Costa Mediterranea Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The ports of call were very interesting and pleasant. Unfortunately thats where it ends. The food was very salty. The service desks always had long lines. The organization at each disembarkation was substandard, particularly at the end. They did not prioritize for guests who had flights to catch, did not provide for an orderly queueing at the exit, did not intervene when near riots occurred when some guests tried to cut the line. Overall not worth it.

Daily shore excursions were a plus. Tours offered were good very good with tour guides very knowlegeable and very informative, good value for price.Ship evening entertainment was very good.However there was a complete lack of information about the ports in relation to the cities visited,..unless you booked a tour you were completely blind about where to go, what to look for, etc.

cabin was good but towels were very worn and no wash cloths were provided.

Food aboard ship was very pedestrian versus other cruises we have taken. Everythting was extra cost,...ie; coffee, soft drinks except at breakfast.Food quality was not what was expected.

....seems equivalent to Carnival low cost cruises, lacks a bit of class.

This was our first cruise (a middle-aged US couple) and we didn't always know what to expect but definitely enjoyed the experience and we were 'sold' on cruising by this experience. The destinations were great -- Corfu for example is not the sort of place we would have gone to on our own, but we went because it was on the itinerary and absolutely loved it. The ship was wonderful, the food was excellent, and the experience of being at sea was amazing.

HOWEVER! There were two serious negatives to the cruise experience, both of which were entirely Costa's responsibility. The service in the main dining room was ridiculously slow (45 minutes to get our first course, and we were always offered bread but never butter, which was weird). The byzantine complexity of the beverage policy was constantly frustrating; we had a non-alcoholic package but the business of having to sign for each and every drink, and not being able to order water (!) was crazy. I know this is how cruising works but that doesn't make it any less stupid.

Worst of all was our experience with Costa's excursions department. We signed up for one excursion, the bus tour of Montenegro from Kotor, and it was a disaster. We were promised a four hour tour (giving us one hour to explore Kotor itself) which included the old capital of Cetinje. Those were the two things we went there to see -- Kotor and Cetinje. Instead, the tour took four hours and didn't include either Kotor or Cetinje. (Trying to prove us wrong, the tour desk got out their 'official' description of the tour, which confirmed at least that it was a four hour tour; the Costa website has a detailed video about this tour that really plays up Cetinje as a destination but they quietly dropped it from the excursion without telling us).

The employees at the travel desk were extremely rude and unkind, making no effort to apologize or compensate us for their mistakes. At Costa evidently they take very seriously any fine print that may say "We reserve the right to completely screw our customers for no reason." The single experience of this excursion -- which kept us from even seeing Kotor itself, the town the ship docked in -- has convinced us that we will never, ever travel with Costa Cruises again.

We selected this cruise with Costa because of the itinerary—no days at sea, and four countries visited in seven days! The decor of the Costa Mediterranea was standard, as was the food. The two requests would be more self-service food options on the boat, and better information about port transportation. For example, we only found out the day before arriving at a port that paid transportation would be required because no taxi service would be available at port. The latter was not true, and the former could have been communicated earlier. But overall, a good cruise.

Overall, the cruise was nice.  I particularly liked the ports we visited, and the staff were very friendly.  One complaint I had though, was that it took so long to eat our meals.  I don't typically spend 5-6 hours every day eating, so this was very frustrating to me.  If they would have had eggs and other sources of protein on the breakfast buffet in the morning, I would have gone there, but they did not.  The lunch buffet was pretty decent though.

I was not impressed with most of the entertainment either.  Most of it bordered on trashy.  The schedule was quite hectic to try and see all of the sights, and I think it could have been more relaxing if they would have included another day at sea.  My favorite port was Montenegro!  Absolutely beautiful!  I got some great pics from everywhere we went!

Also, it is well worth it to upgrade to a balcony!  My only complaint there was that the ship was very noisy!  We were on the 8th floor, and the foosball table, and pool was on the 9th floor, and it was very noisy every night!  Pick a room at least 2 floors below the pool, and away from the music.

Friendly and helpful staff, excellent ports of call, although some port visits were too short. Food variety was good, but execution was lacking. Over-cooked, under-cooked, bland, or just poor quality. I'm not a very picky eater, so it didn't really ruin my entire experience, but expect to pay for the exclusive restaurants of food is important to you. Also, food was not always available. On other cruise lines, you had more options. Also, pools and hot tubs closed at night.

Entertainment was alright. Again, better on other cruises. Overall, we had a nice vacation but would choose a different cruise line next time.

The cruise line skimet on every thing,from soup to nuts.The dinner menues were very limeted,i never was on a cruise that didnt serve lobster at least once once ,instead we had rabbit.The portions were small to put it mildly,one night i ordered and receved one small leg with a little pattie under it,that was our main course,another night i had fish it was oneinch wide and four inches long.the enterainment with the crew performing qiute a few times,at 3p.m.on the pool deck the handel 0n theself service ice cream machine was removed ,no more ice cream,No evening buffet,most deck waiters could not understand english,the list goes on,this is only the ti of the iceberg

I would just like to state the i was VERY disappointed on this last cruise. I sailed on a different Costa cruise @ 12 years ago and it was superb! This was was just so-so. The food was hardly anything Italian! What a joke! ( I am Italian) NO lobster on captains night! Unheard of. I have been on @ 12 cruises. I will never sail on another Costa cruise AGAIN, nor will I ever recommend one to Anybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The evening food service was entirely too slow. The only evening food option was slow dining room or pay $8 for a hamburger or $35 for the one specialty restaurant. No morning coffee until 7:00 which is unsatisfactory. They closed the lunch line promptly at 2:00 although many excursion groups didn't return until 2 or 2:30 and they closed with them still trying to get food. People were vomiting and had diarrhea. Entertainment was poor; too limited. One night they even showed the movie Hercules in the theater.  They only brought in three guests and the rest was their on-board entertainers doing the same twists and turns in different costumes. We cruise for the entertainment and food. Both failed. The only good was weather and islands and our room steward who kept us clean and fully equipped, but the room was nothing special, just the standard cruise room and it had only 1 electrical US outlet. Our shower water became to hot to use and had to be serviced.

wonderful, relaxing, entertaining, one of the best vacation in my life; would highly recommend to any age group; caring staff, good excursions, great shows- can't expect more!

Thank you!

i would have wished for the restaurant (main dining facility for 4 nights that we were seated at) to have more than just italian as its theme. and a few of our servers werent very helpful in describing foods we had never had before. smoking was everywhere and atrocious.

Babies and toddlers everywhere from second seating dinner to the gym to cannon balling in the jacuzzi. Parents don't say anything and neither does the Costa staff. Dinners are very Italian,food and service which we knew in advance and did enjoy. Breakfast and lunch food quality were poor- Hometown Buffet is truly what it was like. There are time periods in the middle of the day 1/2 an hour to an hour where there is no food service but scant slices of pizza available. lastly, We had to pack and vacate our room 3 1/2 hours before reaching port (they plan it this way to get a head start on room cleaning and prep for the next guest). My jacket was lost and was never to be found again during this time-thank you Costa. Keep your belongings with you at all times, double check your things yourself.

would not book Costa again ,when we came back from shore excursion buffet already closed ,only pizza available.Could not get a table for two at dinner. TV in stateroom was not working right and only 2 channel in english available and they cut out on seadays.Poor signal or no signal.

We like it very much, the common areas and stateroom

This was a nice ship, but the decor was overdone.

A great way to see several countries without having to make all the arrangements for travel and room/board. staff was wonderful.

Parts of the ship were nice, but almost all upholstery was stained. We had to call to ask for additional towels and write a note to get them, we didn't get them everyday. We only got towels for going on shore 1 time out of 4 ports. The room service menu had 12 items and they would not send anything else. You could not order breakfast in your room unless you wanted only cereal. They did not serve Lobster.

Clean and well maintainced. Profecial staff, always with a smile.

The ship was pretty big. The staterooms were clean. The decor on the walls where the staterooms were was pretty scary.

Spacious and comfortable