the wandering two

Due to board Iona on Saturday, we're Mediterranean tier & been given 3.15 check in. Doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern as we've had earlier times on previous sailings, regardless hope to be on for lunchtime, yes it's a seven night cruise but with these timings it's a 61/2 day cruise!

Couldn't disagree more, we were on the transatlantic prior to dry dock, fantastic crew/bar staff/officers, always visible and available for a chat, Captain very present and involved in many of the events. Had no issues with food quality or condition of the ship, given its age, well above any comparable Royal Carribbean vessel. Variety of entertainers outstanding.

Our most recent Costa cruise was on Smeralda in Dec '22. Standard fizz at the regular bars was Sant'Orsola, didn't look at any for fee bottles. Smeralda did have Campari & Ferrari bars in which you get their, I would say, better class of sparkling. At the Ferrari bar only, you could get their prosecco brand Bisol 1542, there were Ferrari (traditional method) cocktails included but, for some odd reason, not the straight fizz.

We earned our diamond (therefore elite match) on Royal, mostly great deals on transatlantics, but recently have had way better value on Celebrity. Our last Royal sailing (Jewel Aug 23) saw around 1100 C&A diamond upwards members onboard, the viking crown was given over to Pinacles (200 ish) which left the D lounge for everyone else, so 900 people in a lounge with circa 36 seats! Recently off Constellation transatlantic, way more inclusive, lots of elite events, food better (dont get me started on Royal MTD shambles) greater choice of music and entertainers in lounges & theatre compared to Jewel, a similar sized ship. Lots of folks saying Royal has better entertainment, but they need to compare ship size. Looking ahead, for us to return to Royal it would need to be a destination itinerary, at our price point the older ships are better value but they don't have the quality that Celebrity has.

We're due there January 26th, itinerary 0800-1800, other dates may vary..

We won't find out until September's reposition from Hamburg, Favolosa was our first Costa sailing in 2019.

Hi, we get on the day before in Barcelona. No particular plans, hoping to be wowed by the ship. We just like to wander around, mix of old and new ports for us, maybe a bit weather dependent especially on our repeat ones, not sure if we fancy trying to get to Rome on the train along with who knows how many other passengers given the capacity of the ship. Mark & Heather

Wow, that fish portion is tiny. We're on the TA right after you, thanks for all your posts, it's going to give us a great heads up for Saturday.

Hi, we're on Iona Norway May 11th-18th this year. There's a couple from New Hampshire on the roll call, maybe post a question to them there?

Going on our third Costa cruise this September, a return to Favolosa which was our first in 2019. Smeralda in Nov '22 & loved it, will be interesting to see the differences going back to a more traditional ship.

We've given up on trying to figure out Voyagers club points. Gone through the whole gamut of having minimal status then matching in the good old days when they handed out black/diamond like confetti. Missing points, complained, got some back, points not showing up on one of our accounts versus the other. Bottom line I've got 31300, other half 15000 for the same cruises. As long as we don't loose diamond status (which will only happen if they finally price us out of their product) we don't care about how many points we have.

Have made two booking in the last week, one sailing in Europe (bella) & one from Florida (fantastica) and were given the option to request dining time with both, as the above poster has stated.

Booked World Europa for Jan 24th 2025 on 29th Jan, bella inside, assigned a cabin instantly, still an inside though. Like another poster we were given a handicapped room, midship deck 9.

Hi Heather, Google A Taberna do mar, Portuguese/Japanese seafood, their tasting menu is outstanding. According to recent TripAdvisor reviews the current price is around €35 for ten courses.

Some are already on, booked Eclipse March 22nd Port Everglades to Southampton a couple of days ago, supper cheap plus $300 obc per cabin on black Friday offer.