Costa Announces Kids Sail Free

[crusinmama06]

Nope, I have never sailed Costa, but others around this board have. And I just saw this...

Costa Cruises launches 'kids sail free'

 

http://usat.ly/InTknF

 

Hope it helps someone. :)

[Mom2B&Z]

It would take more than kids sail free for me to sail Costa...

[crusinmama06]

It would take more than kids sail free for me to sail Costa...

 

You have a VERY good point.

[mcfam5]

Nope, I have never sailed Costa, but others around this board have. And I just saw this...

Costa Cruises launches 'kids sail free'

 

http://usat.ly/InTknF

 

Hope it helps someone. :)

 

Geesh - those always sounds like such good deals to me! :)

[boulders]

It would take more than kids sail free for me to sail Costa...

 

You would have to pay me to sail Costa. At one point, I cancelled my HAL cruise because they are the same corporate entity.

[CeleBrat]

This isn't a new deal in response to the Concordia incident, as Costa frequently runs it each season. We've actually taken advantage of the KIDS FREE deal 3 times over the past few years, and had some GREAT adventure on their ships here in the Caribbean. They are identical (in build) to their Carnival counterparts.

 

We've sailed the Costa Mediterranea, the Costa Fortuna, and just last month, the Costa Atlantica. The Atlantica cruise was a 10-day East/West Caribbean cruise that stopped at 6 ports--and we scored a balcony cabin for the 4 of us for 10 days....$2018 TOTAL. That's a deal! And, no tips were charged for the kids. BONUS!

 

And for the record, both safety drills (yes, there were 2 that were mandatory) were SUPER serious, with no talking allowed, and a hard-core inventory taken of passengers. I never at all felt unsafe on any of the Costa cruises we went on, and firmly believe that the Concordia incident was due to the actions of a rogue Captain.

 

Would definitely sail them again...and again.

 

CeleBrat

[mcfam5]

This isn't a new deal in response to the Concordia incident, as Costa frequently runs it each season. We've actually taken advantage of the KIDS FREE deal 3 times over the past few years, and had some GREAT adventure on their ships here in the Caribbean. They are identical (in build) to their Carnival counterparts.

 

We've sailed the Costa Mediterranea, the Costa Fortuna, and just last month, the Costa Atlantica. The Atlantica cruise was a 10-day East/West Caribbean cruise that stopped at 6 ports--and we scored a balcony cabin for the 4 of us for 10 days....$2018 TOTAL. That's a deal! And, no tips were charged for the kids. BONUS!

 

And for the record, both safety drills (yes, there were 2 that were mandatory) were SUPER serious, with no talking allowed, and a hard-core inventory taken of passengers. I never at all felt unsafe on any of the Costa cruises we went on, and firmly believe that the Concordia incident was due to the actions of a rogue Captain.

 

Would definitely sail them again...and again.

 

CeleBrat

 

 

CeleBrat ~ do you still live in Celebration?? When we were in Florida (Disney) for spring break we went there and walked around the "downtown" area. SUCH a cute place! I loved the post office it is such an awesome building. Lots of friendly store owners....it was a great place to spend an afternoon. While we were there, I thought about you because I remembered you saying before that you lived there. :)

[crusinmama06]

Celebrat - you were the main one I was thinking of when I saw the offer. I know it comes out every year and since this year it seems like no other cruise line is offering "kids sail free" (hello NCL) - I figured I would post it and it may be helpful to someone.

 

I am still bitter at the other lines (can you tell?)

 

They are all raising the prices for kids - it's getting to the point where those of us with children will be priced out of the market.

[CeleBrat]

CeleBrat ~ do you still live in Celebration?? When we were in Florida (Disney) for spring break we went there and walked around the "downtown" area. SUCH a cute place! I loved the post office it is such an awesome building. Lots of friendly store owners....it was a great place to spend an afternoon. While we were there, I thought about you because I remembered you saying before that you lived there. :)

 

Yep--sure do! Been here in Celebration since day 1. LOVE IT here! GLad you liked it to.

 

Celebrat - you were the main one I was thinking of when I saw the offer. I know it comes out every year and since this year it seems like no other cruise line is offering "kids sail free" (hello NCL) - I figured I would post it and it may be helpful to someone.

 

I am still bitter at the other lines (can you tell?)

 

They are all raising the prices for kids - it's getting to the point where those of us with children will be priced out of the market.

 

Crusinmama06--You are always so good about sharing the deals. Thanks for thinking of all of us, and ME! I agree that cruise pricing is getting ridiculous. We're wanting to book a Disney cruise for OCT, since Mickey is near-and-dear to our hearts (he might just pay my salary...), but the 3-day we are looking at is MORE than the cost of the 10-day on Costa. UGH! Mind you, I am well-aware that Disney is among the most-expensive out there. But still, we've been on the "classic" Disney ships many, many times, and would love to try out the new ones.

 

Sigh...

 

CeleBrat

[Gatrcruzer]

Is MSC still running their kids sail free promotion? My impression was that it ran all the time, but not sure.

[crusinmama06]

Is MSC still running their kids sail free promotion? My impression was that it ran all the time, but not sure.

 

Great point! I forgot about them!

 

MSC

• Kids under 11 sail free, 12-17 sail for only $99pp

[Gatrcruzer]

Thanks much, Michelle! To be honest, I never think of them because there seem to be so many bad reviews, but after noticing the review of Orchestra in Celebrat's signature and reading it, I'm reconsidering. We're simply too financially strained right now to go ahead with our planned Disney cruise in December (need a new roof!), so looking for cheaper options. Epic looks like a possibility, but still maybe a bit more than we are looking to spend. MSC has a 10 night southern carib itinerary that looks appealing that is super cheap. A few concerns: comfort level of the beds, not having a tub for my DD, getting enough time off from work, and if I hate the ship 10 days is a LONG time to be stuck on board. Will keep thinking about it.

[FamilyOfSix]

It would take more than kids sail free for me to sail Costa...

 

Try saying that to a person whose handle is "FamilyOfSix". :o

 

As you can guess, we have 4 kids. We love to travel but it's expensive. I think I will *cautiously* look into this and consider it among other factors as well.

 

Thanks for sharing. Very helpful.

[Gatrcruzer]

Family of Six - I don't know if MSC is a line you would consider, but their special is that kids under 11 sail free, and kids 12-17 are $99 in the same room with 2 paying adults. They also have a special for holiday sailings in which you buy 1 balcony cabin and get the second one half off. Not sure if this would be relevant, but something else to consider. There are also some Holland America cruises in which 3rd and 4th passengers are free or reduced cost (not all, though). Hope you find a great cruise for your family!

[CeleBrat]

Thanks much, Michelle! To be honest, I never think of them because there seem to be so many bad reviews, but after noticing the review of Orchestra in Celebrat's signature and reading it, I'm reconsidering. We're simply too financially strained right now to go ahead with our planned Disney cruise in December (need a new roof!), so looking for cheaper options. Epic looks like a possibility, but still maybe a bit more than we are looking to spend. MSC has a 10 night southern carib itinerary that looks appealing that is super cheap. A few concerns: comfort level of the beds, not having a tub for my DD, getting enough time off from work, and if I hate the ship 10 days is a LONG time to be stuck on board. Will keep thinking about it.

 

Awww...thanks for reading my review. Reminds me: I've got to put together a review of the Costa ship we just sailed on.

 

CeleBrat

[twofathoms]

By this time last year NCL was launching it's kids sail free promotion if you booked in a certain week in May. I see NCL has free excursions for kids, but who takes kids on excursions? I wouldn't want to ruin the excursions for everyone else. Does anyone know if NCL will be running any real kids or 3rd passingers promotions ?

[familycruzinnewbie]

We just returned from the Carnival Liberty, DD(12) wanted to chain her self to the bunk so she wouldn't have to leave and DS (9) wants a 36 day cruise next. DH wants a kind free vacation next time, though I do like to vacation as a family.

 

Of course we probably won't be able to take the kids out of school like this again and DH can't sail in the fall. I decided to poke around the Carnival website and prices get really high in the summer months and even Easter time is high (was looking at summer 2013 and Easter 2014, so prices would go down closer to then hopefully).

 

So just wondering are there any lines with kids sail free or almost free deals that run through the summer. The NCL one I saw last time was during the fall. What about Christmas break?

[CeleBrat]

So just wondering are there any lines with kids sail free or almost free deals that run through the summer. The NCL one I saw last time was during the fall. What about Christmas break?

 

Most likely, no. The Kids Free deals are usually only offered during non-peak travel periods in order to entice people to go on their ship(s). Summer and XMAS break the ships are very popular, and full, so no need to run that deal.

 

The only 2 line that run Kids Free year-round are MSC and Costa, and I believe both only have ships here for a portion of the year.

 

Keep looking for those bargains!

 

CeleBrat

[crusinmama06]

By this time last year NCL was launching it's kids sail free promotion if you booked in a certain week in May. I see NCL has free excursions for kids, but who takes kids on excursions? I wouldn't want to ruin the excursions for everyone else. Does anyone know if NCL will be running any real kids or 3rd passingers promotions ?

 

No, NCL has announced that this is what they are doing in lieu of "discounting" their ships. Hey, if they can get the ships filled - then more power to them. But I won't pretend to be happy about it. :(

[fgn]

We were waiting for the Kids Sail Free Promotion on NCL as well. We are very disappointed. For the cruise we were planning (Florida/Bahamas in Dec from NYC) the free excursions promotion is a horrible deal as Disney/Atlantis is not included AND they raised the 3rd and 4th passenger prices.

 

 

No, NCL has announced that this is what they are doing in lieu of "discounting" their ships. Hey, if they can get the ships filled - then more power to them. But I won't pretend to be happy about it. :(

[FOURunderFOUR]

I know msc gets a bad rap on these boards, but we have cruised with them 3 times and I can't see us on any other lines with our kids (hubby and I have done rccl pre-kids and without kids). We have 6 kids currently, with #7 on the way. We cruised on the Orchestra it's first year in the Caribbean when #5 was 4 mos old (msc does not have the 6-12 mos age min most lines do either). We were able to get side by side cabins with my parents and they had two kids with them. Msc permitted us to keep the baby as the 5th person in our quad since she was so small. We Only paid taxes and fees, plus tips of course. This past jan we did Our 2nd cruise on the poesia. This time we felt we needed more space so we got 2 connecting cabins and paid full fare for two of the kids, getting the remaining four for free. This was still far cheaper than many Other lines. We have never had a single negative experience On msc. hth.

[familycruzinnewbie]

I looked at MSC for April of 2013 and the adults were higher than Carnival and then putting 1 child at $99 and the other free worked out to a total of about the same. Now for more expensive cruises in Europe the cheaper rates seem to result in a good savings. Just wish the had Northern Europe with 2 nights in Russia as the stop there is short for the amount of things to do there. But I am wondering, what is the food like?

[ourfamilylovescruising]

We just returned from the Carnival Liberty, DD(12) wanted to chain her self to the bunk so she wouldn't have to leave and DS (9) wants a 36 day cruise next. DH wants a kind free vacation next time, though I do like to vacation as a family.

 

Of course we probably won't be able to take the kids out of school like this again and DH can't sail in the fall. I decided to poke around the Carnival website and prices get really high in the summer months and even Easter time is high (was looking at summer 2013 and Easter 2014, so prices would go down closer to then hopefully).

 

So just wondering are there any lines with kids sail free or almost free deals that run through the summer. The NCL one I saw last time was during the fall. What about Christmas break?

have you ever thought of cruising over Thanksgiving we used to always go over spring break but it keep getting higher and higher now we do Thanksgiving week and my kids only miss 2 days of school so not a big deal. but we have done Hal and the 3rd and 4th were only 99.pp we have 4 kids too so I know how crazy it can be we only have 2 home now but still remember how hard it was to travel with so many kids lol:eek:

[bbrme]

I know msc gets a bad rap on these boards, but we have cruised with them 3 times and I can't see us on any other lines with our kids (hubby and I have done rccl pre-kids and without kids). We have 6 kids currently, with #7 on the way. We cruised on the Orchestra it's first year in the Caribbean when #5 was 4 mos old (msc does not have the 6-12 mos age min most lines do either). We were able to get side by side cabins with my parents and they had two kids with them. Msc permitted us to keep the baby as the 5th person in our quad since she was so small. We Only paid taxes and fees, plus tips of course. This past jan we did Our 2nd cruise on the poesia. This time we felt we needed more space so we got 2 connecting cabins and paid full fare for two of the kids, getting the remaining four for free. This was still far cheaper than many Other lines. We have never had a single negative experience On msc. hth.

 

We were also waiting for NCL to do their kids sail free promo again but since it didnt happen we booked on MSC for a Christmas cruise. Can you tell me your experience with the kids club on the Poesia?

[familycruzinnewbie]

Well Canadian Thanksgiving is only one Monday off in October, and my husband teaches at the university, he used to teach Jan-August so he could take a vacation during his research term in the fall but he switched to teaching Sept-April, figuring it would work out better with the kids getting older. So he can't even go anywhere during the kids Easter break unless Easter is really late. He can't travel during the Universities midterm break as it is usually only 2 days and he needs to be available for students.