Costa Mediterranea Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Costa cruises is not custumer oriented anymore. I had traverled with Costa Cruises in a distant past and they were great. This year I had travelmtwice with them but, it will be very difficult for they to have me back as a customer. They are not customer oriented and they could care less about your experimeces or solving your difficulties.

Overall a great experience and very friendly staff. I would prefer a little more free time on excursions as we felt very rushed.

BE PREPARED TO CRUISE ITALIAN STYLE COSTA MEDITERRANEAN IS OLD BUT GOOD SHIP FOOD MAINLY ITALIAN

This cruise was a small experiment, a first time cruise with our 2yo son. The first night we had much wind and rain, but we all hat no problems with the waves.

The ports of call very good especially Beni Yas Island staff tried hard but management organisation let them down. Drinks expensive and having to pay for water at dinner table is out of order !!

I would never recommend this cruise to anyone.  Worst experience ever.  For Costa Cruises the customer does not count.  It is all about making money for the company.  We were not assisted by the crew when we faced a serious problem while disembarking in Corfu.  We were left alone and got home after a 12 hours trip sick and tired.  It s not what you expect from a cruise !!

First I would like to say I called the Costa Cruise line several times prior to booking to be sure, that as a Orthopedic, Chronic Pain and Cardiac Handicapped person, I could get from where the ship docks to the front of the port.  They assured me .....no problem they supply intraport buses.  When I got to Olympia, Greece. I disimbarked and asked where to wait for the port transport.  "sit right there, they come every 20-30 minutes"  and 1 hour and 45 minutes.later, I made my way back to where I disembarked and asked the employee at that station a tall man from India (name tag), when and where were the buses.   He looked me up and down, "you look like you could use a walk, it is 2 kilometers to the front of the port".  I was in shorts. My long scars on both legs, the 1 inch shorter left leg were visible. He couldn't see the heart failure which wasn't well controlled by medications in a situation where there is uncontrolled salt in the food and this particular heart failure is best treated by transplant which I don't want to do.  My legs were swollen, I was obviously diaphoretic and short of breath.  Who was he to tell me "you could use a walk'. I missed this port entirely.  I swam instead in the ship pool, grateful not to have body to body contact as usually happened after 9am.  Hot water, Tea and Coffee were only available at Breakfast and 'Tea Time" unless you purchased a special beverage package for Hot Water.  What a stupid issue to anger the passengers over......the hot water is a by product of the engines being on, which they always were.  Food was terrible and took 2 hours and 30 minutes most nights in the main dining.  The Sugar Free dessert option were Excellent on a consistent basis. Those Chefs should really write a Diabetic Dessert Cookbook. We asked several times if we get in and out in an hour.....we were told to go to the buffett. But I can't carry plates and walk as I need to steady myself on something.  The cabin was quite worn. Light switches had gouges out of it exposing what looked like cork.  The balcony was rusted in many areas with the metal separating. I was afraid. Entertainment.  The Acrobats and Magician were really good.  The Costa Cruise dancers and 2 singers that performed the other nights were okay if it was 1 performance. They did the same hip hop dance style every night just in different costumes.  I have been on 25 cruises........this is probably the worst service. The best part was the 7 ports of call, though once you got there Split Croatia an  improvished port hat didn't have anything to offer, other than a bus rides viewing hanging laundry. It was also Easter.  I was hoping for a Sunrise service. The only services were for Catholics and they were at Midnight and 5 pm on Easter Day.  They have an option to send 1 email at 20 cents Euro/ minute.  What they didn't tell  you was that it took 16 minutes to send a 1 paragraph email and though we asked several times first if there were any other charges they billed  a $6. nondisclosed registration fee.  I took the Internet brochure to the front desk and showed them there was no disclosure about this $6. registration fee.  The guy said too bad you have to pay it. It cost $9. to send a 1 paragraph email.  It would have been better to wait for a port with a McDonalds and buy coffee and send from there. 

Disappointed in room with balcony;  no view when you sit;  "rescue boat"? spoiled the view!

No sign of a SA flag;  there were more than 50 passengers from South Africa;  and no flag to represent us!

Water very expensive!

Très belle croisière. Bateau un peu petit pas beaucoup d activité mais belle animation

My husband & I have taken 20+cruises on many cruise lines & this was by far the WORST CRUISE EVER!  We had booked an UNOBSTRUCTED balcony cabin & got and OBSTRUCTED cabin.  When I called the company & the cruise line about this, they both agreed that I had booked unobstructed & that the agent I was working with knew she booked an obstructed cabin...bait & switch!  They would nor change my cabin, unless I paid an additional $350.00, and it was their fault!  All they would do was give a $50.00 on board credit!  Not much compensation.  The cabins were the smallest of any ship we have ever been on.  Not enough space to store luggage.  Barely enough room to walk on the side of the bed near the balcony - I am only 4'11" & weigh 115lbs. & it was hard for me to fit!  There was just a shower, no tub.  No handrail in shower.  Only space for a bar of soap - not room for shampoo, razor, etc.  The lip on the shower was very small & the shower curtain not long enough, so water got all over the floor & had to be wiped up with a towel.  Wash clothes were not provided - had to ask for them - repeatedly!  Shampoo, conditioner, lotion & shower caps not provided - had to ask for them.  They were always provided on our other cruises .  Ice was not automatically provided in cabin - had to ask for it.  No electrical outlet near bed for clock or medical equipment (cpap).  Had to stretch extension cord across the room on the floor to outlet - very dangerous.  Had to pay $4.00 for a glass of iced tea, no refills - outrageous!  Water, milk, juice & hot tea were free - not iced tea - don't get it!  These were always free on all other cruises. If not from US, had to pay for water at dinner - unheard of!  No brewed decaf coffee in dining room at dinner - only instant!  There were bones in the Salmon & Sea Bass - inexcusable!  The mussels were so salty you couldn't eat them.  Chicken was tough you couldn't cut it!  Food portions for dinner were skimpy at best.  Food went from being totally bland to over seasoned with sat.  Rancid walnuts in dining room at breakfast!  They were told about this 4 times & they did nothing & still served them.  Ran out of Caesar dressing in buffet at lunch - took 20 min. to refill.  There was no where to get a snack after 6:30 pm - the buffet closed at 6:30 even though it was stated it was open until 12 midnight, unless you wanted pizza, which you had to pay for!  Most of the time the ice machines in the buffet were not working - had coolers with ice in them - not very sanitary!  Soft serve machines were not working most of the time  We ordered Diet Coke & were told they only have Pepsi products.  Later we saw people drinking Diet Coke!  We ordered again & were told the same thing - don't have it.  We told them we saw people drinking it & were told they must have brought it with them!  So, amazingly, they found some!  They like to lie!  One day, none of the elevators were working on the entire ship for over 1 hour, so you had to walk up or down the stairs - inexcusable for handicapped people! They said they were doing maintenance.  They should have shut down one bank of elevators at a time, but that would require consideration for the passengers!  I booked my tours 9 months ahead of time.  The tickets were in our cabin.  We gathered for our first tour & were told we had the wrong tickets.  They gave us Italian speaking tours, not English!  They wouldn't let us go & had to change all future tours.  This was their fault, not mine!  They should put the times of tours online so you know if you want go at that time.  Some were way to early 8:15 am!  There were only 2 shows in the theater that were good.  The rest were terrible - like high school musicals!  Most of the crew spoke very little English & was very hard to communicate with them.  I WOULD NEVER, EVER RECOMMEND THIS CRUISE LINE!  THE WORST WE HAVE EVER BEEN ON!!  A ROW BOAT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER!!

First let us say, we have cruised 3 other times within the past couple years and travel often. We seldom have issues and always make the best of our holidays. My understanding is this is the first year Costa was offering cruises in the Caribbean. If this is correct then they did not do their due diligence regarding what North Americans like on a Caribbean cruise. They did not have open dining which we have become accustom too. You had to either dine at 6:30 or 9:00 pm in the dining room. They close the buffet at 3pm and the last place you can eat on the ship during the day closes at 5pm. If you want to eat after this, you must go to the dining room. There is a buffet afterward at 9 pm but you have to pay for this. (Yes  - I did say you had to pay for the 9:00 pm buffet - by the way its pizza). If you buy (which we didn't) the all inclusive drink package - be aware that if you buy this  - your cabin mate will also be charged for it (whether they drink or not - this will cost you $344 ea.). When we arrived to board the ship no was very helpful (good thing we've cruised before). They were quick at getting our luggage to our room and our room Steward was great and very friendly. The rest of the staff, well lets just say everyone seemed to be either scared to smile or they don't like their job or its a European thing -  No one smiles or seems happy. We did a 10 day cruise and the ports were great. Two were tendered and there were no issues when going ashore or coming back. We did not do the ship tours as we feel these are always overpriced as well the small print noted that if your tour was cancelled due to weather, it appeared you would not get your money back but would be given the option of taking another tour through the cruise ship that wasn't cancelled. BE AWARE - the wifi on this cruise ship is very, very slow. We found the logout info provided did not work well and had to back track to the original portal (where you sign in) to actually sign out properly. When inquiring about the time we were on the internet we found they were charging us for 35 minutes of time but we only sent 2 emails and kept track of the actual time we felt we were on the internet. They credited us 10 minutes when we talked to them about their wifi system. FYI - turns out only one of our emails actually went (we found this out when we got back home - although onboard it showed they both went). The dinners were okay. We've definitely had better on other cruise lines. A couple of the evenings were entertaining at dinner but the food seemed unimpressive. Staff in the dining area were okay as well, but nothing stood out as being fabulous or impressive. Entertainment was also somewhat disappointing. We did go see a couple of the shows but again nothing was outstanding or worth spending the hour watching. I will say that on deck there were always lots of areas to get sunshine and there were ample loungers available. We did enjoy the length of the cruise and it was worth what we paid (although we did get a really, really good deal). If we had paid full price for this cruise, we would have been disappointed. Would we ever cruise with Costa again - NO. Everyone we talked to during our cruise that was from North America (US and Canada) all agreed that this Cruise line needs to review their approach to the North American Market (they really missed the mark). The cruise itself was fine - it was all the little annoying, misstep details that seemed to continually intrude into the day to day on the ship. 

I HAVE BEEN ON OVER 20 CRUISES, AND THIS IS THE VERY WORST I HAVE EXPERIENCED! YOU MUST LISTEN TO 6 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES FOR EVERY ANNOUNCEMENT...VERY IRRITATING.

FOOD IS NOT BAD...IF YOU CAN GET ANY. THEY CLOSE DOWN BUFFET LINES STARTING AT 9:20AM AT BREAKFAST...THEN CLOSE ALL LINES AT 10AM!! THIS IS A VACATION, NOT A MILITARY BOOT CAMP. YOU CAN'T GET ANY FOOD UNTIL LUNCH, IF YOU SLEEP LATE!

SAME FOR LUNCH...THEY START CLOSING DOWN AT LINES AT 2:30PM...AND ALL LINES BY 3:30PM! THEN, YOU CAN'T GET ANY FOOD UNTIL DINNER.

STRANGE DINNER TIMES, TOO. 1ST SEATING IS AT 6:30PM, AND 2ND IS AT 9:00PM....HUH.....9:00PM??? YEP, 9:00PM.

YOU CAN'T GET ANY FOOD AFTER DINNER...UNLESS YOU WANT TO PAY EXTRA...$8 FOR PIZZA AND SALAD.

OH YEAH, YOU DON'T GET ANY WATER UNLESS YOU HAVE PREPAID FOR IT...IT MUST BE LISTED ON YOUR SHIPS CARD....ABSOLUTELY NO TAP WATER IS SERVED...ONLY BOTTLED WATER. ALSO, TRY TO GET WATER AFTER DINNER AND YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR IT! MY FRIEND ORDERED A CUP OF HOT WATER...SHE HAD HER OWN TEA BAG, AFTER DINNER, AND WAS CHARGED $6 FOR IT!

NO DINNER BUFFET AT ALL, AND NO MIDNIGHT BUFFET. NO PLACE TO GET FOOD AFTER DINNER AT ALL! AND IF YOU CHOSE NOT TO EAT IN THE DINING ROOM THEN THERE WAS NOWHERE ELSE TO EAT…UNLESS YOU WANTED TO PAY FOR PIZZA AND SALAD!

OUR WAITERS (2 FEMALES) DEFINATELY HAD ATTITUDES. WHEN WE ASKED FOR MORE BUTTER THEY SEEMED AGGRAVATED, AND ONLY BOUGHT US 2 MORE PATS AT A TIME! THIS WENT ON EVERY NIGHT!  AT ONE POINT, ONE OF THEM HAD A VERBAL ARGUMENT WITH ME OVER WHAT I ORDERED FOR MY MAIN COURSE. I NEVER HAD ANY ARGUMENT WITH ANY WAITER, SO THIS WAS A FIRST.

TV IN THE CABIN ONLY HAD 3 US CHANNELS, AND THEY WERE MOSTLY BREAKING UP AND UNWATCHABLE. ALSO, YOU CANNOT CHECK OUT YOUR BILL ON A DAILY BASIS LIKE YOU CAN ON THE OTHER CRUISE SHIPS, SO YOU HAVE TO GO AND WAIT ON LINE AT GUEST RELATIONS FOR A HARD COPY….WHAT AN INCONVENIENCE!

THE SHOWS, EXCEPT FOR 3 OF THEM (OUT OF 12 DAYS), WERE HORRIBLE, AND AMATURISH....VIDEOS OF STING SINGING (15 YEARS AGO), AND AN OLD RAY CHARLES VIDEO....BOTH WERE ONE NIGHT’S ENTERTAINMENT EACH…THAT'S NOT ENTERTAINMENT IN MY BOOK. OTHER SHOWS WERE JUST TERRIBLE....THE LEAD SINGERS (MALE AND FEMALE) WERE NOT THAT GOOD, AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN BACKGROUND SINGERS ONLY...NOT LEAD SINGERS! ACROBATS WERE NOT THAT GOOD, AND A COUPLE OF TIMES IT LOOKED AS THOUGH THE GUY MIGHT DROP THE GIRL…HIS ARMS VERE SHAKING SO VIOLENTLY. THE MAGICIAN WAS GOOD, BUT ONLY A 35 MINUTE SHOW….WHAT’S UP WITH THAT??

MUSIC IN THE VARIOUS CLUBS WAS GOOD. NICE MUSICAL SELECTIONS, AND GOOD ARTISTS.

ABSOLUTELY NO DECK CHAIRS ON DECK 3....WHERE WE LIKE TO SIT AND READ. NO CHAIRS ON ANY OF THE DECKS.

EXCEPT FOR ST MARTIN AND ST KITTS; THE REST OF THE ITINERARY WAS A WASTE....ANTIQUA, GUADELOUPE, SAMANA, AND THE REST.....I GUESS THEY MIGHT BE OK IF YOU ARE DOING AN EXCURSION, BUT WE ONLY WANTED TO GO SHOPPING....FORGET IT...WHAT DUMPS!

UPON CHECKING OUTAT THE END OF THE CRUISE, THE GIRL AT THE GUEST RELATIONS DESK WAS VERY SHORT WITH ME ABOUT MY QUESTION, AND IT WAS OBVIOUS TO ME THAT SHE DIDN'T WANT TO BE BOTHERED TALKING TO ME.

EUROPEANS DON'T SEEM TO CARE ABOUT THESE AFOREMENTIONED THINGS, BUT UPON TALKING TO OVER 30 AMERICANS...THEY HAD THE SAME COMPLAINTS AS WE DID.

DON'T BE ,(AS WE WERE), DECEIVED BY THE LOW PRICES...YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR... AND $1800 FOR 2 PEOPLE FOR A 12 DAY CRUISE STOPPING AT 8 PORTS OF CALL... WITH BALCONY... SEEMED LIKE A GOOD DEAL...UNTIL WE COULDN'T WAIT TO GET OFF THE SHIP!

I KNOW I'M FORGETTING SOMETHING, BUT BEWARE....THIS IS NOT A GREAT LINE/SHIP IF YOU ARE AN AMERICAN.

Anywhere, anytime when we met employees, they always smiled at us and said hello; that was the first time on our 17 cruises on 6 differents cruise lines on the past 6 years that we encountered such kindness.

It was the first time we booked a suite #6331 and the balcony worth the difference in price. Of course the cabin itself is much larger.

Quality and selection of food was poor, first gala night, we took roastbeef and it came in with ''corn on the cob'' burned and tiny potato, One of ours was 75% fat. All 6 of us could not believe what they served us. Another evening tuna was hard as rubber. And don't try to go on 9th. floor buffet after 6pm, it is closed. There is only a pizza and dessert bar open but it cost you $8.00

This was our worst experience ar sea.

The ship was very nice and the staff was outstanding.  The food was excellent.  The shows were very good but they were not long enough.  We thought some of them could have been combined.  Most of the shows ran 30 to 45 minutes, we prefer 60 to 75 minutes.  The activities are geared for late night and there are relatively few activities that are normally seen on other cruise lines during the day, ie card and board games.

we were happy with our balcony upgrade.Room service was excellent William met all our needs . Meals were good restaurant service excellent a bit slow at times.Buffets were ok but too regimented at times.     no ice tea and icecream machine was closed at 4:oo .Snacks were ok.Shows were good , average when compared to other cruises.Excursions were over priced and did not follow the itinerary.One was cancelled and the other missed the whale musiuminin Samata. We quit using them.Ship activities on sea days were too commercial and not entertaining.                                                                                                                                                                                                     for example MSC has lectures on the history and what to see in ports, also science and art lectures. Costa should provide more us tv stations.   costa needs to appeal more to us passengers who travel the carribean.Staff was more in tune by end of cruise learning on the job?  Ship should inform passendgers about exit options at ports.We had limited mobility and were not informed about the easy on-off A ramp! Finally when we disembarked in Miami there was no porter service and it took us 3hrs to get off, not a good way to remember a cruise.

don't cruise with Costa

It is a unique experience to cruise the Caribbean under the EU flag. People are interested on quality of food rather than quantity. There are no drunken parties in the pools. Everything is classy. Great variety of ports of call. Excellent entertainment on oard.

Our first experience on Costa Cruise line was not one we would want to repeat.  The ship was run efficiently but their "no frills" philosophy is just not for us.  Until we discovered the order driven dining room on Deck 2 for breakfast and lunch, we were really miserable.  The dining area on Deck 9 was like being herded in like cows.  The employees were not the least friendly or helpful.  And, to see that there were always at least two waiters in each area who could not even refill your coffee cup or aid you in any way except to hurriedly clear the tables for other poor souls.

The food itself was unimpressive.  We always had a difficult time finding anything we could enjoy eating.  It became a matter of centering in on that one thing (often times it was the hard dinner rolls) to satisfy our hungry stomachs.  The evening meals were not appealing either, and that should be the time you feel most pampered and indulged.  We could not even be served coffee with our desserts.  Talk about "no frills." 

We have been on a number of cruises with various cruise lines so we are not beginners in these experiences.  Usually on "days at sea,"  we get the option to have breakfast brought to our cabins free of charge. 

It would have been helpful to know that we were going to be in the minority as far as being English speaking was concerned.  My husband and I just sat alone for every evening meal with no one near us who could speak English.  Surely they could have made more of an effort to seat us with others who spoke our language. 

On a positive note, we would like to compliment some of your staff.  The first being our cabin steward, Edgar Villas.  He was excellent in attending to our needs and quick to respond to any request.   The "front desk personnel were very helpful in making the arrangements with the airlines to locate our luggage which was 6 days late.  I wish I could think of the young woman's name.  She was one of the more mature young ladies, and she had beautiful "dreamy-like" eyes.   We believe she was in a supervisory position.  A couple of the younger front desk girls were not helpful and were very snippy with us.

Another positive experience was in the infirmary where my wife had to spend several hours due to a touch of seasickness.  Both the doctor and his assistants were very caring and very competent so we do appreciate that and know that is an extremely important service.

We were luck enough to get a free upgrade to aft balcony and €50obc, we really enjoyed this ship and can't really find any faults, there were plenty of shelves in the bathroom

Good cruise