Great destinations but the experiences on board the ship were lacking
Costa Magica Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean
7 Night Greece & Adriatic (Venice Roundtrip)
Sail date: May 13, 2013
Ship: Costa Magica
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 6230
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 11 years ago
Review summary
We chose this cruise because of the destinations and they were great. However, the on-board experience was not up to the standards of other cruise experiences we've had. Our balcony room was great and our cabin steward did a very nice job as did our servers in the dining room. Communications were not good - for example, we didn't get the message about needing to get our passports before arriving at Dubrovnik in a timely manner and found our about it by word of mouth at dinner. We were in our room until 6:30 pm when we went to dinner and had not received the sheet stating that we needed to pick them up between 6pm and 8pm. We were told by our tablemates at 7:45pm that if we didn't get our passports by 8pm, we would not be able to go ashore at Dubrovnik. We left our food to run to the 5th floor to get them. A crew member at the elevator told us to go to the 3rd floor so we went there and there we were told to go to the 5th floor after all. We got there right before 8pm and then were told we could get them later if we'd missed that deadline. The information sheet was in our room when we got back after dinner. Why wasn't that listed in the Today program from the night before? Staff did not greet us with smiles and warm greetings anytime we encountered them throughout the ship as we've become accustomed to with other cruise lines. They typically just ignored us and continued on with their own conversations. In fact, at Santorini, staff members were rude to us as we were getting ready to board the tender. The food was okay but not great like the food we've had on other ships. There weren't any activities that interested us on board the ship before or after shore excursions. No wine tastings or lecture series (although I know that would be difficult with all the languages being spoken) or dance lessons except during the day while we were off the ship. As people from the US, we found very few English speaking people and felt that this cruise line is really not really there for English speaking guests.Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Lido is the only place on the ship that you can get breakfast that is similar to what we eat for breakfast in the US.