A true European experience in America! Never Again!

The only enjoyable thing on this cruise was the getting off the ship, going to the ports of call. We departed from Ft. Lauderdale. I learned this was a repositioned ship, so a lot of the guests were already on the boat from Europe. This cruise line missed a lot when it came to America. The service was terrible, we skipped most of nightly dinners because the waiter didnt have a clue. He served all our meals at different times, we would receive soup at the end of the meal or salads. He would get angry if he got something wrong and we questioned it. He gave the wrong meals to different people. Might I add, everything was done electronically, he used a smart phone provided by the cruise to take the order, so I dont see much room for messing up. There was no music or dancing at dinner like on other cruises. Usually you become best friends with the waiter by the end of your cruise and you want to shower them with tips, not this time! It took the full two hours to get all the food, not because there was lots of it but because it was so slow. The food was European, and only available at certain times. The portions in the dining room were terrible. You left more hungry than you came. There was no 24 hr pizza or sandwich bar or even an soft serve machine on the boat. There was only one night show and the "animations" team did stuff around the ship. Other cruise lines I have been on have comedy and multiple shows to attend. You had to pay for EVERYTHING! Being from USA, we received free water, how nice of Costa! You paid daily for your room to be clean (12.50) we had 5 in our party. One of our rooms had bed bugs or something that bit one of our guests, she had huge welts on her arm and body. She killed the bug (we think a spider). When we spoke to hospitality, they said, "We will see if this person can see the on board doctor, and we will determine if you will have to pay for the visit." I kid you not! The cruise line did take responsibility and gutted the room, put new carpet and bedding, the steward attending the room was angry we had made the complaint. They did not have iron's on the ship so if you wanted or needed to iron your clothes which were crammed in suit cases, you had to pay $3.00 an item. Room service was an additional $5. The attitude of the employees on the ship seemed as though you were doing them a favor by being there. Costa missed this one when it came to service, other cruise lines do a much better job. They weren't helpful or nice. I'm a pretty patient person, I travel all around the world but when I feel that I am being taken advantage of it frustrates me.