Costa Diadema is OVERPACKED, NOISY, BAD EXPERIENCE OVERALL
Costa Diadema Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean
7 Night Marvelous Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)
Sail date: June 29, 2015
Ship: Costa Diadema
Cabin number: 9095
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 9 years ago
Review summary
I recently cruised on the brand new Costa Diadema "Jewels of the Western Mediterranean" 7 night itinerary, departing Barcelona on June 29, 2015. VERY DISAPPOINTING. I have cruised on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and the Bahamas Express. Costa is BY FAR THE WORST in every way imaginable. It was so overpacked that I could not sit down to breakfast or lunch even ONCE. I was forced to sit at tables with somebody else's dirty dishes. There are no forks, no knives, no spoons nor napkins unless you sit at a table, and since NO TABLES are EVER vacant you can imagine how unpleasant mealtime is. Same buffet every single day. No eggs, no hot food unless you go to restaurant which is so crowded there's no chance of getting in. One day I took a shore excursion that departed at 8:15 a.m. so I ordered breakfast to be delivered to my room at 7:30 a.m. I am diabetic so eating before a long day of walking is important. They never delivered my breakfast. I called room service and the person who answered the phone promised it was on its way, but they never came. I called back and they hung up on me (probably can see room number.) II purchased the all inclusive beverage package, but it doesn't include bottled water. They charge $3.50 for bottled water. The pools are tiny and dirty, again overpacked. No deck space, never a lounge chair. The elevators are SLOW, PACKED or always reserved for luggage transport. Unruly children hit every button making the elevators stop on every floor. I had to walk up and down 9 flights of stairs every time I left my cabin. There were so many noisy children running up and down the halls and yelling even at 3:00 a.m. No staff member is empowered to do anything. Internet speed terrible and a scam. The Costa portal makes you purchase a new hour for $10 euros, then kicks you off after five minutes use. Then force you to purchase another hour. Very confusing and I am tech saavy.. I paid about $70 to use their internet for a total of about 20 minutes. No staff member has authority to credit your account. They make you waste your time when you have a legitimate reason to seek a credit to your bill. The poor employees are exhausted and underpaid. Few speak or understand English. Terrible disorganization. For example I was required to attend a disembarkation meeting at a specific time and specific place. I show up and the employee yells something loud in Italian. No rhyme or reason for the meeting. They require you to leave your luggage out the night before you disembark, so how are you supposed to shower and get dressed the day you leave? I can't think of one reason to cruise on Costa, even if the trip is FREE. It is seriously that bad and I am not normally a picky person. CHoose a different cruise line, even if you pay a little bit more.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
REALLY BAD, REALLY CROWDED, REALLY NOISY, NOBODY WATCHES THEIR CHILDREN
Ports of call
Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands
La Spezia (Cinque Terre), Italy
8 Comments
ItaVero 7 years ago
Poor Costa - ever since that horrifying disaster off of Italy I don't hear a lot of good things about them. We ran into a couple of Costa ships sharing berths this last month while cruising on the Crown Princess around South America and (coincidence or not) their passengers seemed unaccountably rude, arrogant and pushy.
glomarrone 9 years ago
How sad that you had so many bad experiences on this cruise line. Perhaps for your next cruise, you need to book with another line. Please visit that cruise line's Website so there will be less surprises. By the way, I always bring my own water bottle with me and refill it for shore excursions. I think that during busy dining times, service suffers in the buffet. I usually have trouble finding a clean table at the buffet. I get my table first before getting my food. If the table isn't clean, I notify a crew member who cleans it before I return with my food. I don't mind sharing a table. I have met lots of nice people this way. Yes, elevators are crowded and on embarkation and disembarkation days many are reserved for luggage transportation. This happens on all cruise lines. Try to use other than the centrally located elevator banks. I really hope that your next cruise goes smoother for you. Avoiding holidays and summer vacatimes, should cut down on the numbers of kids. Please let us all know how your next cruise by writing a review.
noname111 9 years ago
Thank you for posting your review. It is unfortunate that you had such a negative experience.
1. I agree w/CrusinTim in that if you have been on 4-6 cruises already, you should know that luggage is left outside your stateroom the night prior to debarkation as a rule unless you elect to do self-carry-off.
2. To get ready the morning of departure, you keep a change of clothes and toiletries with you and use a carry-off (or a plastic bag even), then add those items back to your main luggage when you pick it up in the terminal.
3. Unruly children is poor or absent parenting primarily but ship's security should have intervened and it is an inappropriate behavior that fellow passengers are subjected to when neither parent nor security are accountable for addressing the problem.
4. Beverage packages are clear in terms of what they include and don't include. Usually, there is a bottled water package which is separate from the other beverage packages. Next time, be sure to read the fine print or ask because cruise lines vary.
5. Cruise ship internet is via satellite and this is a notoriously bad problem across the industry. Sounds like their interface had some issues but the slow speed would not have come as a surprise to me.
All the other issues raised are awful. There is no excuse for a cruise ship to not have enough chairs, lounges, etc. I hope your next cruise goes much better than this one.
CrusinTim 9 years ago
"They require you to leave your luggage out the night before you disembark, so how are you supposed to shower and get dressed the day you leave?". If you have been on 4 - 6 cruises as you state in your profile, you would know this is the norm across ALL cruise lines unless you do self disembark where you carry off your luggage yourself. All you have to do is keep out the clothes you are going to wear when you disembark before closing your suitcases and put the day before clothes in your carry on luggage. It's really NOT that difficult to figure out!! It may be true that you had a poor experience but most of your comments sound as though you are just one of those passengers that can't be pleased no matter what. $3.50 for water, the norm. Unsupervised kids being obnoxious, the norm. Buffet being busy, the norm. I could go on but why bother. With 4 - 6 cruises experience, you should have been aware of these possibilities. I am!!