a happy hour at one of the lounges or arounf the pools.

 

A couple of improvements I have suggested:

- If the water is going to be brown (which I'm sure is perfectly OK to drink but a bit off putting) bottled water in the rooms should be free. We also experienced some chemical reaction when we hand washed whites that resulted in the need to throw out white underwear and tshirts.

- As this is a Italian cruise line English is not the first language for many of the staff. This is only an issue when dealing with the front desk staff on critical issues such as Visa's.

- Rules in place should actually be enforced. Smoking was pretty much anywhere someone decided to light up and people wore tshirts and shorts to dinner.

 

Finally - go with an open mind - especially if you are from Canada or the USA. North Americans are a minority of this cruise and you need to put aside any preconceived notions about everything being the way it is on this side of the pond.

 

Most of all - enjoy!

[gerton]

i am cruising Classica on the 27th March so very happy to hear these comments. Will remember not to wash any whites! We have an inside cabin- had one on the only other cruise we did- and I agree that a window would be much better but have chosen to save the money for other things instead. Bit worried about the gaining the kilos bit. Guess my pre cruise diet starts now.:eek: The only other cruise I have done was on the very small Louis Lines cruise ship which does the Greek isalnds so my expectations are not that great any way. We loved that cruise and I am sure we will love this one as well.

[ozlady55]

Hi Soldham

 

I agree with you about the pasta - it was my downfall. I think I only missed one type served. Everyone I tried was delicious. The brown water was a bit off putting but I used it for cleaning my teeth with no side effects. They told us that it is a result of the discoloration from the pipes and to let the tap run for a while before using. I found that when in port it was much clearer resulting from not a lot of movement to stir the colour up.

 

Gerton if you do take an inside cabin and find it too dark at night (which I did)- then leave the bathroom light on and close the door. I found the little bit of light coming through was enough but did not hinder sleep.

 

I only did one shore excursion and that was in Sanya to the hot springs. I thouroughly enjoyed it and could have stayed all day but some of the other passengers were complaining so it really is a personal taste.

Soldham when you are in Ho Chi Minh City and if you don't do an excursion and take the shuttle into town then I recommend that you get a taxi or rickshaw or just walk if that is ok for you to the Ben Tahn Markets. They are only about 700 metres from the Rex Hotel where the shuttle takes you to and if you like shopping are very good . I had been to HCMC before and to those markets so I let a richshaw driver take me to the newer Hong Kong markets which were further away but I did not find them as good or cheap as the Ben Tahn Market. So I got a taxi back to Ben Tahn and had a great time bargaining and making purchases. I am larger size lady and was surprised to find this trip that thay had lots of blouses etc in my size.

 

Regards

Ozlady55

[YXU AC*SE]

When I had read some reviews referring to the MV Costa Crappica posted here, I thought 'Oh Lord, what have we done!'. As you can see by my footer, I have also mainly sailed w/ HAL, but the probably closest market comparison for Costa I can make is to my one Carnival cruise. I was very pleasantly surprised in terms of value for dollar paid.

 

A couple of notes. The overnight Singapore port stop ended up having us at not at the cruise terminal (the Costa Allegra and RCI's Legend OTS beat us to the Harbour Centre terminal), so we were berthed at the Pasir Panjang commerical port, which with port security was a hassle coming into (taxis are only permitted to drop you at the gate, and the waits for intra-port shuttles were upwards of 45 mis, especially if you decided to have dinner ashore and were arriving later in the evening.)

 

Disembarkation was a snap. As Hong Kong is a two-day stop to the itin, whilst you had to vacate your room by 09h00 on the final day, you were allowed to remain onboard (with full in / out privileges) until 19h30 that night, if you chose. In our case, our flight didn't leave until 23h15 on disembarkation day. If you preferred to spend the day in the city (we ended up going to Macau for the day) Costa offered secure facilities to check your hand luggage on board, in addition to secure facilities quayside to look after your bags. We re-boarded for 18h00, picked up our hand luggage, and then went up to the spa/gym and grabbed a shower up there prior to leaving for the airport.

 

Contrary to what was contained in our pre-cruise information (about securing necessary visas in advance), most (if not all) passengers were able to be covered under the ship's blanket visas for a small per diem (eg 4,50€ for Vietnam, 10€ for China, IIRC) versus the up front cost of going via your local embassy / consulate.)

 

Would I chose Costa over HAL? Definitely not. Would I sail Costa again? Factoring together price, itinerary, and timing; without hesitation.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Scott.

[B+K CRUISING]

HI,

Thanks for all the replies,very useful.

[gerton]

We have 2 nights in Hong Kong at the beginning of our cruise. Can you embark much later in the day than given time if the ship is not sailing/ Can you get off again as soon as you have checked in? How late at night can you get back on the ship? We want to spend as much time as possible on shore- even missing ship meals in the first couple of days if necessary.

[YXU AC*SE]

We have 2 nights in Hong Kong at the beginning of our cruise. Can you embark much later in the day than given time if the ship is not sailing/ Can you get off again as soon as you have checked in? How late at night can you get back on the ship? We want to spend as much time as possible on shore- even missing ship meals in the first couple of days if necessary.

 

For port nights where you are there overnight (SIN and HKG), theoretically access is around the clock (a lot of the ship's crew will head out until the wee hours.) We checked our luggage at the cruise terminal around 11h00, and then headed back into the city to kill time before boarding (14h00). We got onboard shortly after, checked our room and the ship, and then headed back to Canton Road to do some shopping, returning at 18h00, to have our luggage waiting for us in the room.

 

As for arrival, the ship departed Hong Kong at 21h, and people were still boarding at 20h15. Just expect that you may have to handle your own luggage.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Scott.

[gerton]

Thanks for that reply. We may leave boarding until quite late then head straight back out to the ferry so we can get to Victoria Peake. We are staying overnight the night before the cruise so can leave our luggage in the hotel until late and our hotle is very close to the harbour. Very excited now- cannot wait!:D

[soldham]

I would advise that you not hold your breath on Victoria Peak. It is not worth going unless it is very clear and that seems to be rare until the summer time. We took a day trip to Macau which was also quite interesting.

As far as an evening activity the Temple Street market is well worth it.

[gerton]

I had heard that clarity could be a problem but we will still probably have a look. Did want to visit the markets as well. It is like everywhere though isn't it? So much to see - so little time. Will try and squeeze as much in as possible- which is why we don't want to spend much time on the actual ship whilst it is in Port. Macau does sound like a wonderful idea but not sure if we will be able to manage that in the time we have. Will have to do more research into the possibilty.:)

[soldham]

Temple Street is best seen at night. You should see the laser skyline light show (8:00pm to 8:17pm) once and preferrably from Kowloon shore near the Cultural Centre. On the ship you are not likely to hear the music and it loses something that way.

Friends of ours went up on a less than clear day and reccomended that if it is not it is just not worth the time. Things are expensive at the top (food and shopping) and only worth it if you can see far and wide.

 

However - you have to decide these things yourself.

 

One other thing occured to me - take a shore excursion in Manilla. We had a white water rafting one booked that was sadly cancelled. There is nothing of real historical interest in the city that we could find and (given the other ports) shopping is nothing special either. In fact the areas we were in were rather appalling - which did help us to understand why so many people leave their families to work on cruise ships or as domestics.

[gerton]

Our cruise goes for Hong Kong tio Taiwain, several ports in japan and ends in Shanghai. We have pre booked four excurions just to do things we think we would find too hard otherwise. Horribly expensive as these things are. The rest we will manage on our own. First Asian experience for us so very excited.

[cruisin_D]

Hi, we are sailing the classica on Mar 13 also and have found the info in here to be very pleasant. I, too, read that costa crappia review and got a little stressed that we may have picked a rotten ship to cruise on, but these posts have put my mind at ease.

[B+K CRUISING]

Let's hope its all good,at least you are close to home.

B

[hsb248]

Hello Gerton;

 

Will be on the same cruise and date as you. hsb248@aim.com

 

Hugh

 

 

i am cruising Classica on the 27th March so very happy to hear these comments. Will remember not to wash any whites! We have an inside cabin- had one on the only other cruise we did- and I agree that a window would be much better but have chosen to save the money for other things instead. Bit worried about the gaining the kilos bit. Guess my pre cruise diet starts now.:eek: The only other cruise I have done was on the very small Louis Lines cruise ship which does the Greek isalnds so my expectations are not that great any way. We loved that cruise and I am sure we will love this one as well.

[gerton]

Hello Hugh- cruise is getting close now. I am so excited. Cannot wait to see Japan.

[Joan of Oz]

Thanks for that reply. We may leave boarding until quite late then head straight back out to the ferry so we can get to Victoria Peake. We are staying overnight the night before the cruise so can leave our luggage in the hotel until late and our hotle is very close to the harbour. Very excited now- cannot wait!:D

 

Where you get off the Star Ferry there is a bus that goes up to The Peak

interesting ride to see the luxury homes etc., on the way up and then get the cable tram back down from The Peak so you get the both views. The bus is a slow ride with frequent stops so only do this if you have the time - must have correct money for bus fare. Hope the weather is clear for you on the day - don't buy from shops at The Peak.

[gerton]

The harbour the ship is docked at is actually on Hong Kong Island so will use the star ferry on the second day to get back to Kolwoon. Will do the peak on the first night- taxi from the harbour to the peak tram. So close now I cannot wait!

[woan]

The Feb 27 - March 13, 2010 Asian sailing was my first cruise. I wrote a little blog on my impressions:

 

linky

 

Also pictures which I am still working on:

 

linky

[ZeeKay]

Dear Scott, We found your comment about the Classica getting port visas for passengers to be very interesting aqs we just booked the C-Classica from Hong Kong to Singapore (28Feb11). We too have had a similar experience on the Diamond Princess regfarding Vietnam and Cambodia VISAs. Our travel agent and Zierer's Passport service assured us that we needed to do the costly, time-consuming visa processes for Vietnam (Phu My / Saigon) and Cambodia in advance; only to find that the ship got them for all passengers automaticaly; and charged everyone's account about $20pp. We would gladly have paid the $20pp and avoided over $200 in visa fees and two lost days to/from the consulate. I have already written to Coata Club to check this out; but have not yet had even the courtesy of a reply to my e-mail. Can you be more specific about what the C-Classica does for ship's passengers regarding visas? Any suggestions on how to get this resolved with Costa in advance? Or, do you think that it's advisable just go to the sailing w/o visas and take our chances? We REALLY appereciate your very timely posting!!! Regards, Zeke