Costa Mediterranea, it really was just fine!

OK, I know all are entitled to their opinions, but reports of a disasterous Costa cruise are greatly exaggerated. Admittedly, we got a terrific upgrade, so this helped make this cruise quite nice.

Still, it was lots of fun. Love their Animation Team. What a wonderful group of young adults! Very friendly, they go out of their way to assure you are having a good time. Always offering lots of activities throughout the day and evening. I mean, yes, they were a bit different that activities offered on other cruise ships, but for the most part, lots of fun. My only complaint in that regard is that I thought they should have done more on the top, Lido Deck, under the stars, rather than the 1st floor lounge. The musicians throughout the ship, as well as the dancing, was great.

As we all know, this ship has a great itinerary. It arrived at all ports early, and we usually got off the ship earlier. Tender stops took a bit longer, but that's expected.

Now, of course, food is of the utmost importance. I must emphatically disagree with the the previous thread regarding this ship. My experience was so different that I wonder if we were on the same ship. Breakfast was fine. Omelet stations as well as typical American food, cereals and pastries. Yes,I've had better, but it wasn't awful. Lunch on the Lido Deck was just fine and sometimes terrific. They had pasta stations, pizza, salads, and always hot food choices. Always a good variety of seafood, which I loved. My view is that Costa offers a better variety of seafood than most other cruiselines. Different themes on different days, Indian, Asian, Mexican, German, and yes, burgers and hot dogs. Desserts were good, not great. Dinner was 2 seatings, with no buffet, and just fine. It wasn;t great, and the servings were small, but that just meant you ordered a bit of everything, and sometimes two entrees, which was never a problem.

My main complaint with Costa was the beverage stations. They were not well organized, and it was hard to get your drink without bumping into people. And yes, often stations were shut down, and closed down early in the evening. No coffee with dinner unless it was a specialty coffee you paid for. That did add a bit of frustration to the dining experience. And it was hard finding seating during peak periods.

And the shows were good. I've seen better, but they were good. All in all, we met lots of terrific people, and had fun. I look forward to doing a Costa cruise in the Carribbean again some time next year.

I was on that cruise and I would agree with the Countess. The drink stations were one of our few frustrations. It was also true that the soft serve machines only had chocolate and strawberry during the entire cruise.

Others had reported that the crew gave poor service and I found exactly the opposite. Our room steward was wonderful and our waiters worked hard to give terrific service. I felt the ship was kept clean by all the crew. The expedition staff were informative and supplied details to help make choices.

We enjoyed our time away and would have gladly remained onboard.

dce, glad you mentioned the ship itself, as I forgot to. Very clean, always cleaning. Beautiful ship with lots of places to sit, chat and listen to music. Decor was over the top Italian, but what else would one expect! As I previously mentioned, we were upgraded, and our room, as well as room stewart, were terrific. We got everything we asked for and good service.

With reference to eating, one more frustration: if you have earlier dinner seating, you had no access to food late. If you had late seating, you only had access to lots of bready treats, sandwiches with little in them. This led to people hording food, taking food at lunch and snack time to their rooms for later enjoyment. I've recommended to Costa that they do have a late night buffet service. Not a lot of variety, not all stations open, but a little something. But again, this is minor as compared to all else enjoyed on the ship.

And yes, it was odd that they did not have more variety of ice cream. I also think the ice cream was not that great. Not to your usual "gelato" standards. Just kept me away from desserts, which for me, is a good thing.

A very well balanced review Countess P

I loved the Mediterranea when we were on 5 days in September.

It just wasn't long enough

Like you, we were upgraded so that was the icing on the cake.

I love the way Costa keep their ships so clean. Standards are very high.

I never expect much from the food on any cruise ship now. Every cruise line has cut their food budget. I don't go on a cruise for the food as I can get better at home so it doesn't really bother me.

We ate twice in the speciality restaurant on Meditteranea – once was free as we are Pearl Gold. That left 3 nights in the restaurant 1st sitting where service was haphazard and there were a lot of noisy families dining. The waiters were running around they were so busy! It was well worth paying the supplement.

We are on Pacifica for 19 days and hope it will be as good as our other cruises with Costa.

For value for money, Costa gets my vote every time.

I really must post a review - hopefully a good one.

Caryl

Just off the Mediterranea this morning and agree with all of the comments. We gave this cruise 🚢 a 7 out of 10 overall. Our Norwegian Panama canal cruise 10 days earlier we gave a 7.5. Both have their pluses and minus's. The rude European behavior on Costa was unexpected and often funny at times.

Just off the Mediterranea this morning and agree with all of the comments. We gave this cruise 🚢 a 7 out of 10 overall. Our Norwegian Panama canal cruise 10 days earlier we gave a 7.5. Both have their pluses and minus's. The rude European behavior on Costa was unexpected and often funny at times.

What exactly do you mean by rude European behaviour????

Fyi there are over 50 countries in Europe with a population approaching 750 million.

It seems a lot of Americans were asleep during their geography lessions.

What exactly do you mean by rude European behaviour????

 

Fyi there are over 50 countries in Europe with a population approaching 750 million.

 

It seems a lot of Americans were asleep during their geography lessions.

Ha-ha. Is that why lots of questions about Amsterdam are asked on the Britain ports of call?

What exactly do you mean by rude European behaviour????

 

Fyi there are over 50 countries in Europe with a population approaching 750 million.

 

It seems a lot of Americans were asleep during their geography lessions.

You're assuming that geography lessons in US schools actually cover Europe. With the vast majority of Americans never leaving the US, I suspect there is not that much interest in us weird foreigners (or should I say aliens!)

And as for rude behaviour, by whose standards were they rude? Perhaps countries that don't do queueing or standing in line? Who says we all have to behave the same regardless of where we are from in order to be considered polite?

Can someone please tell me from their experience on the Mediterranea, after reading reviews from recent Mediterranea cruisers concerning the 'Water USA' hoopla, was wondering if coffee and juice are available at breakfast in the dining room? Or are you required to purchase the beverage package to get any coffee or juice served at all?

You're assuming that geography lessons in US schools actually cover Europe. With the vast majority of Americans never leaving the US, I suspect there is not that much interest in us weird foreigners (or should I say aliens!)

 

And as for rude behaviour, by whose standards were they rude? Perhaps countries that don't do queueing or standing in line? Who says we all have to behave the same regardless of where we are from in order to be considered polite?

I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt, although as no illegal European (rude or not) immgrates have been sighted in the Hudson River recently they are no need for geography lessons.

I quote "there is not that much interest in us weird foreigners", one should always be polite I think you meant to say "there is not that much interest in US weird foreigner".

Most Europeans are very welcoming especially with children. Im off to the US next month from Europe so will see how welcoming they are hehe.

Can someone please tell me from their experience on the Mediterranea, after reading reviews from recent Mediterranea cruisers concerning the 'Water USA' hoopla, was wondering if coffee and juice are available at breakfast in the dining room? Or are you required to purchase the beverage package to get any coffee or juice served at all?

PLEASE!!!! someone answer my question above, NO MORE ARGUING please and thank you. :)

Although it will do no good allow me to clarify: As I was asleep in world history class I did not learn to distinguish individual people groups. Scusi, as I did not intend to insinuate 'all' were rude, but the term 'many' or 'many many' had no consideration for anyone but themselves as they pushed, shoved, and line jumped. We have since decided it's simply a culture issue. If you were offended by my comment, then I apologize - that's what polite cultures do in addition to simply wait their turn.

WaterUSA, which we had, only applies in the dining room for dinner. In the Lido there is water, coffee, and tea (bags) available. No ice tea is offered. Juice is only for breakfast and then removed. Only Americans get water provided at dinner. There are wine/water package options to choose from. After the first or second day there was also a beer/wine/water/soft drink at meals package for $18.50ish. I didn't but it so I don't remember exactly. We stuck with water and ordered just bottles of wine.

Although it will do no good allow me to clarify: As I was asleep in world history class I did not learn to distinguish individual people groups. Scusi, as I did not intend to insinuate 'all' were rude, but the term 'many' or 'many many' had no consideration for anyone but themselves as they pushed, shoved, and line jumped. We have since decided it's simply a culture issue. If you were offended by my comment, then I apologize - that's what polite cultures do in addition to simply wait their turn.

Don't worry no offence was taken. Cruising if fun, just having a bit of fun at your expense to pass away the time between cruises.

Main thing is you enjoyed your Costa cruise.

WaterUSA, which we had, only applies in the dining room for dinner. In the Lido there is water, coffee, and tea (bags) available. No ice tea is offered. Juice is only for breakfast and then removed. Only Americans get water provided at dinner. There are wine/water package options to choose from. After the first or second day there was also a beer/wine/water/soft drink at meals package for $18.50ish. I didn't but it so I don't remember exactly. We stuck with water and ordered just bottles of wine.

So if you choose to have breakfast in the dining room there is no beverage available of ANY kind (for free)? Just want absolute clarity so we know what to expect. This is about our 50th cruise over almost all the lines, so just trying to wrap my mind around the true realities for this 23 day sailing.

So if you choose to have breakfast in the dining room there is no beverage available of ANY kind (for free)? Just want absolute clarity so we know what to expect. This is about our 50th cruise over almost all the lines, so just trying to wrap my mind around the true realities for this 23 day sailing.

Got a good answer on the other thread. Thanks.

So if you choose to have breakfast in the dining room there is no beverage available of ANY kind (for free)? Just want absolute clarity so we know what to expect. This is about our 50th cruise over almost all the lines, so just trying to wrap my mind around the true realities for this 23 day sailing.

For those who are still not sure of response, we did the dining room breakfast once, which ended up being the same buffet as the one on the Lido deck. Actually, it wasn't as well stocked, so it wasn't as good. Very surprising to us. I asked if I could have eggs easy over, and he said yes, but it would be a 20 minute wait, so I just had the scrambled.

So, if you are expecting to get a better breakfast in the dining room, it won't happen. However, yes, you do get coffee, however much you want. And they will give you water if you ask for it. I think the juices were available at the buffet table.

This was all on a Caribbean sailing. Perhaps it's different for a trans-Atlantic.

The rude European behavior on Costa was unexpected and often funny at times.

For the record, we did not experience the same on our cruise. I've heard that a lot, and this was our 4th Italian line cruise, 2 with MSC and 2 with Costa. With the exception of 1 German in an elevator (and the others in the same elevator apologized for his behavior) I have never experienced the rude behavior I hear about so often. We always have a grand time meeting people from all over the world.

I just don't get the negative comments I hear. I mean, people are people, and you have rude people in every language, in every country, state, and city. Yeah, we have them here in the U.S., too!!

For those who are still not sure of response, we did the dining room breakfast once, which ended up being the same buffet as the one on the Lido deck. Actually, it wasn't as well stocked, so it wasn't as good. Very surprising to us. I asked if I could have eggs easy over, and he said yes, but it would be a 20 minute wait, so I just had the scrambled.

 

So, if you are expecting to get a better breakfast in the dining room, it won't happen. However, yes, you do get coffee, however much you want. And they will give you water if you ask for it. I think the juices were available at the buffet table.

 

This was all on a Caribbean sailing. Perhaps it's different for a trans-Atlantic.

On MSC I always go for NMDR breakfast because it is all waiter service with everything cooked to order. I've only tried MDR on Costa once (Arabian Gulf) and was surprised and disappointed to find out it was mainly a buffet service, although there was a menu on the table with something's that would be cooked to order. The waiter seemed a bit reluctant to take an order for Nything and was trying to steer me towards the buffet area instead. After that I used tomuse the outside buffet area at the aft of the ship as it was quieter.