Costa Favolosa - Reviews

Bed need to be changed (hurt my back). Hotel service charge should be upfront.

Good. We find nice people on the cruise between the cruise staff and passengers. For European cruise company it was not bad but we like more to travel with Celebrity or Princess

The food was very deplorable and the ports of the cities very small and not that interesting... Shows on board as well very average. The crew staff was nice but not in the restaurants  

The crew was very service oriented and attentive to our needs. 

If someone chooses not to register their card they should have the ability to use currency.

Yes, we would recommend the cruise to others.

Favorite part of the cruise was the food and the excursions.

Food was delicious; service impeccable

The excursions were handled very professionally and expeditiously

The  elevators were permitted to go to the egress floor; thus eliminating the herd mentality that usually occurs

sailing in to the fjords was spectacular...dining was superb with 5 star service the entertainment was hit and miss....only went to two shows ..some in italian which was ok...were only a handful of americans on the ship...mostly italians and germans and older crowd

(At the risk of plagiarizing a line from Tale of Two Cities.)  We truly enjoyed ourselves.  Service was great.  Waitstaff in the restaurants were wonderful.  Room steward was excellent.  We had plumbing problems.  Our toilet failed several times (no it wasn't clogged - it simply wouldn't flush).  Each time it was fixed very promptly - within minutes of us reporting it - but that shouldn't happen. 

We were a group of 9 Americans, and fortunately, we all get along very well.  None of us is bilingual, and that makes it tough to have casual conversations and make new friends on the cruise.  Don't get me wrong, everyone we met was friendly and tried to engage in conversation, but it was not easy.

The food was very good, but I'm used to seeing midnight buffets on cruises, and not being nickeled and dimed for every little thing.  My son in law was actually charged 38 cents for a glass of ice that he requested. 

Communication was a challenge.  During disembarkment on the last day of the cruise, no announcements were made in English - only Italian and Spanish.  And, a full 30 minutes past our scheduled disembarkment time, no one had been called to leave - only the excursion people were being addressed.  At that point, we had a plane to catch and simply left on our own, ignoring the schedule. 

The shows were fair at best, with the crew's presentation being the best of them all.  Nightlife was limited by our preferences (Italian karaoke is not my idea of a good time).

In summary, the ports of call were fine, the food was fine, the service was fine.  I would probably seek out a different cruise line that catered more toward my American tastes next time. 

con: food was not so great   Lack variety, at times salty. At dinner you were charged for water and where not offered tea or coffee with dessert.

Pros: great nighttime entertainment.   We enjoyed having a stop at different port almost daily.  Cabin size and cleanness was great.  Staff just ok not overly friendly. It was great meeting so many people from different places that spoke different languages making this a unique experience.

REALMENTE ESTUVO BIEN, DE ACUERDO A LO ESPERADO, SIN EMBARGO LA PARADA EN OSLO FUE MUY TEMPRANO Y CON MUY POCO TEMPO PARA VISITAR UNA CIUDAD QUE OFRECE TANTO. MUY TENDENCIOSO A CONTRATAR LOS TOURS QUE SE OFRECEN AL INTERIOR.

LO MEJOR DE TODO FUE LA ATENCIÓN DE JESS, NUESTRO MESERO A BORDO EN EL DUQUE DE ORLEANS.

Great effort was expended to sell us various beverage packages.  We were told we couldn't even get a glass of water at dinner.  I bought a water package.  Each night after that we were given water with no charge against the package.  Wound up with five extra bottles of water at the end of the week.  Another ruse to get euros out of us.  The food was lousy.  I had a couple of dishes that were OK, but none I considered really good.  Tried the veal belly.  YUK!  All of the beef dishes, including the hamburgers, were poor.  I realize now that I'm spoiled on American beef.  The entertainment was weak, also.  Having cruised with Carnival I expected much more, and found much less.  I heard the same comment from others on the cruise about the unexpected slights from Costa compared to Carnival.  One of the excursions we had looked forward to was cancelled because there was no English speaking guide.  It was a wine and truffle excursion.  The language was not really a barrier, but we were not offered an alternative.  The only high point of my time with Costa was the cabin steward.  He did an excellent job.  I will not cruise Costa again, nor would I recommend it to anyone.

Except for Palma, the ship adds new passengers and debarks others, making chaotic lifeboat drills a daily occurrence. No afternoon naps are possible! As English speakers we were seriously disadvantaged: English tours were cancelled due to lack of participants, yet with a no refund policy we were obliged to take tours in Italian or Spanish. Waste of time, in many cases, and very frustrating and disappointing as we chose this ship's itinerary specifically for its cultural activities.. Wish we'd been warned ahead of time that the cruise was not suitable for English speakers. Felt like outsiders most of the time! Even the admin.agents, restaurant people, and tour desk folks hardly spoke English, and when we tried to communicate our concerns the attitude seemed to be "Get lost."

I start with the good things, very nice cabin, clean, and confortable. Good shows. Staff not friendly at all. Food very poor variety. Service bad. Most of the machines were not working, like to get ice, coffee or water. During the buffet, staff was not cleaning tables. Disrty tables all the time. For breakfast no variety. No milk sometimes, no more buffet after 3pm. only cheesse pizza. Sandwich service, one person making sandwiches taking hours. At the restaurant, you have to ask for water like 5 or 6 times, they don't care. very slow service. People at the reception had no patience. Lack of information in all the ship. You didn't know where to go to exit the ship in every port. TV progrmas not good only news, if you wanted to watch a movie you had to pay $7.50 euros. The adults pool, full of kids, jumping and screaming. I could keep going on and on. Advise, do not book Costa. Princess is number one.

I would not take another Costa cruise. I picked the cruise based on the itinerary and the ports delivered (Bari was a strange stop)but Costa's inefficiency and poor service made the already short times in port even shorter. Communications from the ship seemed lacking and service was mediocre compared to similar cruises I have taken in the past at similar price points on different carriers.

Staff behaved as if you were in the way, and for the most part, didn't seem to care about customer service. There was smoking allowed across almost the entire ship, so it was hard to get a breath of fresh air. Very little pool space considering the number of passengers.

The staff did not seem to know how to manage so many passengers. The focus was on selling additional services and speaking English was a negative.

Nice, new ship. Food was overall good; Ports in Venice, Istambul and Izmir were great. Not sure why they include Bari. Stateroom wasn't clean until after 3pm. We never got sheets for the bed even after asking. Shampoo only on 3rd day, etc. Disrespecteful and awful treatment by guest services staff; dining staff was OK but service was extremely slow. 45 minutes into service and we still didn't have any appetizers... that was for 3 days.

In general we were very pleased with our first cruise and Costa delivered on virtually all its promises. We state above what we liked and didn't like, so won't repeat here. Thank you for a wonderful holiday!

We were all very disappointed with the cruise. Everything was so expensive and everything cost money. This was our first cruise and it was not what we expected. To start, the first picture taking was 40.00 Euros just ridiculous. Then, we tried to purchase the all inclusive package for alcoholic beverages for my boyfriend and I and they told us we needed to have a minimum of 5 and that was an argument. Well, we were only 3 (my boyfriend, my mother and I). Then, they told us that we could do it, however all 3 will have to do it. Well, my mom doesnt drink so only my boyfriend was able to benefit from that offer. Also, we werent aware there is a charge of 7.00 Euros to clean the room per person, that should have all been included in the price of cruise. Internet was 10.00 Euros per hour!!! And the phone was 8.00 per minute. Outraging. Many many times we tried to contact the front desk and they wouldnt pick up the phone. We purchased an excursion in Croatia. The newsletter we receive everyday confirmed no passport was required. After we left the ship, got into the little boats to get to the port, then got in the bus the guide person said we needed passports so half of the bus had to get out, walk on foot to the port, catch the little boats, go to the cruise ship and get our passports. At that time there was so many people on the ship trying to get out the ship actually went to the port and we all went out. That fiasco took over 1.5 hours. Obviously, we missed the excursion and after waiting 20 minutes calling the front desk to make sure they didnt charge that excursion to us, the receptionist said we needed to have the tickets and turn them in. When I told him I didnt know if we still had them he said find them. Luckily we did and turn the in and got reimbursed, however, how the receptionist handle the call was far from professional. In addition, the only discotech was closed several times during the cruise and the first time we we

Loved the boat and spa but the food variety and quality were poor

New ship, great personnel: cabin, dinner crew, course instructors, entertainers