Just Back--costa Mediterranea--any ????

[RNcruise]

We were on the costa mediterranea march 11-18. If you have questions, i'll do my best to answer them. I'll post my full review over the weekend!

[muffala]

so what do you think fun? food? any details age of people? casino? rooms? ship? staff? anything would appreciate it did you do east or west? any excursions? muffala

[RNcruise]

I'll post my full review later, but since you're leaving sunday, i'll tell you some. To start, I'm 26, and I went with my mother and sister (22). We had a blast. I really believe that if you go on vacation with the right people, and you have the right state of mind, you'll have a good time no matter what.

 

The food was quite good. We really didn't know what to expect, but it was all good. The pasta was great, and so was the pizza. All of the main courses were good (at least the ones I tried) The only thing is that the dessert wasn't like other cruise lines (which we expected) A few desserts were awesome, but some of the others were a little bland. The ice cream, sherbet and cheese cake were great!! My mother had strawberry cheesecake every night for dessert.

 

We really didn't use the casino that much, but our table mates seemed to love it. It seemed like the husband had won money every night.

 

We had a cat 10 balcony room on the 8th floor. We loved it--there was more than enough storage for the three of us (don't forget the drawers under the couch) The balcony was wonderful, and the room was a pretty good size. I even found the shower pretty spacious. However, there are showers behind the gym area that were even better. Try them out! I would take my shower, and walk up to my room wrapped in my towel, and get ready in my room.

 

The ship was beautiful. We loved the artwork. It was very easy to get around. I really miss it!

 

We did the eastern, and only did one excursion in St. Thomas (we went on a catamaran to snorkle at St. John.

 

We were truly blessed with a great week. We had great service (give a shout to Ian in the restaurant if you see him--he is also in charge of the midnight buffets), great food, and a great time. Hope this helps!!! Have a great week, and tell us about it when you get back!:)

[lucy12]

We were also on the march 11th sailing- had a great time- It was my first cruise so I can't compare it to others,but it was way past my expectations- I thought the food was wonderful, loved our balcony, and the gym! The ship was immaculate and someone was always cleaning every surface- we ate in the dining room each night, but at the buffet for lunch and breakfast- all of our dishes were served hot- several in our party bought the soda card for $60 when they boarded - it alloted them 20 sodas or non alcoholic drinks- but the sodas in the room were only $2.88- the dominican republic stop was a complete waste of time, the employees advised us not to leave the ship as it was not safe- other than that, I loved everything about the cruise, I'd go again in a heartbeat

[suefrankw]

thanks for the info. We will be doing the eastern carrib on April 8.

the dominican stop- were you referring to the beach day??

How was the wine on ship (if you tried it)?

Was there a good variety of food at the lunch buffet?

We hope to have room service for breakfast. If anyone used it, did you have a good selection?

Any favorite bars to have a night cap at?

thanks for your input!!!

[Rumrunner2]

We were also on the March 11th sailing. and have cruised on Royal C, Carnival & Norwegian in the past. This cruise far surpassed our expectations and the food was absolutely assume so don’t listen to all the bad reports. By the way Loster was on the menu on the first formal night.

 

When we went to the Dominican Republic in the evening we did not listen to Costa and hired a taxi for the evening. We went to a few different spots and toured around while our Taxi driver waited for us. We had him at our disposal for 3.5 hours and he only charged us $40. I gave him $50 when he returned us back to the ship.

 

To clear up a few other questions, when you are in the DR for the day you just tender over to their private island for a beach day. There is no need to do any tours here unless you don’t want to spend the day on the beach. A BIG WORD OF WARNING – do not get your hair braided here by the “Costa” hair braiders. They charge only $1 per braid to your Costa card and both our girls went up to have it done and tried to get a firm price but the braiders were unwilling to do so. Hey did a great job but made such small braids that one daughter ended up with 150 braids and the other with 134. Just do the math!! (our fault in a way for not going up their with them but this was really taking advantage of the girls)

 

The only thing missing on this Cruise for us was the Caribbean bands on the pool decks etc. The musical entertainment catered to the Italian folk (as expected with Costa) but I would have liked more English stuff.

 

Cheers

[chapp]

RNCruise- Did the ship have poker in the casino? Do you know the stakes they had if they did?

[RNcruise]

They did have poker, but as to what kinds, stakes, etc... I can not tell you. You may get an answer by posting the question in a new thread. I am terribly sorry that I can not tell you!!! Good luck! :)

[mpb43]

Hi,

We are sailing the Mediterranea in July. Did you try the pools? I'm wondering if they are really cold. My kids are wimps about cold pools.:)

[zandramarie]

I dipped in the adults only pool and it would take your breath away! BRRRR

I must say the security did a great job trying to keep the kids out of the adults only pool and spa. We had 650 kids on board so it could be a problem.

There was alot of saving of lounge chairs also and some unhappy people when they came back and their chair was taken.

My husband didn't play poker but he played craps and that was a $5 minimum bet to $200. He paid his dues:) He did win $50 betting on the #2 racehorse that won twice!

[mpb43]

I dipped in the adults only pool and it would take your breath away! BRRRR

 

I thought that might be the case. I think we'll do most of our swimming at the beach!