Costa Atlantica
Sail date:
The Costa Atlantica is a beautiful ship. We sailed the week of Feb. 9 to San Jose, St. Thomas, Nassau and the Dominican Republic. We traveled with our daughter, she's 11, who highly rated the kids programs. Actually, she prefered Costa to Disney! I was pretty surprised by this but she said Disney didn't have as much to do for her age group.Embarkation was not as smooth as Disney's and their terminal is not as nice, but once we were finally on board, the ship was beautifully laid-out. Also, we liked the laid-back atmosphere on the ship. I would highly recommend purchasing the children's drink coupon book (available at the bars only, and you have to ask) - she drank alcohol-free pina colodas and fruit smoothies all week, even at meals, without any problems. The nightly entertainment was a little too "Vegas" for our taste and this was the only area we felt could really use some improvement. Also the theater was poorly laid-out, with many obstruced views, so if you want to actually see the show, go early to get a good seat. The food was good and the dessert buffet at midnight is not to be missed - I think they actually saved all the best pastries for this buffet. The gym was great and I found I had the sauna to myself on several occasions which was extremely relaxing.Our room needed a little extra attention when we arrived, but our room steward took care of everything we asked for before our first night. We did not get to see much of the Dominican Republic and if we had to do it again we would have skipped the afternoon on their island - which was just average - and spent our time exploring the port.Overall, it was a great vacation. We loved San Juan and St. Thomas and the international feel on the Atlantica is a unique experience that many of the passengers enjoyed. We found most of the crew friendly and helpful and our dinner companions were extremly nice - which always makes the cruise a little nicer.