HELP us decide if we should try Costa

[marynjason]

Hi all I am a Carnival junkie, We love the ships and the itinerary's. We just came back from the Liberty 8 day Eastern and we took our 3 year old. He absolutely loved Camp Carnival!!

We are thinking about the Costa Fortuna for the March 30th sailing. What do you guys think? Are we going to like it as much? I guess a better question would be how does it compare to Carnival and the camp? Camp Carnivals hours were

8am-12pm...2pm-5pm...7pm-10pm babysitting fees from 10pm-3am with sooo many fun activities for the little ones. I know it would be different than Carnival being a different cruise line but how would you guys compare it?

From what I have been reading the food is better?? is that your opinions? I like to try new dishes... I would have to think it would be better than Carnival because my opinion Carnival wasn't all that great in the food dept, edible yes just not great.

 

How would the cabins compare in size to Carnival?

Are there any secrets about the Fortuna? as for cabin selection we should consider? I know the Carnival conquest class the have 1A's that have floor to ceiling windows

Thanks sooo much for any and all opinions!

[marynjason]

a few more ??'s

How should I book directly with Costa or a TA?

will they honor price drops like Carnival?

How is the luck of guarantee room selections?

Do the ships fill up fast or do we have time?

[joetrizeo]

Fortuna and Liberty are sister ships and are almost exactly alike in sizes and layouts.

 

imho the food was much better on costa, but then again thats my opinion. many have come back saying it stinks and for the life of me i cannot figure out why. i chalk it up to different tastes!

 

read up on costa's Squak Club, thats thier kids club. can't tell you much, dont have kids.

 

i would book with costa direct. phone support is very good, internet site needs a lot of work!

 

march 30th is a good time to cruise. if you're looking for just an inside gaurentee you should have no problem booking any time as i doubt it'll fill up fast.

[Beowulfpk]

There's another thread about this you should read. Look in the forum...

 

Costa's general atmosphere is toned down from Carnivals more party atmosphere, which is almost always the case when Carnival is compared to almost any other cruise line.

 

Otherwise without going into too much detail (read the posts for more) Costa is as their slogan says "Cruising Italian Style." English is very much the second language on board and the food is mostly tuned to an European pallet. In my experience they tend to do a fantastic job with Pasta, and other authentic Italian dishes, but can often screw up a "American steakhouse" or French-American style dishes that people often expect on a cruise. I love the food on Costa, but others hate it. We sat next to a couple that expected a Steak dish every night, which was available, but sometimes disappointing. I've found that pretty much every major cruise line has been food than Carnival. For the record I think Holland America has the best food of all the Major lines.

 

Otherwise the ship layout and room sizes are exactly the same as any other major cruise line I've been on...

 

I've had really good luck with G-Reservations; I got upgraded to an outside room once for free. Costa does honor price drops, just make sure that the person you book with knows how to handle them otherwise it can be a hassle to get them. You will have to monitor the price and call the person you book with for the refund.

[marynjason]

THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS!!

That's exactly what I needed to hear. I have heard that the food is different than carnival. Which I'm ok with I LOVE Italian!! The only problem that I have read that the smoking could be a problem that the cruise is more laid back on the smoking policy. Which you take the good with the bad for the price!! :)

 

I'm looking to book is there a better agency to go with rather than Costa direct? as g=fo=r as having knowledge on price decreasing?

[Debi_D]

If you email me at deb_dougherty@comcast.net I can tell you who we used and we were happy with the pricing and service. We just booked a Panama Suite on the Fotuna for Feb for only 900.00 per person.

 

Deb

[fatcat04]

We were on the Costa Mediterranea which is the same ship class as the Carnival Spirit, Pride, Legend, and Miracle... and also the Costa Atlantica.

 

We were really worried about the smoking too as hubby has an allergy to cigarette smoke and we had our 5 yo son with us too BUT I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of smoking. The only spots where the smoke would get very obvious was in the casino and walking through the smoking section of a lounge. But all lounges have smoking and non smoking areas. The dining areas are all non-smoking. We had a suite with a balcony and we had some folks next to us that smoked but it wasn't that bad. Only smelled it a couple times.

 

Kiddo loved the kid's club. There weren't even 40 kids on board so they got lots of attention. The club employees where young ladies from Germany and Italy but all spoke English and they were so sweet.

 

And the food... well we loved it. I posted menus in my review in my signature, along with lots of pictures.

 

We have always booked through a TA and have gotten some amazing deals for suites... $900 p/adult. Got the same deal almost a year out this year that I got a month out this past March just to give you an idea.

 

I have never been on Carnival so I can't compare the two but we are going back on the Costa Med this next March so that should tell how much fun we had. :)

[marynjason]

great!! info. How far in advance did you guys book to get a suite at 900.00?? I haven't seen that price...yet..

 

I'm so glad to hear your son liked it. funny thats the only thing i'm worried about. FUN is what you make it and food is food. Its all edible!! ;)

Do you remember what their hours open were? I hear different times

[fatcat04]

great!! info. How far in advance did you guys book to get a suite at 900.00?? I haven't seen that price...yet..

 

I'm so glad to hear your son liked it. funny thats the only thing i'm worried about. FUN is what you make it and food is food. Its all edible!! ;)

Do you remember what their hours open were? I hear different times

 

Here is the activities time sheet for the Squok Club on the Costa Med. I think there are 3 pages so just file through them. I am sure the time schedule varies from ship to ship and cruise to cruise but this should give you an idea.

 

As to how far out we booked... this time we booked last month for the cruise in March 2008 but last time we booked in Jan 2007 for a cruise in March 2007. So we got a good deal at both extremes. And both times we booked through online TA's, two different ones. This time we got a great deal through an online vacation travel agent that does a lot of cruise business. They are running a great Costa sale for Costa Med and Costa Fortuna for Winter/Spring this next season.. balconies starting at $699 and Suites starting at $899 for 7 night Carib cruises.

 

The Squok Club is really cute. They have the Squok Olympics (with medals), a talent show, they can earn Squok dollars and trade them in for little treats at the end of the cruise. And everyone takes home lots of junk.. noone left without. My kids brought home a backpack, a cap, a frisbee, bubbles, a yo-yo, and a whole bunch more junk... tickled him to death!! On gala nights they did pizza and ice cream at the Lido and a movie... I think it was Shrek though kiddo didn't pay any attention. Not a big movie fan. The young ladies really made over the young kids. We were a bit worried at first cause kiddo though very friendly can be a bit shy with strangers but they were really good about getting him involved with the other kids his age. By the time we came to get him, they had worn his little butt out and we had gotten a couple hours break before bedtime!!

 

If you do decide to try out Costa, do make sure to not miss the one HUGE midnight buffet. It is late for little ones but well worth staying up. Ice and fruit sculptures, huge trays of ornamental dishes, just amazing. Most nights Costa offer sandwiches and desserts at midnight and not really worth keeping a little one up for unless he is already a night owl. We would generally just each pop out of the room to get a snack and bring it back to the room. BUT one night there is this HUGE buffet in the main dining room... take the whole family and the camera.. WHAT A SPREAD!! Just bring along your hollow leg and enjoy!!:D

[CeleBrat]

Marynjason--

 

See the other thread about KIDS SAIL FREE. Call Costa direct and ask if they still have that special. We got a great deal for the cruise ou are inquiring about (3/30/08).

 

We sailed the Costa Mediterranea lasy year with our (then) 3 and 5 year olds. Sqouk Club was fun for the kids. Lots of interesting crafts and face painting. They also earn Squokker Bucks throughout the week, and are able to redeem them on the last day for cool merchandise (backpack, plush, visors, yo-yos, etc...)

 

Hope to see you on the cruise...

 

CeleBrat

[marynjason]

Hi thanks for the info. I did call Costa direct... I got a price of 2275 for the balcony for the 3 of us, with my son traveling free. I'm wondering if I should wait and see what else comes up. I hear that Costa doesn't fill their ships. So I'm hoping for a better deal I did find one the the 29th of march A suite for 970.00 pp and my son at 350.00.. Which is an awesome deal.