Costa internet site

[gerryuk]

I have been trying to get into my costa account (uk) for the last couple of days but their site is down. I have tried their Italian site and it is also down and has been for the last 2 days. Anybody know what is going off?

Also, are there any Costa ships actually sailing at the moment with customers on board? I seem to remember that Italian authorities stopped them from entering their ports again, due to a upsurge in covid cases, or have i got that wrong?

[kremerlorraine]

It's been like this for almost a week now. The German press are reporting that Aida, Costa's sister company, suffered a massive cyber attack resulting in them having to cancel the cruises they are doing around the Canaries until 17 January. Presumably Costa has shut down its servers as a precaution, but there is no official news from them. All very mysterious!

[gerryuk]

Thanks for that, incidentally i was walking past Las Palmas cruise port in Gran Canaria today and there were 2 Aida ships docked in the port. One was the Aida Pearl but could not see the name of the other ship, also docked there was the Mein Schiff 2. They seem to be in passenger service which is a good thing. There are also 2 Aida ships at anchor outside Las Palmas port but they have been there for months. 

[drsel]

I don't think Costa is in any major financial crisis, because they returned my deposit very quickly after they cancelled the Costa smeralda sailing in 2022

Edited January 3, 2021 by drsel

[drsel]

I want to book a Costa Fortuna  3 or 4 night Cruise but the prices are quite high right now. (And all their country websites are down).

However the prices can be seen on TA websites

I think it's better to wait for a last minute price drop

Edited January 3, 2021 by drsel

[BVILady]

On 1/3/2021 at 6:50 AM, drsel said:

I don't think Costa is in any major financial crisis, because they returned my deposit very quickly after they cancelled the Costa smeralda sailing in 2022

You have me worried now. I am booked on the World Tour for January 2022 and am looking forward to it. I am a little worried but figured that is 12 month so I might be safe. What was the reason for them to cancel your sailing?

[drsel]

1 hour ago, BVILady said:

You have me worried now. I am booked on the World Tour for January 2022 and am looking forward to it. I am a little worried but figured that is 12 month so I might be safe. What was the reason for them to cancel your sailing?

I felt that it was rather unnecessary.

they simply changed the itinerary of Costa Smeralda

[drsel]

1 hour ago, BVILady said:

You have me worried now. I am booked on the World Tour for January 2022 and am looking forward to it. I am a little worried but figured that is 12 month so I might be safe. What was the reason for them to cancel your sailing?

Of course, the cruises that I book are always the best bargains available and hence the least profitable for the cruise line.

Therefore, they are most likely to get cancelled.

 

A World Cruise on the other hand, is the most profitable Cruise for any cruise line.

And unless many ports do not allow entry, they should not cancel it

[BVILady]

I got this from Costa:

Dear ..........

 

We are currently experiencing IT technical issues that are affecting the functionality of our systems. Consequently, we are momentarily not available by phone, and email traffic may be  disrupted as our IT teams are working to assess the nature of the problem.

 

We regret the inconvenience. We will communicate further once the issue has been solved.

 

Sincerely,

Costa Cruises

[ighten]

Think it depends who you ask . If you follow the Italian twitter - last week a reason was given from a response buried several lines down the thread that 2021 is currently being completely re organised and re scheduled and the site will be down until that has been completed.. Unfortunately it then went to DM

[BVILady]

I have been wondering about existing itineraries. What are they able to actually sell at the moment without knowing what destination will be open to ships. It doesn't make any sense to sell cruises now and then have to cancel and refund the deposits. Just frustrating when you want to stay positive and plan to get on with your life.

[drsel]

2 hours ago, BVILady said:

I have been wondering about existing itineraries. What are they able to actually sell at the moment without knowing what destination will be open to ships. It doesn't make any sense to sell cruises now and then have to cancel and refund the deposits. Just frustrating when you want to stay positive and plan to get on with your life.

Mediterranean and Northern Europe Cruises should be available and running from summer 2021

[BVILady]

Just attempted to book a cruise for end of July 2021 and our cruise specialist is not convinced that these cruises will be happening, according to the cancellations she is receiving from cruise-companies she assumes hardly anything will be going before Fall 2021. Cruise companies might have 2 or 3 ships out in the Med, so the specific itinerary I had been looking at will most probably not be one of them. Very disappointed. 

[drsel]

1 hour ago, BVILady said:

Just attempted to book a cruise for end of July 2021 and our cruise specialist is not convinced that these cruises will be happening, according to the cancellations she is receiving from cruise-companies she assumes hardly anything will be going before Fall 2021. Cruise companies might have 2 or 3 ships out in the Med, so the specific itinerary I had been looking at will most probably not be one of them. Very disappointed. 

Try from September 2021

[dritan]

Does anyone have any more news about the website?  It's now been down effectively for 3 weeks.  I'm booked on a cruise in April and am looking to see what the options are for rebooking. I just think early April wont be possible for uk cruisers given the severity of the situation.

[gerryuk]

1 hour ago, dritan said:

Does anyone have any more news about the website?  It's now been down effectively for 3 weeks.  I'm booked on a cruise in April and am looking to see what the options are for rebooking. I just think early April wont be possible for uk cruisers given the severity of the situation.

I also have a cruise booked with Costa in April, a round trip from Rome via Istanbul. I think the cruise will probably go unless things go from bad to worse. I would think that you will probably need to show a negative test before boarding the ship, as many countries are now insisting, before you land in their country. 

Without the internet site working i do not know when final payment is due, but that is not my problem, and i am not worried about it.

 

  

[dritan]

Agreed - I think final payment is early Feb for our cruise ( 9thApril) but don't get what IT issue could be so bad that their site has been down for 3 weeks.  Rather worrying - the silence is deafening at this stage. 

[ighten]

site apperas to be back up and running - trying to work out what he changes are to itins - looks like some meds have changed a day back and forth

 

It now has more app like buttons to navigate through which actually seem an improvement

 

not sure its finished though - lot of med cruises with no dates (or random numbers) 

Edited January 19, 2021 by ighten

[dritan]

Must be back down again - just did a check and still has that "work in progress" screen when you try to do anything - but maybe it's just around the corner.

[dritan]

Had my daily check and came across this update on the Costa website.

 

Following a careful assessment of the measures contained in the Dpcm currently in force in Italy, we have decided to postpone the restarting of our ships to March 13, 2021.

We believe that the current series of restrictive measures does not allow us to guarantee to our guests an adequate experience during shore visits and the possibility to fully explore the beauty of the destinations visited. We support and share the collective effort that Italy is making to deal with the health emergency and looks forward to March to return to offer its customers the best possible holiday experience.

 

We will then resume our operations on March 13 with Costa Smeralda, which will offer guests the opportunity to discover the most beautiful Italian locations with mini cruises of 3 and 4 days, or alternatively a full 7-day cruise, which will stop in Savona, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, Naples, Messina and Cagliari.

 

Following this decision, all cruises originally planned on the Costa Deliziosa, Costa Firenze and Costa Luminosa between February 1st and March 12th 2021 are therefore canceled. The new programs relating to these three ships will be announced shortly.

 

Worth noting that you still cannot search for cruises and I can't successful access MyCosta to see my current booking.  However, as my cruise on Smeralda ran from Thursday to Thursday from Civitavecchia rather and with non Italian ports, I assume I'll eventually be offered a voucher.

 

Even if the cruise does take place, there is no guarantee at this stage that UK passengers will be accepted. 

[BVILady]

click on the top bar where it says "responsible restart" and it will lead you to

We are hoping to resume with the following start dates:

SHIP	RESUMING       hopefully it will show your cruise

[dritan]

Thanks BVILady - but sadly the info on the US Costa site is a bit behind the UK site - as it still refers to cruises taking place in Feb ( eg: Smeralda).  i wonder if that is due to the fact Costa can only have passengers from a restricted number of  countries ( I think mainly European) that can sail in the coming months?)

 

[BVILady]

 

 

I am accessing the US-site, that is what I am getting:

 

The Italian government has officially approved the resumption of cruise operations and we are pleased to announce the restart of operations from Italian ports. Initially, it will be a gradual restart from our Italian ports reserved exclusively for our Italian Guests.


The most recent development shows that the conditions for safe travel are not yet in place in all destinations in Europe. Therefore, we are unfortunately forced to extend the suspension of cruise activities for selected ships in the fleet for North American guests until the dates shown below.

We are hoping to resume with the following start dates:

SHIP	RESUMING
Costa Deliziosa	May 18, 2021.
Costa Diadema	April 06, 2021.
Costa Favolosa	April 02, 2021.
Costa Firenze	February 28, 2021.
Costa Fortuna	May 06, 2021.
Costa Fascinosa	May 02, 2021.
Costa Luminosa	February 28, 2021.
Costa Magica	April 03, 2021.
Costa Pacifica	March 26, 2021.
Costa Smeralda	February 27, 2021.
Costa Toscana	December 26,2021.

 

We know that in order to be a truly memorable vacation, a cruise must first and foremost be a pleasant and relaxing experience; therefore, we have dedicated our utmost attention to the implementation of new procedures and protocols with the assistance from all levels including international, national and local governments and health officials. We will continue to follow relevant developments in the response to the COVID-19 situation, and if necessary, we will provide updates.

[dritan]

What happens if you do a search for a cruise on the US site. - when we click search it still goes to a "work in progress" screen.

[drsel]

I can't even log in. I guess the website should work by 25 Feb.

So, no income for Costa if no one can book anything!

Is the UK or US call centre working?