Topic: costa cruises

Hi,
I am fairly new to the forum, and really this is to say hello to everyone and to add a few comments about costa cruises.
At long last recently there have been a couple of fair and positive reviews about costa.
I have sailed costa many times and these are my reasons why i choose them over others.
First and foremost it is the itinerarys they pull me back everytime. I was fortunate to travel to the far east when costa first began the destinations, and felt very fortunate and quite humbled to be able to visit Vietnam. only a few short years ago this destination would have been out of reach financially for most and difficult to get to, sailing up the mekong was an experiance i shall never forget.

The Italian experiance, this is how I look at it, when I am on holiday I want everything to be different from home, people, food, entertainment.
The comments that people make about the entertainment make me laugh, has anyone tried entertainment in land based international hotels, I have and most of them are worse than anything i have seen on costa ship. A couple of years ago i took my mother then 86 on the costa magica around the med the entertainment was some of the best i had seen anywhere. My mother is wheelchair bound, costa could not do enough for her, she had never been an a cruise before and loved it. Priceless unforgetable memories.

I am taking another costa cruise in march this is the itinerary for 21 days,
mauritus 2 days ,seychelles 2 days, maldives 2 days, phuket 2 days , cochin 1day, srilanka 1 day, port klang 1 day, langkawi 1day and finally singapore 2 days, there are 7 sea days in this equally spaced. If there is another cruise line out there who put together an itinerary like this let me know. I better stop now or i will begin to sound like a costa sales person which i am not.

I will give a review of this trip when i return
Bye for now Jane

enjoy and I look forward to your review with anticipation

QUOTE:

Hi,
I am fairly new to the forum, and really this is to say hello to everyone and to add a few comments about costa cruises.
At long last recently there have been a couple of fair and positive reviews about costa.
I have sailed costa many times and these are my reasons why i choose them over others.
First and foremost it is the itinerarys they pull me back everytime. I was fortunate to travel to the far east when costa first began the destinations, and felt very fortunate and quite humbled to be able to visit Vietnam. only a few short years ago this destination would have been out of reach financially for most and difficult to get to, sailing up the mekong was an experiance i shall never forget.

The Italian experiance, this is how I look at it, when I am on holiday I want everything to be different from home, people, food, entertainment.
The comments that people make about the entertainment make me laugh, has anyone tried entertainment in land based international hotels, I have and most of them are worse than anything i have seen on costa ship. A couple of years ago i took my mother then 86 on the costa magica around the med the entertainment was some of the best i had seen anywhere. My mother is wheelchair bound, costa could not do enough for her, she had never been an a cruise before and loved it. Priceless unforgetable memories.

I am taking another costa cruise in march this is the itinerary for 21 days,
mauritus 2 days ,seychelles 2 days, maldives 2 days, phuket 2 days , cochin 1day, srilanka 1 day, port klang 1 day, langkawi 1day and finally singapore 2 days, there are 7 sea days in this equally spaced. If there is another cruise line out there who put together an itinerary like this let me know. I better stop now or i will begin to sound like a costa sales person which i am not.

I will give a review of this trip when i return
Bye for now Jane

Hi Jane, Thanks for that very interesting review, I agree that the Costa Itineries are so much more interesting than other Cruise Lines put together, but like others have been put 'off' by other reviews on the 'Costa' ships, so it was really interesting and encouraging to read your review. The Costa brochure has arrived today!, and I shall now look at it with a diffeent view in mind! that Far East Itinery you are going on is just the very one MY DH and I would like to do, so shall look forward to hearing all about it on your return. It really sounds exciting. Have fun enjoy.

QUOTE:

Hi,
I am fairly new to the forum, and really this is to say hello to everyone and to add a few comments about costa cruises.
At long last recently there have been a couple of fair and positive reviews about costa.
I have sailed costa many times and these are my reasons why i choose them over others.
First and foremost it is the itinerarys they pull me back everytime. I was fortunate to travel to the far east when costa first began the destinations, and felt very fortunate and quite humbled to be able to visit Vietnam. only a few short years ago this destination would have been out of reach financially for most and difficult to get to, sailing up the mekong was an experiance i shall never forget.

The Italian experiance, this is how I look at it, when I am on holiday I want everything to be different from home, people, food, entertainment.
The comments that people make about the entertainment make me laugh, has anyone tried entertainment in land based international hotels, I have and most of them are worse than anything i have seen on costa ship. A couple of years ago i took my mother then 86 on the costa magica around the med the entertainment was some of the best i had seen anywhere. My mother is wheelchair bound, costa could not do enough for her, she had never been an a cruise before and loved it. Priceless unforgetable memories.

I am taking another costa cruise in march this is the itinerary for 21 days,
mauritus 2 days ,seychelles 2 days, maldives 2 days, phuket 2 days , cochin 1day, srilanka 1 day, port klang 1 day, langkawi 1day and finally singapore 2 days, there are 7 sea days in this equally spaced. If there is another cruise line out there who put together an itinerary like this let me know. I better stop now or i will begin to sound like a costa sales person which i am not.

I will give a review of this trip when i return
Bye for now Jane

I also like costa we are of again in April to the far east going to Japan. I like the choice of destinations(and pasta).

The OP review sounds interesting and have just watched on Freeview the Sky Cruise holidays prog.

I have been put off Costa because of its Italian input (yes, i know its an italian ship ). Are announcments made in English ? or Italian first -then a translation ??.

The Tv prog I have just watched obviously only interviewed English speaking ,but they looked to be well into their 60's . (Ok I am 58 -- ) These people just *looked old* and those un interviewed in the backgrounds looked like younger Italian families.

Is the food varied (ie not Pasta most days --picky DH here -- very picky grrrr). So buffet would be our main (prob only eating point )

Hi jane
I'm new here too,and like others find costas itineraries varied and interesting, also good value(so it seems), but have also been put off by more bad reviews than good. Having said that, unless the cruiseline is absolutely dire, a holiday is what you make it, and we are fortunately not the type of people that go round looking for things to complain about, so will be looking forward to your remarks on your March cruise!!! Have fun and enjoy.Lynn

QUOTE:

Hi jane
I'm new here too,and like others find costas itineraries varied and interesting, also good value(so it seems), but have also been put off by more bad reviews than good. Having said that, unless the cruiseline is absolutely dire, a holiday is what you make it, and we are fortunately not the type of people that go round looking for things to complain about, so will be looking forward to your remarks on your March cruise!!! Have fun and enjoy.Lynn

I think you are quite right. Someone's written a review today, awarding a ship only one star and the main reason appears to be that he wasn't given sauce with his cooked breakfast...

In reply to the questions about announcements and food etc. The announcements are made in serveral languages and not always first, after a while I get used to it and tend to switch off, doesnt bother me at all, I'm on holiday, maybe as well, is that I live in Wales, and Welsh where I live is the first language so I am quite used to it.
The food I have always found is very varied, breakfast is catered for all nationalities, so all our stuff and continental. At lunch, there is always the mdr and a buffet, at the buffet there is everything, usually a carvery meat, some type of fish, salads, vegetables and of course a pasta dish,and rice. on sea days there is usually a barbecue,on deck where you could have food as plain as you wish, incidentally on my last trip I had some calamari at the lunch buffet, that was the best I have had anywhere in the world and yes it was that hot you had to let it cool down before eating. In the evening there are several courses, firstly starters then soup then a pasta then a main course, then dessert then cheese, you can have any or all of these as you wish. If you dont want anyof these there are alternatives every day for example one night i had a bad tummy from eating off the ship in Manilla (stupid), I chose eventually fish fingers- not what you think but goujons of fish, the waiters on the table will bring you anything and everything if you wish. There is always afternoon tea, and of course on most ships pizza at various times if you can manage to fit anymore in!

The sauce with breakfast thing- dont get me started, I wonder if what somepeople want is a floating uk, why bother going anywhere!, I once had a very strange breakfast in a hotel in Hong Kong, dumplings and such not my thing that early but hey ho, try anything once. Sometimes when I read peoples reviews I wonder what has happened to the great British spirit of adventure, try anything and everything when you are away, you will have memories to last a lifetime good or bad.

Bye for now

Jane

Sorry should have read English not always first.

QUOTE:

The OP review sounds interesting and have just watched on Freeview the Sky Cruise holidays prog.

I have been put off Costa because of its Italian input (yes, i know its an italian ship ). Are announcments made in English ? or Italian first -then a translation ??.

The Tv prog I have just watched obviously only interviewed English speaking ,but they looked to be well into their 60's . (Ok I am 58 -- ) These people just *looked old* and those un interviewed in the backgrounds looked like younger Italian families.

Is the food varied (ie not Pasta most days --picky DH here -- very picky grrrr). So buffet would be our main (prob only eating point )

the annoucments are in 5 languages first is always Itallian the last usually English. this is because English speaking people are usually in the minority.
when we went I turned 52 on the cruise my hubbie was 41. granted our 6 tablemates ages ranged from 67-80 but they were great fun. Costa ships are usually full of young couples with young families and grandparents, therefore giving a great age mix.
food is varied. you have the usual choices of starter, soup, salad, pasta, main course, cheese and biscutes, dessert. so as you can see you have 7 courses!!! they don't serve tea/coffee at the end of a meal but if you ask for it they will provide it. I would say the downside was for the main course is too much meat and not enough veg. Itallians do not have pasta or pizza for their main course. I am not a lover of pizza but they make the best pizza ever esp after 9.30pm they make it to order, crispy and very thin base yum.
Costa is different from say P&O, RCI, Celebrity etc but they give good value for money and are usually a very lively ship. don't knock them till you try them.