Help me decide Short RCCL or Week long Costa

[kclcruise]

I booked the Radiance of the Sea for 4 nights due to budget and the fact that I only am able to take 3 personal days this year. It is a four night cruise that only goes to Cozumel ( where we have been a hundred times;)) Now Costa has the kids sail free and we can go for a week during Thanksgiving (which allows me to take 3 days off but get a week vacation. It is only 400.00 more than what we paid for RCCL and it goes to Grand Turk, Tortolla, Catalina Island, and Nassau. Much more exciting. I have not heard many good things about Costa. I have young children (4,7) and want them to have a great time. Can anyone help me decide? Thanks!!

[onthelake]

Take the longer trip - no contest. Maybe the ship is not as flashy but the ports are better. If your kids where teens, the ship might matter more. At their ages, it is the time with Mom and Dad and the ports that they will remember. They will spend time in the kids club but that won't define the trip for them. Go for the week. You deserve it!

[RoadTripFanatic]

We cruised on Costa in February in the Med. In all honesty Costa is just fine. The rooms were spotless. We had the best room steward of any of our cruises. Costumer service was great. There isn't a lot of communication from the ship via overhead announcements. Read the newpspaper or you will be left behind. :) The only bad thing is the food. It's not because it's "Mediterranean style" cuisine because I love that style of food. It's the quality. The quality of the food was really bad. Obviously I did not starve and found things to eat but it was dissappointing. (Breakfast was honestly the best meal! The bread was sooo good!) I have read on the Costa side of the board that their cruises in the Caribbean do have regular night time Buffets. The night time buffets in the Med were the choice of 2 pizzas and 4 sides unless we were in port very late.

 

The kids center on the Pacifica was very nice. The ladies who worked in there were wonderful with Paris. (She was one of 5 English speaking children on our cruise) I'd go for the 7 day cruise. Also you might check what other island you are going to. Catalina is off of the California coast. :)

[jam82]

I've been on Costa and liked it very much. I found it to be on an equal playing field with Carnival. The food was good, but not great. I haven't used the kids program, so I can't tell you about that. If they have a program you think your kids would like then I would go for the longer cruise. It might not have as much bling as RCCL, but seeing that many ports would be way better than just going to Cozumel. I found it to be much more relaxing that RCCL.

[sandytoes03]

I have never done Costa and love RCI. BUT, in this case I would do the longer trip. The POC look great to me, and, it's a longer vacation. ;)

[Keith1010]

I would go with the longer cruise.

 

Keith

[Julienatul]

A friend of mine just got back from a costa cruise with her 7yrold, 4yr old and 8 mo old and they loved it!! They said it was very similar to Carnival. The kids loved the kids program and got really neat mp3case holders and a nice backpack. They said food was good, every night was a different theme and they encouraged you to dress up for toga night, italian night etc. They enjoyed the deck party at night. They would definitely cruise Costa again. I believe they paid $1000 for the 5 of them to cruise for a week, cant beat that!!