Mediterrenea

[Wellington Cruiser]

Ask away - just returned from their inagural US eastern caribbean cruise today

 

Embarkation and debarkation took place in a tent - thank you Port of Miami!

Shows were awesome (almost all of them)

Food needed more variety, was tasteless on "Lido" deck in many cases, suberb in dining room

Yes there is a toga party on the last night

Casino has old slot machines

Being a european ship they say everything in five languauges

Christmas music on ship almost 24/7 with nice decorations

Catalina Island and Freeport were a waste of time

Staff very friendly and efficient - they mingle an awful lot with passengers

[Javacruiser]

Sailing on Jan. 7 on the Med.

Do you know if they were allowing wine to be taken on board in luggage? It has been acceptable in the past & we plan to take some for balcony consumption........ How was the general attire on the formal nights in the main dining room?.....Was there a high % truly formal or were there a lot of casual formal....(Nice slacks, tie, sport jacket). Were the mattresses more comfortable than what previous posters have complained about? I have read they have put in new mattresses and a 2nd mattress or pad is no longer necessary......... Thanks!

[bobthek]

Are there two Formal nights scheduled? When are they?

[Jdleong]

I see by your profile, that you have sailed on many Carnival cruises. Does Costa compare to Carnival? The ship's is identical to the Spirit, so did you find that it was better,equal,or worse than Carnival?

 

Do the shops sell the same items?

Is room service quick, or on time if you fill out the slips the night before?

Was your cabin steward prompt with any requests?

Did you have early or late seating? Which do you think would have been

better? Is the late setting so late that you miss the shows? Was there plenty of seating in the main theater for the shows?

Is the liquor policy less enforced when you bring liquor on board in port?

Did you tender, as if so, was it organized?

Does the casino have draw poker machines? What "old" types did they have?

I too, have sailed Carnival before, and I am hoping that Costa is different but I enjoy Carnival, and if it is as good as my last few cruises I will be a happy cruiser.I am looking forward to the "Italian" difference, but at the same time I am hoping for the same quality I have had in the past, I have never had a bad cruise in 9 cruises.

 

Thanks for you response in advance and have a happy holiday!

[Wellington Cruiser]

To: Jdleong

 

At first I was somewhat disappointed on board, but after the second day I realized that Carnival was not a good benchmark to use when comparing the experience - the Costa experience is a slower and more sophisticated cruise with much less hustle and bustle. Definitely would go again, even signed up for Costa club membership.

 

Shops sell more or less the same items, colognes, watches, perfumes, etc like Carnival. They even have the same rip off art "auctions" with free champagne on the first preview.

 

Did not use room service so can't help you on that

 

Cabin steward was great but it appeared that he had about 3 times more rooms to do than the Carnival stewards so room cleaning was exceptionally slow

 

Had the early, 6 PM seating. The second seating wwas at 8:45! Shows were never full. They were all original and very european in flavor - all good except I didn't care for the one man show by someone from the Platters - first time I walked out on a show within the first 5 minutes - but eveyone has there own tastes. The show on the last night is the toga party + talent show. Cool thing they do is that they tape the shows and you can watch them in your room!

 

Liquor policy same as on Carnival. They have package plans if you like wine and mineral water, if you have kids you can get 50% off for predetermined amount of non alcoholic drinks for them, they have an "XL" drink request for well drinks where you get extra for a bit more $$$

 

Didn't tender at the one stop - Catalina Island - as wasn't interested in going to the beach - only comment I heard was that a couple went, and took the next tender right back to the ship - too hot and uncomfortable was their complaint

 

I'm an Ocean Players Club member and I was disappointed that the machines on board were the older ones that did not track gambling activity. They had the standard penny, nickel, quarter & dollar slots and blackjack, craps, roulette and poker tables

 

Overall it was one of the more relaxing cruises I had once I changed my mindset that the cruise would be different than the prevoius Carnival ones.

 

Have to say that overall everyone, including the children on the ship, seem to have been much more civilized than the "normal" Carnival crowd of occassional driunks and unruly "children"

[Wellington Cruiser]

To: Bobthek

 

Yes 2 formal nights - Sunday and Thursday

 

Standard % dressing up for those nights and standard % of those that think formal dress is shorts, polo shirt and sneakers and the rest dressed casually

[Wellington Cruiser]

To: Javacruiser

 

I've taken wine and liquor on previous cruises by putting it in the large ziplock bags and wrapping it with tee shirts & shorts and placing in the checked baggage - never had a problem - we too consumed on balcony

 

Formal nights - two of them -see answer I posted to Bobthek. No matter how you dress, they won't bar you from the dining room

 

Mattress was very comfortable

 

Cabin was smalller than typical Carnival - you realize the difference on the balcony the most

[usmanjar]

I'm glad you like Costa!! I took the Christmas cruise last year on the Mediterranea, it was sooo fantastic!! This year in September we took a short cruise on Celebrity, but we ended up comparing everything with the Mediterranea. When we take another cruise it will definetly be on COSTA!!

Happy Holidays!

 

To: Jdleong

 

At first I was somewhat disappointed on board, but after the second day I realized that Carnival was not a good benchmark to use when comparing the experience - the Costa experience is a slower and more sophisticated cruise with much less hustle and bustle. Definitely would go again, even signed up for Costa club membership.

 

Shops sell more or less the same items, colognes, watches, perfumes, etc like Carnival. They even have the same rip off art "auctions" with free champagne on the first preview.

 

Did not use room service so can't help you on that

 

Cabin steward was great but it appeared that he had about 3 times more rooms to do than the Carnival stewards so room cleaning was exceptionally slow

 

Had the early, 6 PM seating. The second seating wwas at 8:45! Shows were never full. They were all original and very european in flavor - all good except I didn't care for the one man show by someone from the Platters - first time I walked out on a show within the first 5 minutes - but eveyone has there own tastes. The show on the last night is the toga party + talent show. Cool thing they do is that they tape the shows and you can watch them in your room!

 

Liquor policy same as on Carnival. They have package plans if you like wine and mineral water, if you have kids you can get 50% off for predetermined amount of non alcoholic drinks for them, they have an "XL" drink request for well drinks where you get extra for a bit more $$$

 

Didn't tender at the one stop - Catalina Island - as wasn't interested in going to the beach - only comment I heard was that a couple went, and took the next tender right back to the ship - too hot and uncomfortable was their complaint

 

I'm an Ocean Players Club member and I was disappointed that the machines on board were the older ones that did not track gambling activity. They had the standard penny, nickel, quarter & dollar slots and blackjack, craps, roulette and poker tables

 

Overall it was one of the more relaxing cruises I had once I changed my mindset that the cruise would be different than the prevoius Carnival ones.

 

Have to say that overall everyone, including the children on the ship, seem to have been much more civilized than the "normal" Carnival crowd of occassional driunks and unruly "children"

[DaveB]

Is the liquor policy less enforced when you bring liquor on board in port?

 

On the 12/16 - 23 cruise, we took aboard 4 bottles of champagne (1 per suit case), and did not have a problem.

 

Also, when we got off / on in San Juan and St. Thomas, we "smuggled" bottles on (placed in backpack), and did not get forced to "check them in". It looked like the only peeps that needed to check their stuff in were those who were carrying the liquor on in boxes.

[joetrizeo]

I agree with the poster's comparison to Carnival.

 

Costa is just classier and more laid back than its carnival cousin.

 

Also Costa's food was much better, imho.

[lucrob]

Hi, you mentioned poker tables in the casino. I am assuming casino (carribean) stud poker. Any other poker games?

 

Was there any sign of texas holdem being played anywhere on the ship? Thanks!

[DaveB]

Hi, you mentioned poker tables in the casino. I am assuming casino (carribean) stud poker. Any other poker games?

 

Was there any sign of texas holdem being played anywhere on the ship? Thanks!

 

The only poker on the Mediterannea was Carribean Poker. No Texas Holdem.

[lucrob]

Just to correct the previous poster there was also 3 card poker tables on the Med besides the Carribbean Stud. No holdem poker at all. Lots of interested cruisers for it though.

[cruise_girl_too]

Hi and thanks for all the information. I will be taking my first Costa cruise next January and just wondered what the drink prices are? And also could you tell me more about the Toga party?- Do we get to make a Toga?

Would appreciate any info.

[algae]

Hi cruise girl We just got back on Sun the Toga night is the last night of the cruise. the cabin stewart will leave togas (bed sheet) in your cabin some people brought there own. you get them right before dinner. about 20 % if that wore them to dinner that night . The main show that evening is a guest talent show . The theme is the guest that sign up for this are suppose to be the slaves that must go in front of Julius Cassar and perform and based on the audience reaction you either get the thumbs up from caesar and go to the buffet or thumbs down and get fed to the lions both situtations of course make believe. This is held in the theater in front of 1000 people and is put on by the entertainment staf. They do a fabulous job not only with this but the whole cruise Im still laughing. Fortunately I got thumbs up in the talent show and there were about 8 performers. Dont miss the show its the only one and it started at 1100pm

[cruise_girl_too]

Thanks for the info on the Toga party. Sounds like a lot of fun!:D

 

Does anyone have info on the drink prices? And also does the ship have specialty coffees?

[ILov2cruise]

Costa classier than Carnival, no. They are just about even with carnival a bit better.

 

Food on Carnival 100% better than Costa. Food was not what I expected. I am from Italy and thought I'd get a bit of that back home taste. Food was italian style, not italian. Pasta was poor.

 

Costa is a carnival product.

 

Kids on Costa were the worst I have ever seen. Out of control with Costa doing nothing.

 

Great wine package on Costa, nice wine, very good price.

 

We were in a PS suite, great cabin.

 

Great service.

 

I loved the ship.

[kits]

Thanks for the info on the Toga party. Sounds like a lot of fun!:D

 

Does anyone have info on the drink prices? And also does the ship have specialty coffees?

HI Cruise Girl...we were on the Costa Mediterranea Feb 2006, and will be on the same ship March 07...can't wait. The drinks last year, as I remeber them ...were $8.00 for a frozen drink and maybe 6 for a regular drinl Beer was 6 I think. For Toga night...we brought our own embellishments with us. Many others took oour pictures. It was a great time. We took lots of big bangles etc...made our own headpeice out of vines etc. Have a great trip!!;)

[sophiecruiser]

We did the Christmas cruise on the Med. In Feb. 06 we did an 8 night on Carnival Liberty - there is no comparison between the two lines. I know they are owned by the same parent company - but we found Costa to be a step above Carnival in many ways. The most noticable differnce were the passengers. The split of European to Amercian passengers was about 50 - 50. There were VERY FEW obnoxious guests on Costa - definitely a classier crowd!

[joetrizeo]

We did the Christmas cruise on the Med. In Feb. 06 we did an 8 night on Carnival Liberty - there is no comparison between the two lines. I know they are owned by the same parent company - but we found Costa to be a step above Carnival in many ways. The most noticable differnce were the passengers. The split of European to Amercian passengers was about 50 - 50. There were VERY FEW obnoxious guests on Costa - definitely a classier crowd!

 

 

i second that

[cruise_girl_too]

Thanks for the info. I am very much looking forward to Costa for the new cruise experience. I am sure it will be fun and I intend to make the best of it. :)