This is the BEST way to travel through Europe. Congrats to Costa Cruise on such a great ship and staff.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Very streamlined from check-in to stepping on board and into our cabin...less than 20 minutes!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We ate in the main dining rooms and were never disappointed. The food was always hot and perfectly proportioned. Our drink package was included in our room rate and we never had an issue finding something we liked. All waitstaff that we encountered were extremely helpful and pleasant.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We love listening to music and we were thrilled with the jazz music played each night in one of the bars. We also enjoyed watching those on the ballroom dance floor each night. We participated in the chef's challenge in the LAB...so much fun! Thank you Matilde for helping us with making our dish. We toured the spa and were amazed at the amenities offered...including a snow room. The evening shows were good, but I do think they could have more variety and the sight lines in the theater were not well thought out.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The jazz musicians were wonderful! Great shows every night. As I mentioned before, the main theater shows repeated some nights, so more variety would be better.
Children's Programs
We did not travel with children.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Top-notch. Everyone was professional and very pleasant to us. Our waiter always ensured that our special requests for a cheese plate and our favorite wine was on our table when we arrived every night....thank you Pearl. Our room steward, Roxette, was also very helpful, kept our room tidy, and made us special towel animals for us based on things she learned in our conversations about us (like how much we love dogs!). We can't say enough good things about Francisco in reception. He was extremely helpful answering all our questions and giving us the best advice...even making my 50th birthday special with a surprise birthday cake! Also, Alfredo (lead bartender) greeted us every day with a smile and great conversations. In addition, his staff members were the best team on the ship...especially Gilbert.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was huge and we loved it. We are big on getting our steps in...the walk from our cabin to our restaurant ensured that we got them all in (as well as our excursions). It is a brand new ship, so everything is shiny new. I always walked the passageways to see staff members cleaning...sweeping the carpets, wiping down the handrails, etc. The public bathrooms were very clean and you don't have to touch the door to get in or out (sensors). Our cabin was spacious (balcony) and had the largest bathroom I've seen in over 7 cruises on different ships. Considering the timing of our cruise, we were very grateful to see the handwashing stations located in every restaurant, as well as numerous hand sanitizer stations.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We were impressed with the size and layout of our cabin. Plenty of storage and room to move about. The balcony was a nice size, but the best part was that the door was a slider, not one that you have to prop open to get a good breeze. The bathroom was very large with a shower with a door...not a curtain that sticks to you. Lots of storage in the bathroom. These rooms do not have a mini-fridge, which came as a surprise...but we really did not need it. The televisions are very large and set directly in front of the bed...not need to swivel them.
Ship tip
Don't believe the intial reviews you see on the internet. This cruise ship knows what it is doing and made our trip a great one.
We boarded in Barcelon and spent about four days there. Wonderful city. Clean with plenty to do and great restuarants. We did not do an excursion here, but toured the city on our own...which is very walkable.
We loved walking through the port on our own. No excursion for us here. We spent about four hours in the historic district...shopping, walking and having lunch.
The drive from port to Rome was about 1 hour and 30 minutes...longer than we like, but we were rewarded by having such a great excursion seeing the sights. The excursion had a great guide and we liked having the ear pieces so that no matter where we were in the large group, we heard everything he said. It was a long day, but we got to see everything we wanted to see in the City and had a great lunch at a local restaurant.
We took an excursion from the port to Cinque Terre...three little fishing villages. This was definitely more our style. Once the guide finished her talk, she set us free in the villages for about an hour. We usually found a nice little cafe and enjoyed the local wines. Lovely day for us at the exact pace we like. We can't say we liked having to get to the little towns by train...given the virus scare...but we were vigilant about hand sanitizer.
Our excursion in this port was cancelled because of the virus scare in Northern Italy at the time; however, Savona is a lovely city. We disembarked and walked the streets and found a little outdoor cafe for lunch and some wine. We spent about 3 hours after that walking around and stopping at a bakery for yummy cookies and another outdoor café for wine. Very nice.
We went on an excursion to Provence, and this was the best! We toured two very picturesque towns, leaned a lot about Van Gogh and Nostradamus. Our tour guide, Cedrick, was phenominal...the right mix of humor and local knowledge. We visited two restaurants and enjoyed the local wines. Wonderful day.
This was just as easy as embarkation. We had to vacate the room at 8:00 a.m., but our assigned leave time was 9:15 a.m. So, we decided to sit down to breakfast. When it was our time to leave, we walked off the ship, got our luggage immediately and got a taxi. Less than 10 minutes.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
