First and last cruise with Costa

Costa Smeralda Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

liverpool1961

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 23

Overall rating:

3.8 out of 5

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 03, 2023

Ship: Costa Smeralda

Cabin number: 1

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

This was a huge letdown and unfortunately a lot of money was spent to find this out. Passengers were rude, loud, pushy and inconsiderate of others. One evening there was music played very loud and it kept us up until 2am. We missed our alarm clock and our expensive shore excursion was missed. We were offered the option of moving cabins. However, I find that a poor solution to the problem. Music should have been turned down. There were mostly young families on our cruise. I cannot imagine how any of them slept well either.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

Costa did not provide any instructions/directions to where the ship was located.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

I will start with the best….breakfasts were the best because we were able to order in our assigned dining room, rather than the cattle drive in the buffet dining room. Coffee was excellent. The majority of lunch and dinners were very bland and all meat dishes were overcooked. Desserts were very good. Food presentation was well done. Staff was exceptional!! Shout out to our main server Tennyson.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Lines up were too long! Pool was far too small, considering the number of passengers.

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Music was very outdated and for the most part the entertainers were not good.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

I would have rated five stars, however, administration staff were rude, condescending and the ship treats females like second class citizens.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

In addition to the servers, this is the best part about our experience.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Cabin was clean, bed was comfortable and storage space was adequate for our needs.

Ship tip

Don’t travel at Easter break.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

5 out of 5

Palermo, Sicily

5 out of 5

Savona (Genoa), Italy

5 out of 5

Marseille (Provence), France

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

2 out of 5

If not for asking, we would have missed the disembarkation information session.

7 Comments

dcoleman2219 1 year ago

Thank you for the in depth review.

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javawoody 1 year ago

Thanks for the review

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javawoody 1 year ago

Thanks for the review

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Nice itinerary. I’m sure Easter break is more crowded than usual, thanks for the tip. Sorry you were disappointed in this sailing.

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Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

Thumbs Up 1

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envy1219 1 year ago

Yikes, sorry you didn't have a better experience.

Thumbs Up 1

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cruising2004 1 year ago

Thank you for sharing your cruising experience.

Thumbs Up 1

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