Celebrity vs. Costa

[tcocktail]

Ok so I have asked about MSC, now I have found a schedule on Costa that looks interesting. Being that I am still a great fan of Celebrity has anyone sailed on Costa if so could you answer the following.

 

The itineraries are not important at this time. Although it will be when it comes time to choose. Does Costa do anything special in certain ports that Celebrity doesn't do? How is the service different on board . How is the food different. Will I get more regional food on Costa. Is smoking allowed on board? Is it limited to port or starboard? How many courses are there at dinner? Is service rushed in the main dining room? Does the staff speak english. Are they mostly Italian staff or mixed crew? Will I feel like I am on a foreign Carnival cruise or is it more European and refined? Will I stand out because we are American. Will we get the same service as the Europeans?

 

 

THank you

[Solstice23]

My aunt and Uncle with there friends went on Costa to the Caribbean this past February,

 

All I can say is they are Celebrity and Regent, fans and they Hated every moment on Costa.

[mek]

I sailed on the Magica three years ago. Beautiful ship and I actually had a lot of fun on it, but and this is a big but, the food and service were the worst I have had on any cruise. This has been debated many times over on the Costa boards and most people either love or hate the food. Those who don't like it are accused of not appreciating real Italian food by the Costa lovers, and I would agree there were several very good Italian dishes served. Problem is they don't stick to everything Italian. I suspect they adjusted their menu when they came to the Caribbean to appeal to our tastes and IMHO, they do a terrible job of that. If you want to eat pasta all week, you might be OK, but don't try anything else.

[d&a Delaware]

Our first cruise was a 5 night Western Caribbean on a brand new Costa Magica and, as a first cruise, we were very smittent with cruising. Our second was a 5 night Western Caribbean on the newly refurbished Celebrity Century, and we found out what good cruising was really about. Century is still my favorite ship. Costa Magica was glitzy and busy, but poorly designed for getting around, and with (in retrospect) not so good service and not so good food. Plus, there were smokers everywhere and one could not escape cigarette smoke. We do not expect to sail on Costa again, but are very happy with Celebrity and RCCL.

 

David

[Bridge Maven]

My aunt and Uncle with there friends went on Costa to the Caribbean this past February,

 

All I can say is they are Celebrity and Regent, fans and they Hated every moment on Costa.

 

Do they consider Celebrity and Regent to be comparable?

[Solstice23]

Do they consider Celebrity and Regent to be comparable?

 

They Like regent for some things, but its pricey, They Celebrity as far as big ships, and like how it has more choices. They enjoy both. They said they have had some meals on Celebrity just as good as on Regent.

[YOW]

I know you mentioned that itineraries weren't yet a factor... but if/when they are, consider that MSC and Costa seem to have some very short stops in port -- so much so that sometimes you'll barely have a chance to get off the ship and look around before it's time to climb back aboard.

[Bridge Maven]

They Like regent for some things, but its pricey, They Celebrity as far as big ships, and like how it has more choices. They enjoy both. They said they have had some meals on Celebrity just as good as on Regent.

 

Thank you for sharing their opinions. I was curious because my husband and I are planning to try Regent since a few our friends love it, but when I saw your initial post I thought you were implying that Celebrity and Regent are very comparable. Needless to say, they are not similar in price so I would be reluctant to pay Regent prices if it only provides a Celebrity experience.

[Gaynors]

We've sailed on Costa 3 different times all to the Caribbean. We've also sailed on Celebrity to the Caribbean. We greatly enjoyed both lines. Costa definitey had a lot more Europeans onboard, but that wasn't any problem. There was definitely more smoking areas on Costa, but it wasn't a problem and I can't stand smoking. The food is different for sure, if you are looking for traditional american cruise line fare you won't really find it or if you do it's nothing special, HOWEVER, if you are willing to try some of the more tradtional Italian and European dishes we found the food to be awesome. I think it's all what you make of it. I would much rather be on a cruise than at work or home anytime.

 

These boards seem to be real biased against Costa, if you go in with a bad attitude to start with based on other peoples opinions it's unlikely you will enjoy yourselves.

 

As you can see by my signature, we are going on Costa again this fall then in the spring we are going on Celebrity. Also been on NCL, Princess, and Royal Caribbean... we like to spread the wealth..:D

[cvaty]

Costa is an European line.

There will be Italian (crew,passenger as well)

[Super Terrier]

Hi have only sailed on Cunard once, and have another Cunard and a Celebrity booked, but a mad cruise fan colleague of my wife has sailed many times on Cunard and once on Costa. He was very unimpressed with Costa and said that the food and entertainment were poor in comparison and that he would not go with Costa again, and as the experience was so bad would no longer be willing to even try another cruise line because they are perfectly happy with Cunard. I understand that the problems were that the entertainment was pretty non existent unless you like dancing (he doesn't!) and the food was not to their taste. On the other hand, wife and I might consider Costa on the basis of the dancing! I guess it's all down to personnal choice! Whatever you choose I hope you enjoy it, as someone said it's better than work anyday!!

[YOW]

Have you noticed that, when it comes to 'Celebrity vs. another line' on these boards, we're getting into extended degrees of hearsay?

 

You know, I have it on good authority from a guy who works with the sister-in-law of the ousted CEO of the company that owns the second mortgage on my dog's groomer's cousin's house that Celebrity is far better than the line in question. ;)

[cruzeluver]

Have you noticed that, when it comes to 'Celebrity vs. another line' on these boards, we're getting into extended degrees of hearsay?

 

You know, I have it on good authority from a guy who works with the sister-in-law of the ousted CEO of the company that owns the second mortgage on my dog's groomer's cousin's house that Celebrity is far better than the line in question. ;)

 

Yep. Personally, I'll make my own decision based on experience and not what someone else has said. If I listened to what others had told me beforehand I would have thought:

 

Carnival is nothing but a floating frat house.

 

Norwegian charges extra for everything but air.

 

Royal's food isn't fit for a dog.

 

And X fills its ships with a bunch of stuck-up snobs.

 

All are gross generalizations and not true, based on my personal experiences.

[tcocktail]

Yep. Personally, I'll make my own decision based on experience and not what someone else has said. If I listened to what others had told me beforehand I would have thought:

 

Carnival is nothing but a floating frat house.

 

Norwegian charges extra for everything but air.

 

Royal's food isn't fit for a dog.

 

And X fills its ships with a bunch of stuck-up snobs.

 

All are gross generalizations and not true, based on my personal experiences.

 

 

What you are saying is so true. But you can get an idea or a feel for what people are saying. Everytime i think about looking at another cruise I always end back on Celebrity. I did go on RCCl empress of the sea to Bermuda and it was awful. The food was terrible i am on diet restriction because of colon surgery. They were not willing to work with me even though i ask requested it prior to boarding. The main atruim was old and dirty. There wasn't enough service staff at Customer service. My bill had to constantly monitored beccause I was double charged. Grant it it was 3.5 star older ship but there should be some consistency through their ships. I had been looking at some of the itineraries on Costa for the med thinking that it would be good fun to have the European experience, food etc. But I keep hearing that the service on board is nothing to write home about, but with a port intensive trip is it really worth be concerned?

 

I have only heard the best about Regent and that the shore excursions are included with the fare. I think that Regent is more on the par with Azamara.

 

Thank you all, if anyone has any experience in the Western med I would love to hear it. Thank you for bringing to my attention the port stays could be shorten and if it is a tender in some cases why get off the ship. This already happened to me in Maui, we were on the Summit and the stay was way to short and the tender were having trouble with the port police. So it took two hours to board. Don't want to have to go through that again. Again thank you all.

[Orator]

I am a Celebrity fan. On Costa about 1 1/2 years ago. Smoking WAS a big problem for those us who don't smoke. Food was only fair. Announcements made often and in many languages. Keep selling raffle tickets at every opportunity. Speciality restaurant was a la carte and to me not worth the price.

Pluses: The ship was beautiful and the crew friendly. Many fun events including speciality evenings and last night Toga Party. Passengers were generally friendly. There was a large group on board (a problem), but we were able to talk our way into the Ronan Tyan performance (GREAT).

My conclusion: More activities on Costa than X. Louder, more party oriented and international crowd than X. Heavy smoke everywhere on Costa, smoking restricted on X.

Food far superior on X. Just a different demographic on the two lines. Would I sail Costa again. Probably depends on the ship and ports of call.

[IPA region 30 member]

We found Costa fun and the food was definately more European, and the smoking was an issue, but still not as bad as some places. The crew is definately more high energy and there were goings on all over the ship, with a lot of the crew filling in doing entertaining as well as other jobs, so you got to know a lot of the folks for different activities. It is an aquired taste though <G>, but we did enjoy ourselves on the Atlantica. But then again, the group we were with, would be fun on an ocean going tugboat <BG>...

[Solstice23]

Thats ok Ill be a snob...on X rather then go on Carnival again LOL :) LOL

 

Yes regent was better then Celebrity My mom and aunt said, but for what they paid for regent, they would still take Celebrity for the large ship anytime.

[Solstice23]

ANd I agree Costa is never in port long??? When we were on the Summit this past March while docked in St Maarten Costa came in 4 hours after us and left before us?????? whats the point? My wife said that the port stay for costa was shorter then the towels they give to use??? they look like face cloths?

[jackdiamond]

Celebrity M and Solstice class v. Costa, no brainer-Celebrity.

[CathyCruises]

One more hearsay comment: when we were boarding the airport shuttle in Venice, we met three nice older ladies who had just disembarked from a Costa cruise. They, in their own words, "hated it". Don't know them personally but their comments were strong enough to make me look elsewhere for my next cruise. In such a wonderful part of the world, that's pretty unusual. For what it's worth. . .

[tcocktail]

Again, thank you all for your comments. I wish Celebrity would be more European in the med. It would give us the full experience of being in Europe...which I so love.

[Bridge Maven]

I've never cruised on Costa but the best food and service we ever had on a cruise was on the defunct Italian Line where the crew was entirely Italian.

 

Based on my experience you will never know whether or not a cruise line is for you until you try it. Some of my best cruises have been on ships that had so so reviews and some of my biggest disappointments have been on ships that had rave reviews. There are even significant variations within the same cruise line based on the ship itself and itinerary.

 

For example, we have sailed on the defunct Italian Line, Norwegian Carnival, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity. Our Holland America cruise was on Westerdam, which was a new ship at the time, and we had the nicest cabin (suite) that we ever had on a ship but it is the only cruise line that my husband refuses to sail on again because he felt it had the worst food and service that we ever had on a cruise. Yet, based on reviews I would have expected it to be one of our best. On the other hand we were very pleasantly surprised with the food and service on Carnival last year and Norwegian last week and those cruise lines are always being criticized.

[TomCruises]

IMHO I don't think you will be happy with Costa.

[badtwin]

I have cruised three times - Celebrity Solstice in the Mediterranean in 2009, MSC Orchestra in the Caribbean ion 2009 and Costa Magica in the Caribbean in 2006. I would sail all three lines again but must say the Celebrity was “notably nicer” – a phrase used by a person we met on the Celebrity cruise.

The comparison is a little unfair since the Caribbean cruises were spring break cruises – kids sail free – and thus a bit over run with kids. The Italian lines had a lot more on board activities on sea days. The shows on Orchestra were the best. On the other hand, we found the Celebrity cruise a bit on the boring side as far as night life and entertainment. In part, this is a function of the port-intensive nature of the Mediterranean but there were also very few children, including old teenagers, on the Celebrity Cruise. Service on Celebrity was “better” because it was more what we would expect. MSC had real problems in the dining room – at least at our table. Language was not a huge problem for us but it was for some and the Italian lines had lots of announcements in multiple languages which got real old.

The food on Celebrity was better on the whole. I think Costa was a close second – although that is a huge subject of debate. MSC was hit and miss and a lot more limited than the others – although the one midnight buffet looked incredible. MSC is horrible with desserts – at least, the kind of desserts Americans expect. On the other hand, MSC had some great wine and beer packages, a great daily special from the bar and the prices include the tip.

The ships were all new and beautiful in their own way but I found it much easier to get around on the Solstice. For example, the Italians would put a main dining room midship and you would find you could not get through without going up or down a story. Solstice was just laid out better and they have signs to help keep you oriented. The rooms were comparable – the shower doors on the Solstice were very nice but we had more storage on the Orchestra.

I liked them all and would consider using every one again – depending of course on price and itinerary. My beef with Celebrity is that they don’t usually give a good break for the third person in the cabin and I am still taking the DD along on vacations.

[joolsb]

Can't compare Costa with Celebrity yet (but will be able to after July!), however we have sailed with various lines, from Seabourn down. We sailed out of Dubai in January on the Costa Victoria, and had very little to complain about.

 

Our suite was one of the nicest we have had (with a separate small room for our son), food was good - there was always something on the menu to suit. Lunch in the MDR was particularly good and the service throughout the ship was always first class. The entertainment was also very good - and that was quite an achievement considering there were about 10 nationalities to entertain! The teenagers onboard (only about 6 of them) were kept very busy - and my son was always keen to be with his new friends - in spite of them all speaking different languages!

 

The only niggles we had were with the self-service restaurant for breakfast which really wasn't very good at all (hence we ordered room service every morning which was a great decision!), and the long, long, long time on deck for the muster drill, due to everything having to be repeated in all 10 of the previously mentioned languages!

 

We would definitely go with Costa again - but only if the itinerary suited (and a word of advice from other previous cruisers -try to avoid Italian school holidays when the ships are apparently completely over-run by "bambinos"!).