Costa Mediterranea Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Itinerary great, that is why we chose it. But the food, and service fees were HORRIBLE

We won’t select a Costa cruise again. We thought by upgrading our accommodations, the dining, and the beverage package, we’d have a very luxurious time. Far from the experience we actually had.

All in all it was enjoyable. I went to the desk to inquire about a brochure for future cruise. They don’t have them in English. Want coffee at dinner. And they need to include the directions to felliston cruise port in ijmudien. Water is free for Americans at dinner. Shows could be better. But we’re okay. And you have to pay for bathrooms in most cities.

Never again Costa Cruise...Cheap Cruises needs to get more information on the products they sell.

This cruise was ok. The food wasn't that great and I wasn't a fan of how juice was only served at breakfast.

Poor customer service and organization. We were stranded in Hamburg when cruise screwed up bus shuttles back to ship.we were charged for everything from table water to a hotel tax each day. Disappointed with treatment of non-excursion passengers. Money was foremost the theme on this cruise. We love a Royal Carribean and others for how they treated everyone.

The only negative was the total lack of embarkation and "detailed" planning information. This should have been sent to us by Costa and we still never have received it.

I was with two friends. We want to go with a different cruise line when we cruise again. The cruise ports were great, but the cruise itself was somewhat off a disappointment.

Menu diversity was mediocre. Each dinner in the principle dining room was repetitious. Always with an Italian slant. Not good for a ship with multiple nationalities on board and boring for a 10 night cruise.  Garden salads with main course were always the same vegs.,  with very limited salad dressing selections. Optional cheese plate was unappetizing and looked like left-overs from breakfast buffet or prior day offerings.

2. In the buffet afternoon restaurant the very same cheese selections and cold cut appeared relentlessly.

CLUE: GET A NEW COOK BOOK.

3. Upscale premium- charge restaurant had same menu as main dining room but at an extra price.

4. Premium charge - room service breakfast for premium cabins arrived cold, food was badly prepared and orders for husband and wife arrive 25 minutes apart.

5. WiFi reception throughout the ship was unreliable and often failed to work in a timely fashion.

6. Bar tenders poured soft drinks from cans or bottles (10 oz) and served them in smaller glasses (7 oz.)  so they didn't provide the full portion. I asked to have them pour my entire beverage into a larger glass and they refused. Very stingy portion control on soft drinks and worse on alcohol, despite "all-you-could-drink" high cost drink packages.

7. On board television had only 1 channel consistently in English ( sometimes MS-NBC), but 5 channels were dedicated to Costa-only channels. Many more channels were provided in French or Italian. None in German or Spanish.

8. Ship lacked any source where you could purchase  small toiletries like: mouth wash, antiperspirant, hair spray, cough drops, aspirin, antiacids, camera batteries, OTC medicine,

9. On Costa provided shuttle buses into town, drivers did not speak any English and could not tell people where they were being dropped off, so it was difficult to find the bus stop at the end of the day to return to the ship.

Everything was as we imagined it would be on the Costa Mediterranean! The food was excellent and the staff very warm, knowledgable and attentive to every detail.

Our trip was "smooth sailing" and we returned home refreshed.   I would definitely recommend this cruise to friends!

Operationally, the cruise was excellent. Always punctual, and the ship is kept very clean. Our cabin was a very nice rear facing balcony with good closet space. Food wise, pasta and appetizers were always good, but proteins were not. The only proteins we enjoyed were the extra cost burgers and the duck on gala night. Fish seemed to taste "fishy". We ate in the club restaurant one night, service was outstanding, but the filet had an off taste. It was however cooked a perfect medium rare. Salads on the buffet were very good. Piu gusto drink package was a great value. Wines were good, as were cocktails. Espresso every bit as good as on land in Italy. Entertainment staff keeps things fun. The white party was the best I've seen at sea. Shows were below average for a cruise as were lounge entertainers.  One nice touch, they had an English speaking (from England) customer service rep who always asked how things were going and genuinely seemed to care. Would I take Costa again? For the right itinerary at the right price, sure. All Cruise lines have their pros and cons--Costa's strong points are fun, pasta, and espresso in my opinion.

Cruise was ok....good value for price. 

We had a balcony room. Very large and bathtub was a jet tub. It also has

d plenty of. Losers and a makeup area. I think the rooms were very nice. 

Cabin service was just ok. At the beginning of the cruise we asked that an ice bucket full of ice be placed in our room every day. Only happened 3 days out of the 7. Room was kept clean. It was only my husband and myself so we didn't cause much mess. 

Food was ok. Better than NCL. Nothing fabulous though....but plenty of healthy options. 

We ate at both main dining and buffet. 

We liked that we were never bombarded by pushy waitstaff trying to up-sell. What a pleasure!

All in all a good cruise....like I said. Excellent value. 

The only thing I did not like about this cruise was the "Open sitting" policy. It was a mess, everybody going to dinner at the same time and being turned around because the dining room was full and told to come an hour later. I only had dinner at the restaurant one time, the rest of the days I went to the buffet. Apparently it is an "experiment". I hope they don't do it with all the ships.

Itinerary was good with the exception of Olympia.  Vibration from the ship's engines made it difficult to sleep or eat at night.  No 24 coffee pastry shop on board.  Tours experienced long delays which left little time for sightseeing. Many passport delays in ports and even disembarking the ship at the end of the cruise

This was the first cruise I've ever done, but have traveled extensively, including in the Adriatic.  

- I was disappointed by the amount of time we had in several ports.  4-5 hours in Dubrovnik and Kotor?  The Olympia tour was extremely underwhelming.  Many people complained about not being able to go to the museum, so that should be highlighted as an exclusion.

- Also, pretty screwed up that you can book the tours at the last minute on the dock for way less than those who prepared in advance paid. 

- travelling alongside other ships created extreme overcrowding in ports.  Split streets were barely navigable. 

- I intentionally booked an Italian cruise line expecting fabulous food.  This was also incredibly disappointing.  I had one dish that would pass as good, and nothing above that.  Finally stopped going to the nightly dinners because it was not worth my time to sit and eat mediocre food for 2 hours.  Not even fresh pasta?  I always seek out several gourmet meals when traveling, so was really shocked at the quality of food and lack of flavor.  

- Overcrowded...  Realize as an American we are at a disadvantage in a culture where pushing, shoving, and skipping in lines is normal.  I also heard several European and South African guests complaining about the aggressiveness of other guests, uncontrolled children, inability to get a seat at buffet dinners, even on the pool decks, etc.  An elderly South African family said they would only do an American cruise line in the future because of the crowding and being pushed and shoved around so much. 

- Timing of food?  Again understand this is cultural and some cultures eat much earlier than others, but not having food available in the late afternoons, besides what you have to pay in addition for, was annoying.  After coming back from spending hours walking or sunbathing, it would have been nice to be able to get a bite to eat.  

- Paid food - the crepes were barely edible. 

- Cost of minibar in room was exorbitant, especially if one had paid for a drink package.  Not being able to go somewhere and pick up water or soda for the cabin (besides when in port and paying for it) is pretty stupid. 

- Just really really overcrowded.  Could barely get through certain areas.  1/2 the elevators were out at any given time, creating long lines and competition to get on an elevator.  

- I am a 40-something single and placed with elderly women at dinner, along with families.  In such a situation, language is not as important as age and life situation.  

- Never imagined I'd have to set my alarm every day on vacation.  That was quite a surprise.

I loved my cabin and deck - and paid greatly for it.  My cabin steward Maria was amazing!

This was my husband and I's first international cruise. We took a chance booking with COSTA as we had never heard of the cruise line. The cruise turned out to be perfect! Costa provided excellent customer service. The food in the restaurant was awesome and excellent options. I loved the desserts! The buffet was okay. It was a little too crowded and guest had difficulty in understanding the concept of lines. The ship was very clean. Our room had a balcony in which we were upgraded to and it was perfect for relaxing  before bed. We took part in three excursions provided by the ship and they were full of wonderful insight and information into each port. They were a little rushed, as allot of the ports were. Overall our experience with Costa was excellent and I would recommend the cruise line to friends and family. I only have one negative comment and that was the last port of Dubrovnik was way to short for such a beautiful place. I felt the stops in the port could have been longer or maybe cut out the Trieste stop. Other than that everything was thumbs up! Looking forward to our next cruise with Costa!

This has to go down as the worst cruise liner possible.

The food was inedible -- they could not even do scrambled eggs or pasta properly. Everything was frozen though we were sailing through the Adriatic where great fish is available in every port.

They charged for everything that was remotely edible and even things like pizza and gelato had to be paid for.

Most of the service staff were incompetent and grouchy (with some exception).

The salon/ spa was a rip off operation only to sell you additional products. Had the WORST blow dry of my life. The guy did not know that one takes a few strands and pulls them straight. He just pulled my hair under the dryer.

I would never recommend this cruise for numerous reasons. They treat English speaking people with disrespect. They have outdated décor including old pillows, towels, etc. Always late and they change times without notice of everything. Requested two things on this trip......twin beds and special meal....both took too much time to get finalized. Very unorganized, very............ Continental breakfast every morning as no meals were served fresh. Fruit was not ripe. Frozen most of time. Staff..........well so disappointed. Never smiled!! Announcements were in Italian always first then sometimes we never knew if English coming and never does. Cared only for themselves as never opened or held door open while trying to come thru at same time. Never said thanks for coming as left or gave any verbage last day at all. Charged enourmous fee for transportation when docking was too far to walk. Never free shuttle. So much more!!!!!

Nice ports! Trieste, Croatia and Montenegro are the best! Greece did not meet my expectations and much lower level than other countries! Trieste - take bus 6 or 36 to the palace - beautiful views - grab your bathing suit! Split - spent few hours on the beach right across from port and then walked around city - try their pita pastries - yum! Kotor, Montenegro - went up the mountain - definitely worth it even if you can only make it half way up the mountain! Kotokolon Olympia - took local tour bus - very dirty ride - garbage collectors had a strike so roads were covered with trash - went around Olympia, did not go inside as we didn't have enough time - if you take local tour bus, make sure you have at least 3-4 hours for the tour. Corfu, Greece - was way better than Katakolon - took open bus around the city - worth it for a quick ride - have lunch on the hill next to the airport, planes land few hundred feet from you! Dubrovnik, Croatia - go inside the fort - beautiful views! Venice - we stayed 1 day before at Una Hotel - $300 and 3 days after the Cruise at Friendly Venice Suites - same quality $140. For me Venice is only worth couple days unless you are fascinated with history of architecture - you get the feel of Venice in 1 night and 2 days - too many tourists during the day. If you stay closer to San Marco - you'll encounter more tourists, the further away - less. Everything starts to calm down after 7 pm and it becomes physible to walk the streets. we took gandola ride for 80 euros and split it half way with strangers - it was 3 of us and 2 of them. 80 euros is standard before 7pm, after 7 pm - its 100 euros. 

Ship provided very little information about ports, except in the form of the excursion descriptions, so definitely do your homework, which I didn't, so we had to find Tourist Info at every port and buy a map and we still had good time!

Definitely worth getting up an hour or two earlier and watching ship getting into the ports in Montenegro and Croatia. We had a balcony so it made it easier. I feel like Costa chooses to go between islands as an addition to the itinerary rater than going straight to the port. These views can only be see from the 11 story ship! We did all excursions on our own. 

Food was good (buffet had a limited selection) but i wasn't going there for the food. Service in the main restaurant was very quick - considering the amount of customers and dishes for each customer. We were finished with our 4-5 course dinner in 1-1.5 hours every night. I think 4th and 6th day had a great surprise performances from the waiters and we danced around the restaurant with our waiter.

The only complain was no ATM on the ship and request to register Credit Card on the Costa account, which I don't own, so we had to wait till the next day to even buy water until we got of the ship and got cash from ATM ashore to put on the Cruise account, only later to find out that Costa was able to use Bank of America debit card  as a credit card. Never been on the ship with no ATM...

Overall - great times.

My daughter participated in Voice of the Sea  competition and was finalist in Tu Que Vales (Italian version of Americas Got Talent)- we got to spend time backstage - great addition to the trip experience.

Don't forget your white clothes for the White night! And definitely attend White Night party - very fun! Same as any events with Animation Team.Great Animation Entertainment Team on the ship! 

Great Great Time!

The cruise was great, the tours while a little pricey were ok. Each tour was run by local tour subcontractors, some were excellent, and others were so-so.

The food started to become monotonous towards the last three days, and some of the main dishes were inedible to me, (Maybe I have bad taste?), and went down to the buffet to eat. The big problem was a monotonous menu.

You would think when traveling to a countries   port, they would have picked up on the obvious to serve a few local dishes from the country visiting.

However, I would give 5 stars to the crew, and staff. They were amazing.