Well here it is. We just got home from our 1/22/06 mediterrenea cruise

Well we are home. And I would like to share our experience abord the Mediterrenea with all of you. We went with a VERY open mind and sure that we would have a good time no matter what. Well we did have our good time, but unfortunatly we will not be sailing with Costa again. We were VERY dissapointed with them as a whole. I will break down some things for you both good and mostly bad.

Service:

*Cabin service - Excellent

*Dining room service - Poor... Waiters very non- interactive...Maitredee never came around to tables

*Customer service desk - Extreemely Poor... Unhelpful.. Almost rude

*Bar-Waiter service - Good... needed more though

*Embarkation - Good

*Debarkation - Ok... very dissorganized

*NOTE - In my opinion, the automatic tipping created a laziness

amongst the crew. They seem to work harder on other ships

to get your tip. D

Entertainment:

*Main Shows - VERY BAD!! VERY BAD!! VERY BAD!!

*Cruise Director - Ok

*Cruise Director staff - overall I would have to say good. Some were

downright rude.

*Activities at sea - BORING.... not enough going on

*Night games-activites - good to excellent... Dont miss Mr.Pizza

contest.

Ship Itself:

*Cleanliness - EXCELLENT

*Decor - Euorpean

*Pools - Small....Salt water

*Hot tubs - EXCELLENT.... Many to chose from

*Cabins - adequate size....Bathrooms and shower bigger than most

cruise lines. Beds EXTREEMELY HARD! Ask for extra mattress.

*Layout of ship - Very weird.

Food:

*VERY DISSAPOINTING!!! And yes I was preparred for Italian-european

cusine.

*Dining room - Limited menu.....lack of flavor

*Buffet - Horrible! This was probably the most different thing on the

ship compared to other cruiselines.

*Latenight specialty buffets - What a laugh! Dont bother going to the

galley buffet. It was a joke, about 5 deserts and a few different kinds

Of bread.

Misc:

*The whole ship seemed overpriced compared to other cruiselines.

drinks more, pictures more, excursions more

*Casino - Big but very spread out. Fewest slots and tables that

I have seen yet.

*Gym - EXCELLENT

*Spa - Did not use

*Deck chairs - Ample amount

*Smoking areas - WAY TOO MANY!!! Biggest complaint is that it is

allowed near food service.

*Announcements - Annoying! Every announcement had to be done

in Italian, French, Spanish, German, English....

*Muster drill - Weird... Done after we were already at sea for a day

and a half. Took FOREVER ( all the languages ).

*On-board shopping - Ok...

This review was based on a comparison to Royal Caribbean and Carnival

Cruiseline. I could go on forever. But the bottom line would still be the same. We will Not sail with Costa again.

I'm so glad I sailed on this same ship and same cruise this time last year, otherwise I'd be real worried about our trip which starts Sunday. Last year on the Med in March was wonderful - no complaints. Two years ago I took my mother and sister on their first cruise on the Costa Atlantica in April and they too loved it. That's why we are all going again next week. I'll be sure to give a report when we get back. I have confidence that this cruise is going to be as great as our first and second on Costa.

Audrey

Well we are home. And I would like to share our experience abord the Mediterrenea with all of you. We went with a VERY open mind and sure that we would have a good time no matter what. Well we did have our good time, but unfortunatly we will not be sailing with Costa again. We were VERY dissapointed with them as a whole. I will break down some things for you both good and mostly bad.

 

Service:

*Cabin service - Excellent

*Dining room service - Poor... Waiters very non- interactive...Maitredee never came around to tables

*Customer service desk - Extreemely Poor... Unhelpful.. Almost rude

*Bar-Waiter service - Good... needed more though

*Embarkation - Good

*Debarkation - Ok... very dissorganized

*NOTE - In my opinion, the automatic tipping created a laziness

amongst the crew. They seem to work harder on other ships

to get your tip. D

 

YOU COULD REMOVE THIS TIP AND TIP PERSONAL.

Entertainment:

*Main Shows - VERY BAD!! VERY BAD!! VERY BAD!!

*Cruise Director - Ok

*Cruise Director staff - overall I would have to say good. Some were

downright rude.

*Activities at sea - BORING.... not enough going on

*Night games-activites - good to excellent... Dont miss Mr.Pizza

contest.

 

Ship Itself:

*Cleanliness - EXCELLENT

*Decor - Euorpean

*Pools - Small....Salt water

*Hot tubs - EXCELLENT.... Many to chose from

*Cabins - adequate size....Bathrooms and shower bigger than most

cruise lines. Beds EXTREEMELY HARD! Ask for extra mattress.

*Layout of ship - Very weird.

 

 

Food:

*VERY DISSAPOINTING!!! And yes I was preparred for Italian-european

cusine.

*Dining room - Limited menu.....lack of flavor

*Buffet - Horrible! This was probably the most different thing on the

ship compared to other cruiselines.

*Latenight specialty buffets - What a laugh! Dont bother going to the

galley buffet. It was a joke, about 5 deserts and a few different kinds

Of bread.

 

TRY NCL ONCE(THEY DONT HAVE ANY MIDNIGHT BUFFET) ,BUT THEY HAVE HUMBURGER AND FRIES PLACE OPEN 24 HOURS:eek:

Misc:

*The whole ship seemed overpriced compared to other cruiselines.

drinks more, pictures more, excursions more

*Casino - Big but very spread out. Fewest slots and tables that

I have seen yet.

*Gym - EXCELLENT

*Spa - Did not use

*Deck chairs - Ample amount

*Smoking areas - WAY TOO MANY!!! Biggest complaint is that it is

allowed near food service.

*Announcements - Annoying! Every announcement had to be done

in Italian, French, Spanish, German, English....

 

WELL....IT IS EUROPIAN CRUISE LINE,AND SORRY THERE IS OTHER LANGUAGES EXIST.:eek:

 

*Muster drill - Weird... Done after we were already at sea for a day

and a half. Took FOREVER ( all the languages ).

*On-board shopping - Ok...

 

This review was based on a comparison to Royal Caribbean and Carnival

Cruiseline. I could go on forever. But the bottom line would still be the same. We will Not sail with Costa again.

BY THE WAY CARNAVAL,PRINCESS AND COSTA ARE THE SAME LINES!!!

ROYAL CHARGE MUCH MORE FOR EXCURSIONS(JUST GO ON WEB SITE AND COMPARE)READING YOUR REVIEW I CAN SAY YOU HAD A WONDERFUL TRIP,BUT WEIRD:D READ IT BY YOURSELF AND SEE THAT YOU HAD MOSTLY GOOD THINGS THAN BAD

I already stated that we had a good time. I just gave an unbiased opinion of the ship and staff. I realize that carnival owns many of the different lines but they are all VERY different. They state that themselves.

By reading over my post I guess there are alot of good things about the ship and staff, but unfortunately the bad ones seem to weigh heavier with me.

Oh and we did remove the automatic tips and tipped personally, but most people do not realize that they can do that. And I still think that a staff that assumes that they automaticly get the tips will not work as hard.

Please don't attack me for giving my honest opinion on OUR cruise experience.

I think you said everything I did, however, you said it in a nicer way - totally agree with your evaluation though and I don't think you were asking too much.... The cultural difference of this line is what either makes or breaks these cruises I am seeing.

MMC

I was on the Med at the same time.

Having lived in Italy for 4 years I wasn't surprised that some of the Italian staffers came off as abrupt. That's just how they are. I had to explain to my husband that they weren't really being rude it was just their cultural style to get right to the point in a matter of fact kind of way.

We thought the food was awesome! I think opinions on food can really vary depending on where you live and how your used to having your food prepared. We were very busy both on and off the ship and relied on the buffett quite a bit. We enjoyed it and thought they offered some great daily variations on the main menu. We really liked being able to grab stuff off the buffett from 7pm to 8:45 as that was when they put out the same stuff that was being served up in the formal dining rooms. The lobster tails on the final formal night in the dining room were impressively large and seconds and thirds were offered without any hesitation.

Using ideas that I gleaned from this site I was able to really customize our cruise. The very first thing I did was slip my cabin steward 5 bucks for a bed topper. By the way they don't refer to them as egg crates. (there was a little confusion when I asked for an egg crate)

We had some great excursions that we planned on our own from info on this site combined with knowledge from prior cruises. Saved HUNDREDS of dollars. Paradise Beach in Cozumel is not to be missed!

We challenged ourselves to be thrifty on this cruise. We have had on board accounts in excess of $2000+ this cruise it was ZERO!! We prepaid our tips and I also tipped our room service/steward/butler extra but I don't count those tips as part of our on board account.

Costa lost part of our luggage from the pier to the ship. They bumped us to a suite and were very apologetic. They maintained daily communication with us as far as thier search for the 5 missing bags. We filed the proper paperwork etc. So we will keep an eye on this situation and hope it gets resolved quickly.

Interesting fact as some have stated Costa is owned by Carnival: The Carnival tv ad that's running right now shows a couple of kids jumping up and down on the bed...that suite looks identical to the suite we had on Costa right down to the funky little bedside lamps.

The ship is beautiful and has some unique back hallways and cozy spots. The usual grumpy "divas" and such were on board but we've started to expect them just like we do the street peddlers at the ports of call. :rolleyes:

Weather could have been better, but I didn't mind not getting sunburned. If I get the chance I'd book the Med again for the eastern Caribbean leg.

We were on Costa Mediterranea on back to back cruises 1/8 & 1/15 and we could have written the review given by Cruisehawk word for word.

Obviously those who rave about this line and ship have never experienced truly GREAT cruising ala RCCL & Celebrity. Will NEVER cruise Costa again.

HA Rotterdam

NCL Skyward

RCCL Sovereign - twice

Nording Prince

Nordic Empress - three times

Song of America

Monarch

Majesty

Carnival Ecstasy

Costa Romantica - which was good compared to this last experience

RCCL Legend - 3 times

Grandeur

Enchantment

Princess - Alaska cruise - bad experience - don't recall ship name

RCCL Splendour

Explorer

Celebrity Mercury - twice

Zenith

RCCL Serenade

Brilliance

Celebrity Millenium

and of course this last experience on Costa Mediterranea.

Are scheduled for RCCL Jewel transatlantic in September. So I know of what I speak - got a lot to compare Costa Mediterranea and believe me, there is no comparison - it was bad!

Cruisehawks - thank you for your review. We were on Costa Victoria a number of years ago to and from Genoa, Italy. It was definitely a different experience than sailing on Princess (which we love), Carnival (which we hate) or HAL (which we also really like). Each of the different cruise lines gives a very different experience - and Costa is definitely unique. We have just booked the Mediterranea for May to and from Venice. It is CONSIDERABLY less expensive than other lines doing a similar itinerary - ya get what ya pay for?? It was very interesting in Italy doing the ship activities - they ask up front in various different languages who is around so they know what languages to speak in - triva was a bit lost in translation at times - lol. Most of the shows were geared toward all languages. The Victoria had had an "English speaking" get together the first night of the cruise (only about 50 people on the sailing where they went over various info with us. It was quite interesting that they took up a great deal of the carpeting throughout the ship to accomodate the European tastes. We did also find it a bit disconcerting that they stopped breakfast at about 9:30am and if you wanted coffee or a croissant, you had to PURCHASE them from one of the bars. Frankly, I wouldn't sail Costa in the Caribbean, but overseas it is fine -All said, it was a different cruise experience and we did really enjoy our cruise.

Dyslexic - I would love to meet you! Can't even imagine missing "part" of my luggage equaling 5 bags (OMG) and still remaining so upbeat about my cruise, albeit a suite would certainly put me in a much better mood - lol. Hopefully we will meet on a cruise someday!

I have to also say that I had the very best baklava EVER on the Victoria - mouth watering just thinking of it and hoping to find it again on the Med. Anyone see it around?? Wonder if the automatic tipping will work the same overseas? Europeans are not big on tipping in the first place and the Victoria sailing was pre-automatic tipping policy - just curious if anyone knows.

I can't wait for my cruise (you guys concern me, though) I know everyone has a different take, but believe it or not, customer service is what concerns me. I know I won't starve, and we are traveling with 3 other families for a total of 15 of us, so I also know entertainment won't be a problem, but if I have a problem on board with a flood in my room or something where I would need customer service, I am concerned that they will NOT change my room or take care of the situation.

Anyone have a problem like that? if so, how was it handled?

thank you for you complete view of the costa mediterrian trip. My greatest personal concern is the smoking comment. Dec. o5 we used a Norwegian cruise and the way the ship was designed, we had to go thru smoking bars from our cabin near the forward to do any activities or meals. Any areas I needed to go for staff assistance 4 reaked of stinky smoke. And only about 15% of the passengers smoked. I ended up getting sick by the 4th day and got asthma from the cigrrette smoke exposure. I missed 2 wks of work to heal. We are on deck 6 near forward again, is there any way I can walk a corrider to get "around" some of the smoke exposure? Am I going to have to do many of my meals in my cabin? Are there smoke free cabins? j little lawrence, ks.

:confused:

thank you for you complete view of the costa mediterrian trip. My greatest personal concern is the smoking comment. Dec. o5 we used a Norwegian cruise and the way the ship was designed, we had to go thru smoking bars from our cabin near the forward to do any activities or meals. Any areas I needed to go for staff assistance 4 reaked of stinky smoke. And only about 15% of the passengers smoked. I ended up getting sick by the 4th day and got asthma from the cigrrette smoke exposure. I missed 2 wks of work to heal. We are on deck 6 near forward again, is there any way I can walk a corrider to get "around" some of the smoke exposure? Am I going to have to do many of my meals in my cabin? Are there smoke free cabins? j little lawrence, ks.

I can't wait for my cruise (you guys concern me, though) I know everyone has a different take, but believe it or not, customer service is what concerns me. I know I won't starve, and we are traveling with 3 other families for a total of 15 of us, so I also know entertainment won't be a problem, but if I have a problem on board with a flood in my room or something where I would need customer service, I am concerned that they will NOT change my room or take care of the situation.

 

Anyone have a problem like that? if so, how was it handled?

Why you should have a flood in you room,or a problem?Well if they can fix the problem they will do it,why change the room,and how can they change the room if they booked?Service is very good,we never had problem.Food was good too,much better than we had on NCL.so relax and dont think about problems wich probably will never happen to you:D

thank you for you complete view of the costa mediterrian trip. My greatest personal concern is the smoking comment. Dec. o5 we used a Norwegian cruise and the way the ship was designed, we had to go thru smoking bars from our cabin near the forward to do any activities or meals. Any areas I needed to go for staff assistance 4 reaked of stinky smoke. And only about 15% of the passengers smoked. I ended up getting sick by the 4th day and got asthma from the cigrrette smoke exposure. I missed 2 wks of work to heal. We are on deck 6 near forward again, is there any way I can walk a corrider to get "around" some of the smoke exposure? Am I going to have to do many of my meals in my cabin? Are there smoke free cabins? j little lawrence, ks.

each ship is different,so you need to specify on which one you going,so people can give you advises.It's not a cruise line,its ventilation problem,on Costa they have very good air systems,so even my DH dose not like smoke:rolleyes: he had no problem on Costa Atlantica,but he did not liked NCL Spirit ,because in Casino even for smokers it was bad:eek:

I ready the 1/22 review, and have great news. Almost all the horrible things that were noted have been corrected by my cruise!!!

The only warning I have is about the mattresses. I would have sworn they were 1" thick, but they're actually 3" thick, and they make a concrete floor feel soft!

Before going on the cruise I read some bad things about this ship, but with encouragement, my wife and I took this cruise. What a mistake it would have been to not go on this cruise!!!

My only concern that is with the price we paid, we may be facing federal charges for grand larceny -- they just about paid us to take this cruise!!!

As I've said in prior posts, there are a certain group of people that find fault with everything in life . . . and there are those that have a good time in life . . . I guess you just need to pick which group you'll be in. We are amused on cruises at those people that constantly complaint about everything on the ship. We actually did not see anybody complaining on the 1/29 cruise . . . our biggest gripe, was not actually with the cruise line.

Our biggest gripe was being in line at the St. Thomas post office, and two women cutting in from of 10 people waiting in line. When somebody pointed out the end of the line, these women were rude . . . imagine my surprise to get back on board and to find out that they were members of the activity staff of the ship! If thats the worst thing you can say about a cruise, well, we had a darn good time.

P.S. Shippy, my wife and I will have a full review for you later. Please, buy an egg crate mattress pad before the cruise, you won't regret it!

Oh yes, the last Friday was lobster night, and formal. My wife and I asked for "surf and turf" (normally prime rib was one entre, and lobster another), and the waiter said, "would you like two lobster tails instead of one").

How do you remove the automatic tips and tipped personally? Can anyone do that. Thanks

You certainly can remove the automatic tipping and pay what you like. Almost all of the ships are using that same procedure...so anyone saying it makes the employees lazy isnt saying anything because of the tipping.

I ready the 1/22 review, and have great news. Almost all the horrible things that were noted have been corrected by my cruise!!!

 

The only warning I have is about the mattresses. I would have sworn they were 1" thick, but they're actually 3" thick, and they make a concrete floor feel soft!

 

Before going on the cruise I read some bad things about this ship, but with encouragement, my wife and I took this cruise. What a mistake it would have been to not go on this cruise!!!

 

My only concern that is with the price we paid, we may be facing federal charges for grand larceny -- they just about paid us to take this cruise!!!

 

As I've said in prior posts, there are a certain group of people that find fault with everything in life . . . and there are those that have a good time in life . . . I guess you just need to pick which group you'll be in. We are amused on cruises at those people that constantly complaint about everything on the ship. We actually did not see anybody complaining on the 1/29 cruise . . . our biggest gripe, was not actually with the cruise line.

 

Our biggest gripe was being in line at the St. Thomas post office, and two women cutting in from of 10 people waiting in line. When somebody pointed out the end of the line, these women were rude . . . imagine my surprise to get back on board and to find out that they were members of the activity staff of the ship! If thats the worst thing you can say about a cruise, well, we had a darn good time.

 

P.S. Shippy, my wife and I will have a full review for you later. Please, buy an egg crate mattress pad before the cruise, you won't regret it!

 

Oh yes, the last Friday was lobster night, and formal. My wife and I asked for "surf and turf" (normally prime rib was one entre, and lobster another), and the waiter said, "would you like two lobster tails instead of one").

Love lobster...........practicing sleeping on basement floor :O)

I finally got home yesterday after 6 months in an RV, and one week on a bed on the Mediterranea. Hard to get used to sleeping on a comfortable bed!

Katy and I believe that a concrete floor may be softer than the Mediterranea beds -- the jury is still out.

Our best friends sailed Costa last year, and they said it was the worst cruise they ever went on, and they'll never cruise Costa again. Katy and I had a blast, and we definately cruise Costa again.

I guess its hard to see how you'll like a cruise until you try it.

I finally got home yesterday after 6 months in an RV, and one week on a bed on the Mediterranea. Hard to get used to sleeping on a comfortable bed!

 

Katy and I believe that a concrete floor may be softer than the Mediterranea beds -- the jury is still out.

 

Our best friends sailed Costa last year, and they said it was the worst cruise they ever went on, and they'll never cruise Costa again. Katy and I had a blast, and we definately cruise Costa again.

 

I guess its hard to see how you'll like a cruise until you try it.

a little tip:... as soon as you board, find your cabin steward and ask for a mattress topper...