costa romantica

[jasper the dog]

we have just come back from a cruise on the romantica for 25 days.
we had a good holiday but there were a few things that spoiled it
1 I was one of the youngest at 47
2 this cruise should be advertised as italian only as they only have time and manners for there own and will push you out the way
3 the entertainment was 2 girl singers who sang the same old songs every day mostly in italian.
4 day time entertainment was a box with 2 holes to through 4 bean bags in
the other thing was a road cone and a blue ring. you see if you can get the ring over the cone
not bad as this cruise cost £3800.00 each
and remember the 2 games had to keep only 1500 people happy.
even if you were at the front of the line to play you might not get a go unless you were italian
then to top it all i found that costa have been taking money out my fairfx card and now taken the full amount and dont put the other money back for 21 days so money they took on the last day wont come back till the end of feb.
my bill should have been 320.euro they took over 1200 euro. i understand that i will be lucky to get half back
one passenger reported the ship to the austrailian police for throughing bags of rubish in to the barier reef

[andante]

...that doesnt sound good, and we leave for neo on 18th Feb, so too late to cancel!!!!
What did they take the money for...do you mean they debited your on board account for things you did not have? Would be good to know so that we can be aware. Why would you only get half of it back. Did you book via uk travel agent...is it worth going through them to get it sorted? If not we are in europe so you should have some legal rights.
Oh well back to the italian language books....NOT! Thanks for the taking the time to report back.

[Blondie008]

Originally Posted by andante

...that doesnt sound good, and we leave for neo on 18th Feb, so too late to cancel!!!!
What did they take the money for...do you mean they debited your on board account for things you did not have? Would be good to know so that we can be aware. Why would you only get half of it back. Did you book via uk travel agent...is it worth going through them to get it sorted? If not we are in europe so you should have some legal rights.
Oh well back to the italian language books....NOT! Thanks for the taking the time to report back.

Andante - NeoR is a beautiful ship. We experienced two cruises with Costa last year, one on Magica, the other on NeoR. Had Magica been our first, we never would have sailed with Costa again. Fortunatley we had sailed Romantica first - and have booked to return on her.
There is no theatre on NeoR - but insetad we experienced numerous live bands - fabulous pianists and singers. Classical music by the coffee bar if you like that kind of thing. The Martini Bar/Disco is beautiful. There are two main lounges. The Grand lounge usually featured the more "game show" style o entertainment, whereas the other lounge - had live bands every evening.
We sailed in bad weather so cannot comment on poolside entertainment but going by the above, looks like she is keeping with her "boutique style" ambience and avoiding the ridiculous poolside stuff experience on Magica.
Food and service is in a league of its own. Way above Magicas.There are no free child places on NeoR - the budget per head for food is higher.
Have a fab cruise! Will be good to hear your opinion when you return.

[andante]

Thanks for reassurance Blondie. There is so little feedback on Neo... Certainly seems there are not many brits on this cruise....roll call has not had one response. A bit worrying what the previous poster said about the money!
Regards.

[AnonymousCruiser69]

Originally Posted by andante

Thanks for reassurance Blondie. There is so little feedback on Neo... Certainly seems there are not many brits on this cruise....roll call has not had one response. A bit worrying what the previous poster said about the money!
Regards.

costa, like all cruiselines, places a 'hold' on your card for incidentals. it is clearly outlines in the 'know before you go' section on costa's website. this is not a charge, but if you are using a debit card, it will subtract the funds available in your checking/savings. it will also affect your availale credit on your credit card.

in 3 cruises, i have never been overcharged. i only use a debit card, and the hold was released in a timely manner.

i would take the OP's post with a grain of salt - they just joined CC and this was their first and only post. i find reviews that are entirely negative (or entirely positive, for that matter) suspect.

[Blondie008]

Originally Posted by andante

Thanks for reassurance Blondie. There is so little feedback on Neo... Certainly seems there are not many brits on this cruise....roll call has not had one response. A bit worrying what the previous poster said about the money!
Regards.

The only negative we had about our cruise was that we would not sail her again in bad weather. We did a Baltics on June 1st - and seas were so choppy it didnt make it across the chanel to Dover. The new part does "shake and rattle" a bit. We were in a suite on deck 11 I think. We have booked the identical suite for our cruise this year. Furnishings are really nice. The engines conked out - that was scary but the pros by far weighed out the cons.
Service was first class and food in the mdr was on a par with Celebrity. My brother and his wife used the buffet a lot fot lunch and it was wonderful they said - for sure on the couple of times we did go, it was MUCH MUCH better than our experience on Magica,
There are a lot of small differences that sets NeoR in a standard on its own. For example, in all cabins, not just suites, you will find robes and slippers. The coffee machine takes pods - I think they were a euro per pod. I did find the exact pods in supermarket but forget now what kind they were.
Our cruise had very few english - maybe couple of dozen at most.
We didnt find it a problem what so ever.
The spa is lovely - on port days you can buy (unless you are samsara of course its free) a half day pass. We appreciated this as it was a cold cruise and we needed that extra "indoor" facility. There is a lovely spa tearoom in there - and a stunning area with marble slab beds to lay on, and solarium beds..all very nice.
The only place we didnt enjoy funnily enough was the club restaurant,exquisite ambience - but shockingly poor service... MDR was so much better!
We were originally booked on a Pacifica cruise this week - we cancelled it after our experience on Magica - would not do Costa "mass" again, we transferred our deposits to NeoR and cant wait till september for a joyous two weeks of bliss!
We had no problems what so ever with front desk or with our money. The only issue was we went to check we had an OBC we were supposed to have for 200 euro - no Mrs X they said - you have 400 euro NICE!
Front desk is small and personal - all very helpful.
I have very few negatives to say about NeoR - all positive..
relax - enjoy the lead up to your cruise - jealous MUCH!
Any questions Id be happy to help if I can
Bon Voyage!

[andante]

Thank you all for your reassurance....feel much better.

[jasper the dog]

you may have great time for 1 or 2 weeks .try a month on it