Is Costa Family and kid Friendly?

[Kublu]

I'm planning a Family Group cruise with Costa. We will have children in ages of 2 thru 17. I've been told that Costa's kid programs are not that good. Also, we are traveling from the midwest of the US and are unfamiliar with Euorpean Style cruising, can someone please explain? We have cruised Carnival and Royal in the past is there really any differences?

 

Thanks.

[Wwhorse13]

Hi there. Over Spring Break I took the Costa Atlantica cruise through the Western Caribbean. I know as far as for younger kids there were things like jewelry making, mask making, little get togethers, parties, dinners, etc. For the teenagers there was a dance club that needed a lit help to "get the party started" and a few themed dinners. The group I travelled with had some younger kids and they spent most of the time swimming in one of the three pools. I'm pretty sure you can find planned activities.

 

As far as the food, for breakfast it's the normal food . . . cereal, pancakes, oatmeal, etc. For lunch you can choose from the pizza buffet, a burger buffet, a taco buffet and a seafood buffet. There's always something for everyone. Then for dinner, they had pretty typical italian food, spaghetti, alfredos, beef, veal, steak, etc. The cuisine wasn't a problem for me or my group at all. I really recommend Costa!

[jeb9860]

We loved Costa and so did our boys 4 & 5. We did a back to back in December (pre Christmas) and they loved the kids club. We also took advantage of their late babysitting 11.00-1.30 am a few times and the staff were great with the boys, also allowed mommy and daddy time at the Casino or nightclub. The food was great, the boys had the option of the kids or adult menu at dinner and the Maitre D' also offered to make them spagetti with cheese if they couldn't find what they wanted to eat. They loved the Pizza and the burger station at lunchtime and also the dressing up on formal nights. The buffet breakfast great for all as we could have what ever we wanted. Can't compare kids club with other ships as Costa is the only company we have used with the boys. They also have a private section just for kids at their Catalina Island, which also gave us a few hours to relax on the beach. The boys never went to the club in the afternoon as they preferred to be with us swimming in the pool or at a beach somewhere if we were docked. At times we had to say to them, can't you stay with us we haven't seen you today..... We also booked a PS Suite and the extra space and balcony was great with the boys, plenty of room in the bathroom for us all and loads of closet space. On nights when they were too tired to go anywhere after dinner the balcony was great so we could sit and relax and have a drink when they were asleep. We were so impressed we have booked another back to back this Christmas.