Has anyone been on Costa cruises IN 2018

[volvof11]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering if anybody has been on Costa MEDITERRANEA or any Costa ship lately.

We are looking at a 27 nt cruise from Mauritius in a balcony for only $7003 for the two of us.

I have read a few reviews but they dont answer the questions I need answered.

1. Do they allow smoking on Balcony's ( I hope not)

2. whats the dining food like

3. do they give you water at meal times free , not bottled water but usual water in your glasses.

4. Activities on sea days 

5. can you get coffee  and hot water all day from the buffet like on Celebrity and the other cruise lines

6. do they have afternoon tea ect

Costas site is terrible for info.

I know you pay for what you get but if its really bad I'd rather do a shorter trip with some other cruise line but it does go to some fabulous places.

Thanks in advance

Pauline

[vozzie]

We've sailed on Costa Magica on a western Med cruise(2010)...and MSC in 2017 (very similar). These cruises are very port intensive, so it's all go during the day and then, drink, eat and sleep at night. I don't remember too many of the intricate details, but we didn't starve and there was plenty to drink. But it is different. The Europeans cruise differently than Antipodeans...but that's why we travel...to see different. I don't remember having too many complaints. I don't remember there being any smoking issues.What does stick in my mind was the painful announcements....in 5 languages. Another issue to be aware of is that, if there aren't enough English speakers booked on a tour, they will lump you in with a multi-lingual tour....which also can be a bit painful. They give a description, in Italian, for 10 minutes..then the English version...10 seconds. It is what it is....and usually very good value.

Edited February 26, 2019 by vozzie

[volvof11]

Thanks for the help, yes the cruises go to some terrific places so I guess the rest is what it is.

Pauline

[oskarNZ]

3 hours ago, vozzie said:

What does stick in my mind was the painful announcements....in 5 languages. 

I cruised with them over 10 years ago, but this is what has stuck in my mind also.  I love trivia, but they asked each question in so many languages, I had often tuned out by the time they got to English.  I lasted one trivia quiz and never went back to another.  

 

In saying that, while I might think twice before ever booking another Costa cruise, we loved that cruise because the ports (Croatia and Greek Is) were amazing.  

I think you can forgive a lot about a ship if the price is right and the ports are great.  

[lyndarra]

I had a quick glance at Costa Mediterannea reviews. Not very flattering. Here is a quote from the first review I read.

"The cabin was a disgrace, it looked like a cheap motel room from 1980. The balcony was unusable as it smelled of paint and cigarette smoke."

The first three gave 1/5 rating then I think there was a 2/5. Then a few more down there was a 5/5. Different strokes for different folks. One fairly negative review likened the ship on par with Celebrity. What the? NO WAY!

[denny girl]

We travelled on he Mediterranea last year so will try to answer your questions

1. Smoking's not allowed on balconies thereare a couple of designated smoking areas.

2. Foods ok but not exciting

3. Free water isn't supplied at all except from the fountain near the theatre.

    Americans get it free as part of their package.

4. Activities are ok although a bit geared to Europeans.

5. There was afternoon tea although not as elaborate as other lines.

 

Our tour was northern Europe out of Hamburg and it turned out to be 90% German speakers but I think this was a bit unusual.

We only met another English speaker couple on the second of last day.

We shared our table with a couple from Denmark who had English as a second language.

Our cabin was fine. Nice even.

 

[NSWP]

Budget cruise line but plenty Spaget and Garlic. Many reviews are poor.

[The_Big_M]

You have to go in with a view that some things will be different; that's cultural as much as any. It's the same as if you go on a land trip to Italy and dine out; you also won't get tap water with your meal, but are expected to pay for a bottle of water. At least you don't have to pay to use the public toilets! ;-)

 

As with all travel, some things are better and some things aren't, but that's part of the experience. They're not there to make you have a bad time, so you'll just come off with a new feel of what you like and what you don't. Of course, if you just want to travel with everything the same as home except you're in a different place, then they're probably not for you.

Edited February 27, 2019 by The_Big_M

[MicCanberra]

There are some great deals on offer at the moment for Costa.

$1699 for a 12 night Japan and Russia,  12 night fly/ stay/ cruise.

[denny girl]

We had trouble booking it because it was pretty unknown to Aussie agents and there can be big price differences in the location you book it through.

Finished up using the 1st mob and I think it was also a good learning experience for them. Our agent was impressed with the value and different places they visited although he did earn his money on that booking as Costa weren't  easy to deal with

 

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, denny girl said:

We had trouble booking it because it was pretty unknown to Aussie agents and there can be big price differences in the location you book it through.

Finished up using the 1st mob and I think it was also a good learning experience for them. Our agent was impressed with the value and different places they visited although he did earn his money on that booking as Costa weren't  easy to deal with

 

They are having lots of good deals now, so they must have gotten over the issues.

[denny girl]

50 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

They are having lots of good deals now, so they must have gotten over the issues.

 

They've always had good deals but as usual it didn't apply to Aussies.

Now some local agents have become involved things are looking up.

The contact on the Costa site says Perth time but I think it was actually Shanghai as we both had a lot of trouble understanding each other and this wasn't just a one off call.
Our original cruise was to Norwegian Fjords and Costa cancelled it and booked us on a different ship that didn't actually go to Norway so there was quite a bit of backwards and forwards to cancel the new cruise and get on a similar one that actually went to Norway.

I'm always mainly interested in ports visited and Costa have some good cruises to different places with their repositioning ones being great value.

[MicCanberra]

Was looking at a Milan to Mauritius cruise next year, 32 nights from $3099 with a fly/stay/cruise package..

[NSWP]

Costa sometimes cancels their cruises if they are not selling. They cancelled our Costa Atlantica cruise of east coast of USA/Canada, some years ago, the cruise was not selling and they rescheduled the ship to the Med. After 3 months got my money back, but lost airfares, neither Costa or Travel Insurance would cough up for 'rescheduling.'  Sure some good deals, but be careful.

Edited February 28, 2019 by NSWP

[volvof11]

Thanks guys, we arnt expecting much so hopefully our expectations will be exceeded. And as stated by MicCanberra they go to fabulous places and are reasonably cheap, at least they don't add free drinks package that's really included in the price of the cruise and keep their prices low. I like to choose if I want a drinks package or not and I would rather pay less for the cruise.

I guess if we have to pay for water at meal times its still a cheap cruise and the places we will visit will be amazing.

Just a thought you hear of people taking large quanities of bottled water on board, I wonder if that's allowed on Costa.

I believe they have a water card (I think I read it somewhere ). But its the places I like and Costa has many good cruises out there.

And if we flew to all places it goes and add food ect it would be way above $10,000.

So I will write a review when I get back.

Thanks again

[NSWP]

4 minutes ago, volvof11 said:

Thanks guys, we arnt expecting much so hopefully our expectations will be exceeded. And as stated by MicCanberra they go to fabulous places and are reasonably cheap, at least they don't add free drinks package that's really included in the price of the cruise and keep their prices low. I like to choose if I want a drinks package or not and I would rather pay less for the cruise.

I guess if we have to pay for water at meal times its still a cheap cruise and the places we will visit will be amazing.

Just a thought you hear of people taking large quanities of bottled water on board, I wonder if that's allowed on Costa.

I believe they have a water card (I think I read it somewhere ). But its the places I like and Costa has many good cruises out there.

And if we flew to all places it goes and add food ect it would be way above $10,000.

So I will write a review when I get back.

Thanks again

Enjoy it, go on with a positive mind, I am sure you will enjoy it.   Viva Italia !!!! Viva Costa !!!

[NSWP]

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Was looking at a Milan to Mauritius cruise next year, 32 nights from $3099 with a fly/stay/cruise package..

Good deal that one Mic.

[volvof11]

15 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Costa sometimes cancels their cruises if they are not selling. They cancelled our Costa Atlantica cruise of east coast of USA/Canada, some years ago, the cruise was not selling and they rescheduled the ship to the Med. After 3 months got my money back, but lost airfares, neither Costa or Travel Insurance would cough up for 'rescheduling.'  Sure some good deals, but be careful.

Thanks for the advice but this cruise hasn't nearly any balcony cabins left.

A cruise company had a deal for balcony $5499 with a  FLY/STAY/CRUISE DEAL, it was sold on the first day it was advertised and they have it offered now for $5999 and when I rang they only had a few balconies left on that one.

We ended up going with Cruise guru and the price was as stated, even our agent in the USA couldn't match the price which is strange as he usually beats it easy with more perks.

Thanks for your help

Pauline

[MicCanberra]

33 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Costa sometimes cancels their cruises if they are not selling. They cancelled our Costa Atlantica cruise of east coast of USA/Canada, some years ago, the cruise was not selling and they rescheduled the ship to the Med. After 3 months got my money back, but lost airfares, neither Costa or Travel Insurance would cough up for 'rescheduling.'  Sure some good deals, but be careful.

Bummer.

[MicCanberra]

11 minutes ago, volvof11 said:

, even our agent in the USA couldn't match the price which is strange as he usually beats it easy with more perks.

Thanks for your help

Pauline

It is likely they couldn't match it due to the fly stay element of the package.

[MicCanberra]

14 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Enjoy it, go on with a positive mind, I am sure you will enjoy it.   Viva Italia !!!! Viva Costa !!!

Agreed.

[volvof11]

23 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

It is likely they couldn't match it due to the fly stay element of the package.

Hi McCanberra,

No it was actually just the cruise, which surprized us no end as USA is definitely cheaper on every other cruise. Perhaps Costa is trying to get into the Aust market, but it was surprizing it was $1000 usd dearer for a couple than Aust.

Pauline

[MicCanberra]

47 minutes ago, volvof11 said:

Hi McCanberra,

No it was actually just the cruise, which surprized us no end as USA is definitely cheaper on every other cruise. Perhaps Costa is trying to get into the Aust market, but it was surprizing it was $1000 usd dearer for a couple than Aust.

Pauline

Wow, they are normally pretty good even when you add the fees and taxes.

[Blue Elephant]

We cruised on the Costa Magica in May 2017 from Savona to Amsterdam. It was extremely Port intensive and a good price, so we figured we would take a chance.

 

We were delighted with the cruise. My husband is vegetarian and he found the food was excellent for his needs. They took the MDR menu through a tour of the various Italian regions and catered for the omnivores just as well as the herbivores.

 

They took the safety aspects of the muster drill VERY seriously. You don your life jacket for the walk down the fire stairs and there is no fiddling with electronic devices or cameras during muster drill.

 

They handled the multilingual passenger load very well. Our ship excursion in Tangier’s, Morocco was English/GErman and was led by a local with excellent knowledge of both languages as well as Arabic. Our Mont St Michel excursion was English/Spanish , again led by someone with all 3 languages under control.

 

We would cruise with Costa again in a heartbeat and we often look to see what Costa has on offer. Btw, we speak reasonable Italian and have travelled a lot in Italy, but we would have been fine with only English. Prices in the shops on board were extremely reasonable - not out to make every buck they could.

 

My one irritation with the Costa Magica was the design of the ship where you have parts of floors blocked off for things like the Casino. Seemed more finicky in that respect than any other cruise ship.

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for your comments /the review.