great way to see europe off-season

Item: Costa Serena
Rating: 3
Author: GregB

Costa Serena Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

GregB

Contributor Level: Purser

12 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 91

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

Sail date: November 12, 2012

Ship: Costa Serena

Cabin type: Inside

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 12 years ago

Review summary

I booked this cruise for Nov 2012 since I was traveling by myself and wanted a single cabin without paying double. The markup for the single cabin was only 20%. For that I got an inside cabin on front of the lower deck -- which was fine except for the noise/vibration from the side thrusters when the ship docked (not an issue if you're an early riser). Having traveled on most of the cruiselines I've realized that they all follow the same formula. No different here except that the majority of passengers were italian/spanish/french with a few germans/russians/asians/english. Almost no americans on the ship (which is ok by me). All communications were in italian/spanish/french/german/english and targeted towards your chosen language. NO language issues at all. I picked this cruise based in the itinerary and pricing and would do it again if the pricing were attractive. Would probably choose a different cruiseline if pricing/itinerary were the same. But no regrets. Italians has no sense of order or personal space and are always getting in your way, but you learn to deal with that soon enough. Just be a little pushy and get in their way and you'll be fine. They talk a lot but are mostly soft-spoken, not loud like we americans. The drinks package for 19.50 euro/day is great! Possibly a deciding factor on future Costa cruises.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

breakfast had poor quality control and the coffee was gross\, lunch was better but only pizza avail after 4 pm (when you're really hungry after a day in port)\, dinner was about equivalent to other cruiselines but no surprises other than a pasta course; drinks package for 19.50 euro a day makes everything more tolerable... includes coffee from the bar\, bottled water\, fresh juice\, draft beer (carlsberg)\, house wines (two choices: red or white)\, and most mixed drinks. only gripe is that they will not serve bar drinks at dinner\, only wine.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

evening shows were better than average and appealed to a multilingual crowd. ventriloquist who spoke many languages was a lot of fun. nightclub was super fun one night\, pretty dead the other nights (but i was in bed by 1 am most nights). like most cruises mostly older crowd\, but enough young people to fill a dance floor.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

great staff. mostly from philippines on this cruise\, though i hear the staff changes frequently to suit the rules of where they're traveling. all the staff spoke italian and english\, and some also spoke french and spanish\, maybe german too. they seemed excited to see me (american) and always spoke to me in english (even if i spoke to them in basic italian).

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

the ship design seems a lot older than 2007\, it was a missed opportunity to add a lot more features. but it's a big ship and gets you where you're going. the two pools with sliding roofs are designed to be used in many climates.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

nothing special. double bed had a very obvious gap in the middle\, no attempt to hide it. used duvet cover only\, not top sheet (probably could have asked for a top sheet\, but didn't bother).

Pros: pricing for single cabin\, multilingual staff\, entertainment

Cons: the other passengers

Recommends Costa Serena? Yes!

2 Comments

cruisellama 5 years ago

Thanks

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cseymour05 7 years ago

Not 😎 Cool

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