I have been in several cruises: Royal Carribean, NCL, Celebrity, Carnival. This was our 1st European cruise. Overall, we were quite disappointed as the visits to most of the port of calls were short, the excursions catered to people who didn't have mobility problems. It would have been nice to have excursions with little physical activities to accomodate all guests.
As an African American couple, we felt disrespected quite often. For example, we walked in one of the shops and the clerks continued to follow me around. I am quite blessed to have the resources to pay for this cruise and I was well able to buy anything in any of the shops. Costa could benefit from cultural diversity training.
I do not plan on cruising with Costa in the future and would not recommend this cruise line.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
It was very congested in getting our room information. You could not hear the numbers being called. It would have been nice if they had a specific line for each group. ( A screen showing the group number would have been good and reduced the confusion).
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
I did not like the assigned seating and preferred free style dining. There were no specialty restaurants. My husband and I had to share dinner with people who didn't want to even talk with us. One couple sat at another table the next time we ate in the dining room. We elected not to go back to the dining room and ate at the buffet during the remaining duration of the cruise.
I felt Costa nickled and dimed their guest. Things such as ice cream, pizza on other cruise lines were free. The prices for a can of soda ($3.40 was ridiculous. Although other ships charged for sodas, juices were free.
The eating facilities did not stay open late. There was no where to get snacks after a show. Other cruise lines would stay open till 12:00 am.
The food was okay (usually cold). There usually was no ice in the machines.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
I would like to have more free exercise classes such as Zumba. There should be more activities for people who don't drink or gamble such as movies in the theater.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
I like the shows, particularly Vic Vicus, Voice, and the crew talent show. There needed to be more variety of entertainment such as circus cerle instead of a lot of singing.
Children's Programs
No children
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Cabin Steward- Mary Ann was our steward (cabin 8230). She did an outstanding job and made sure our room was to our satisfaction. She was a hard worker.
Ice Cream Clerk- I am an African American and when I went to the counter, the clerk immediately asked for my costa card before asking what I wanted. The previous customer was a white male and he got ice cream for his daughter and then he gave his card.
Dining Room Waiter- We were the only African Americans at our table. The waiter would ask the other guests what they wanted to drink but did not ask us. The next time we ate, he did it again and my husband had to tell him we wanted drinks.
English Speaking Guide (Hannah)- She did an excellent job of communicating with the English speaking guests. Her instructions were clear. She provided insights for us regarding the excursions. She is to be commended. (See the disembarkation for further comments about Hannah).
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship was nice and clean. The bathrooms were very clean. The gym was very nice and had a variety of equipment
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Our cabin was nice. I enjoyed the balcony. Our cabin steward (Mary Ann) did an outstanding job cleaning our room. We usually were in for the night after the show and Mary Ann always had our room turned down after we returned from dinner. She is to be commended. My husband and I spoke only English and it would have been nice if we had more English speaking channels on TV (there 2 and 1 was always news)
We enjoyed this port but it was very congested. We took a shuttle from the ship to the city but there was alot of confusion on where to get the bus to take us back to the ship. We did not do any excursions.
We paid for transfers to pick us up to/from the airport to cruise ship. On the day of disembarkation, we were put in the light blue group which did not leave until 11:30am. The problem was that our flight from Venice to Phildelphia left at 12:15pm. We explained this to several staff and they didn't care and one person even blamed us for the dilemena. I asked several times to speak with Hannah (English Speaking guide) and they finally got her. When Hannah arrived, I explained the situation and she immediatley took charge of the situation. She made it clear to the other staff that we needed to get our flight. Hannah personally went to locate our luggage (she did find) and brought them to them to us and walked us to the bus that was suppose to leave at 9:30 am. We were able to make our flight with little time to spare.
While I do not give a hight rating overall for disembarkation, we feel that Hanah did an outstanding job of displaying excellent customer service. She is to be highly commended for her services. We would not have made our flight if it was not for Hannah. PLEASE SHARE OUR SENTIMENTS WITH HER!!!!
Then you probably would not enjoy the MSC line as we ran into some issues with access for those with physical limitations. We're both Navy Veterans and spent years in Spain so we adapted to what many in our group called rude behaviors of both 4,200+ passengers and 1500+ crew. The Divina was just over crowded, imho. We'll go back to Carnival, a truly American family oriented cruise line by contrast
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