Our passage to India, Maldives and Sri Lanka on the Costa NeoClassica Febr/March 2017

Woohoo, Thanks to a bunch of techies who were unhappy with Photobucket my photos are now back and visible.

 

So, anybody who wants to have a look, there are some photos of the NeoClassica showing that she was not in bad shape earlier this year.

 

Alicat

Do you think that it is worth while to do the 14 night Mumbai to Male to Mumbai round trip? How much did you pay for it?

Kindly post your review on

http://www.cruisecritic.com

The latest 2 reviews (Feb 2017 & July 2016) are very derogatory and not even recent. Just 1 review in the last 14 months! It appears that nobody is interested in the Neoclassica, more so now that it is being sold or scrapped (acc. to cruisecritic expert review)

Hi Drsel

This is my review. If you start from page one you will now be able to see some of the ship and food and also the ports we visited. I have only written one of our cruises as a review(Serena) and it was a UK site. It is much more fun writing about the cruise "blog style) with others commenting in between.

I am sorry but I cannot recall how much we paid. I think something like £800 pp. Might have been less. We thought it was worthwhile and really enjoyed it. If you look at the February review on CC (could have been the same time as our cruise) , it looks as if we were on different ships. We enjoyed the entertainment in the lounges. Yes, the music can become repetetive but for goodness sakes it is a 14 day cruise!

Good luck.

Alicat

Maldives next.

 

We were close to Male in the bay for 3 days. It is a tender port.The tenders ran frequently, but if you tried to get offf early you had to go to the theatre and get a ticket. Later in the day it was not needed.

Hi alicat, right now I'm planning excursions for my own stay in Malé. One company wants to know how early I can leave the ship the second day. Do you remember the tender times? Costa is not very helpful with information. Thanks Stefan

Hi

Just back from our cruise on the NeoRiviera.

I am sorry but I cannot remember at all what the times where. I recall that the first day was a later start but from then they seem to run from early to quite late in the evenings.

We did not do much when we were in Male. The beach resorts were very expensive and the island itself did not have anything to offer. I could have happily skipped Male altogether but I am not a beach person and I don't swim well enough to do snorkling or diving.

Alicat

Anyway thank you very much for your replay and I hope you enjoyed your stay on the neoRiviera.

Hi Alicat,

How was the neoRiviera? We are sailing on it the end of this month. Any pointers for meals? which bars are the best? is there shade on the deck?

Thanks!

Hi

 

Just back from our cruise on the NeoRiviera.

 

I am sorry but I cannot remember at all what the times where. I recall that the first day was a later start but from then they seem to run from early to quite late in the evenings.

 

We did not do much when we were in Male. The beach resorts were very expensive and the island itself did not have anything to offer. I could have happily skipped Male altogether but I am not a beach person and I don't swim well enough to do snorkling or diving.

 

Alicat

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Hi All

I loved the NeoRiviera but after 7 days I still got lost on the smallest Costa ship!

The decor is much more subdued than the larger ships and there are more bars than the other 2 small ships. Cafe Ezi is the coffee place. We spend most of our time either on the pool deck or in Cafe Positano when aboard. The bar staff were really nice, specially Doyo and Mohammad Khan. They both make mean Martinis. Entertainment here starts at about 6pm. There are 2 groups. We preferrede the 2 guitarists who played Latin style. The other guys were not bad and there was sometimes a female singer with a really good voice.

We only went to the grand bar once because the music starts late. The evening we went I thought the band was good. Usual 80's pop.

Then there is Porquiroles. Good buzz and a pianist that played really well.

We only went to one show and the dancers were actually mediocre. The choreography was dire, the costumes the worst ever. The singers were OK.

There is a disco on deck 12. They start playing taped music at 6pm. The bar does not open till very late and when we looked in it was totally deserted. Similar to the NeoClassica an amazing space but totally wasted.

We ate all out meals in the St Tropez restaurant because of club status. Had some really great meals and I had two dubious dishes but maybe I chose badly. This time less puddings. I don't like creamy stuff and there were lots of those.

I plan to do a review with photos and hope to start this weekend. I don't have time during the week because of work:mad:

Hope that helps for now.

Alicat

So overall, is the NeoRiviera much better than the Neoclassica?

Were the shows in Neoclassica similar or identical to the one you saw on NeoRiviera? And the live music and activities also similar?

Does it make sense to do BOTH Neoclassica and NeoRiviera, or would it be duplication? Are they almost identical? Thanks!

That is helpful! Thanks!

I look forward to your postings! I have the work thing also, gotta pay for these vacays!

Alicat, we look forward to reading all your highly helpful and informative reviews

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Hi

We are booked on the same cruise as you went on last year and need advice on Indian Visa requirements we think a E Visa will be ok we have British passports what do you think? We have sent lots of emails to Indian Visa office but no replies yet.

Hi

We are booked on the same cruise as you went on last year and need advice on Indian Visa requirements we think a E Visa will be ok we have British passports what do you think? We have sent lots of emails to Indian Visa office but no replies yet.

I would suggest you look for a rollcall for your actual cruise, if there isn't one then you can create / start one. The reason being this is an old thread and may not be looked at by people on your cruise.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=488

The last news Iheard is that the E-Visa has been extended to cover certain ports (Kochi, Goa) BUT NOT Mumbai which requires the normal visa.

Also try posting on the Ports Of Call forum, other Brits traveling on other cruise lines:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=70

Here are some links that maybe helpful:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2399767

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2555350

Also be careful of some web sites, they look very offical but in fact visa agencies.

If you are planning to do sightseeing tours in India, it's better to have the regular multiple entry visa on your passport.

With the e-visa, you have to waste 2 hours (in queue) on retina scan and fingerprinting at the port and miss your tour!

With the e-visa you have a cheaper visa that you can't apply for until a set amount of days prior to arrival in India and it is only good for two entries.

A standard multiple entry visa costs more, but is good for 10 years. It might be a little more complicated to complete, but if you ever return to India, it is well worth it.

A standard multiple entry visa costs more, but is good for 10 years. It might be a little more complicated to complete, but if you ever return to India, it is well worth it.

This is not true.

It depends entirely on the passport holders nationality, for UK passports either:

Up to One Year (Single / Multiple entry)(maximum stay of 180 days per visit) OR

Visa Duration From One Year Up to Five Years (Multiple entries) (maximum stay of 180 days per visit)

http://www.vfsglobal.com/india/uk/Tourist.html

Spreading false information can do more harm than good.

This is not true.

 

It depends entirely on the passport holders nationality, for UK passports either:

 

Up to One Year (Single / Multiple entry)(maximum stay of 180 days per visit) OR

 

Visa Duration From One Year Up to Five Years (Multiple entries) (maximum stay of 180 days per visit)

 

http://www.vfsglobal.com/india/uk/Tourist.html

 

Spreading false information can do more harm than good.

http://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/india-visa.html

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Even Canadian passport holders can get a 10 year multiple entry visa

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Hi

We travel on UK passports. GMT is correct. We could not use the E-visa. We had to get the full visa because of multiple ports in India. It was expensive. I think £119 each and we had to go for a face to face interview. I cannot recall what the place was called but it is close to Heathrow. You need to make an appointment for this and it is only after you submitted your completed forms with the odd sized photos. Out visa was only for a year and is expiring in 2w. The interview lasted all of 5 minutes. It was a 4 hour round trip and there is no parking.

If you look on the boards for India you will find lots of info. Hubby called them because he did not have a response to emails either.

Don't spoil your cruise by being marooned on the ship in Indian ports.

Alicat

Correct. The full visa is required for multiple entries.

You can get a 5 year multiple entry Indian visa by paying £333. The cost is around the same (expensive) price that UK charges Indians for a UK visa.

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As an American I researched this too including an email exchange with a very nice Indian official in Mangalore and what I was told is that India considers every port stop an entry even if you never leave Indian territorial waters so he highly suggested the multiple entry hard visa which of course was not cheap but considering what we could miss, worth it in my opinion.