Carla Costa locations

[goofyliz]

Does anyone know/remember when Carla Costa sailed out of New York City? (It was definitely called  the Carla Costa at that time.)  It was probably around 1984-1990 or so. 

 

I booked a last minute cruise, after reading an ad in the New York Times.  I remember announcements done in many languages with English being the last one.  There were lots of Europeans onboard.  Those were the days of excellent food, midnight buffets and great entertainment.  I miss those smaller ships.  Please help me remember the itinerary.

[tenpin]

I think this was usually called the Costa C, I sailed on her once round the Caribbean, lovely cruise ship & fabulous food as you said.

I think she was either sold or had a fire around 94/95 and ended up in a scrap yard.

 

The eighties & early nineties were Costa's Golden years with outstanding menu's excellent all-round entertainment. The after diner cheese board & coffees were to die for. 

[Tapi]

I sailed on Carla Costa in 1991 out of San Juan. It was a high school graduation charter. This was back when passengers under the age of 21 weren’t required to have an adult traveling with them. There were 750 high school kids, many under 18, traveling with only a handful of adults (I know that from my high school there were about 90 kids and only 4 adults). 
 

Looking back, I’m shocked that this type of cruise was even allowed. But we somewhat behaved, and survived. I do remember that the ship was really old and in disrepair. We weren’t even allowed to use hair dryers because it would knock down the electrical system for an entire section in our deck. More than once, the deck would go dark because somebody would attempt to use a hair dryer. 🤣

 

We also had one classmate who boarded the ship with abdominal pains, but didn’t want to tell  because he was afraid that he wouldn’t be allowed to go on the cruise. Well, a few hours after we sailed away from San Juan on our way to Aruba with a sea day ahead of us, he had to go to the infirmary where it was determined that he had apendicitis. We had to turn around and head back to San Juan. We were all on deck at 6:00am when we approached San Juan bay and a Coast Guard cutter met the ship to transfer our classmate over. Always remember the chorus of friends singing to him various “goodbye” songs as he was transferred.

One of our stops was Caracas, Venezuela where we explored the city in a way that would be impossible today. Sad to know what a prosperous country Venezuela was at the time, and what it has become today. 

 

Being a high school trip, of course the cruise was fun, but I remember so many fun and unique things about that sailing that were specific to Costa like the Roman Bacchanal party. 

[cayman09]

Destroyed by fire and scrapped in 1994.