Review Costa Mediterranea 12/04/05

Hello,

I just returned from the 12/04 - 12/11 sailing of the Costa Mediterranea.

I'm a T/A and specialize in group cruises, and I escorted close to 200 passengers on this sailing.

I will give my review and also interject some revieews from my group participants.

Most of us arrived in Ft Lauderdale on three charter busses. The porters at the pier did a great job of handling luggage for so many incoming busses. One of our passengers getting off the bus had a minor but scary accident, (a small head cut - but considerable bleeding). The Costa representatives at the pier called the paramedics who arrived in a flash. No stitiches, thank goodness, and the injured passenger was guided to a quick check in.

Since many of my passengers were senior citizens, the pre-requested wheel chair pier assistance was handled very efficiently.

As a matter of fact, check in for all of our group was one of the fastest I have ever experienced in my travel career of over three decades.

Luggage also arrived at the cabins quickly.

The muster drill was also very organized, and crew members were great at directing everyone to their proper station.

The buffet on board upon arrival was lovely. Fresh cooked pastas, tasty roast beef and hand dipped ice cream were just a few of the goodies.

Most of my passengers had early seating, (I had late), and everyone had the assigned seating with the people they wanted to dine with, which they had requested prior to the cruise. This is a HUGE plus for my groups, and I was happy that all of our requests were carried out.

We also had many birthday and anniversary celebrations in our group, and the cakes that Costa provided were large enough to serve the entire table of 8, (unlike the tiny cupcakes that other cruise lines offer).

Dinner on the first night was disorganized the first night and some of the food selections were over cooked. Example, soggy snap peas and fish on the dry side. My menu had no pages inside, and when I asked for another, I was given the wine list. I had to borrow a menu from one of my dining companions. I heard that the same disorganization happened in early seating.

I spoke to the head waiter since I was concerned about any on going problems with a group this size.

Subsequent dinners were very good and the service was much better throughout the rest of the cruise.

I personally enjoyed the food. As for my group, I would say that about as many as 20 percent of my group participants had some negative comments regarding the food. Keep in mind that my group were primarily seniors, and they were also primarily frequent cruisers who were used to the more Americanized cuisine on Celebrity, Princess and Holland America. A few said they would have preferred paying a slightly higher price to take their next cruise on another line because they like the food better on other lines.

The food is more geared to Italian and European cooking. Not the typical meat and potatoes of American cuisine. But more of dishes with sauces.

One passenger had a problem with the lobster having a butter sauce rather than the plain broiled lobster with drawn butter, (that kind of thing).

I LOVED both the grouper with a melt in your mouth sauce to die for. Also rack of lamb was one of the best I ever had, (and I had that lobster I described above and I found it to be a plesant change from the ordinary).

If you don't like change, you may not like Costa's food, but if you want something a little less American, then you will love it.

As for the ship; the Mediterranea is one of the most beautiful at sea!!! The art work is fantastic, and the decor is simply amazing and well worth the price of admission. And the cleanliness is spotless. I wish I could have brought my cabin steward home to clean my house! :)

The cabins were well appointed, and I was very comfortable. The mattress was very firm which I liked, but several of my passsengers said they would have preferred a softer bed and softer pillows.

Bar service was very nice. The TODAY daily newsletter offered a drink of the day. Drinks were very nice, well priced, and one thing I really liked was that although there were plenty of bar servers everywhere, they were not in your face hawking drinks like on other cruise lines which is an annoyance on other cruise lines.

There were lots of available deck chairs, and they were the mesh kind that were very comfortable. Towels were very available as well.

The entertainment was good. Not as elaborate stage set as perhaps Holland America, but very good. I loved a show called "Solid Gold." The dancers were great considering that we had some rough seas on Friday night during the show.

Customer service was very good. One of my passengers became seriously ill on Thursday when we were in the Dominican Republic. The medical staff was very efficient, as was the coordination of removing my passenger and his spuose from the ship and transportating them to the hospital, and then home.

The main complaint that I had was the shore excursion desk which seemed unavailable most of the time. Many of my passengers were unable to book shore excursions, or get proper meeting information once they did manage to purchase an excursion. Also some excursions were cancelled with no other replacement options offered. In fact the excursion desk actually closed while three of my passengers were still waiting in line for service, (not a good thing)!

For those of us that did manage to book excursions, the excursions were very good. The side trip to St John from St Thomas was excellent and comes highly recommended. I did not go on excursion in San Juan because I knew the area, and there are always cab drivers where you can negotiate a price and see all the sights for much less and have a more personable tour as well.

Catalina Island, (Costa's private Island stop), in my opinion, (and the opinion of the vast majority of my passengers), far surpasses the private Islands of other lines including Princess Cay and Holland Americans Half Moon Cay, and Royal Caribbeans Labadee.

The itinerary was set us where you could take a tour to La Romana and the be dropped off back at Catalina Island for beach time and a great buffet lunch on the Island.

We took the tour called the amphibious boat tour down the Chavon River. NOTE: the shore excursion discription says this is a HARD tour meaning challenging. But unless you are in a wheelchair or very elderly, this tour is not difficult at all. We took a 10 month baby in a stroller with no problems at all. It's a great tour, scenery is great, entertainment, drinks, music and dancing on board the land and water vehicle. Well worth the $64.00 for the 5 hour tour.

At the end of the day the ship moves from Catalina Island to La Romana for an evening show there called Kandala. The show is incredible and held in a man made amphatheatre that looks like an Roman Forum. I believe the cost was $36.00 and it is definitely a must see show!

The toga party on the last night is an event not to be missed. Shame on anyone who does not bother with the toga. Costa is known for this, and I think it's always a special touch for the last night of the cruise since last nights are always a bit of a let down on a cruise. This is a great remedy.

They had a passenger talent show which was delightful, and two of our group passengers were in the show.

Dining room entertainment is great on two nights of the cruise, (second formal and toga nights), which included a lot of passenger participation.

The photo gallery staff was very organized and helpful in finding photos for those of us who wanted to view our photos. We were very dissapointed however, that they did not have ability to make our photos into christmas cards, (which other cruise lines do in December sailings). Also Costa did not offer the ship photo and frame booklets for sale, or for a multiple photo purchase bonus offer, (a standard feature of other cruise lines).

Our group cocktail party was held in a beautiful lounge called the Isobella Lounge at the front of the ship. It was very well done.

My only complaint about the cocktail party and TRAVEL AGENTS PLEASE TAKE NOTE, is that my passengers received an invitation for our cocktail party which read COMPLIMENTS OF COSTA CRUISE LINES. Since travel agents pay for these parties from their group amenitiy points in lieu of bonus commissions or other amenitiy choices, it is important that the travel agents get recognition to their group passengers that their travel agent hosted the party. For a group my size this sailing that party is worth considerable money and it is important that we the agents get credit for this.

When I mentioned this at the customer service desk, they gave me a microphone so I could make announcements and clarify. But I would have much preferred that the invitations indicated this.

As requested, we had a phoptographer at our cocktail party to take group photographs. This is a feature that is important to me, and it was handled very well.

The spa was wonderful. I'm a spa lover, and treatment and service prices were good. The spa staff did not try to hawk product or push tipping for services, (a real plus). The gym, exercise classes, spa treatments, spa jucuzzi, sun lamps, steam and sauna were all state of the art and available morning to late evening.

The casino was very passenger friendly. Several of our passengers won significant amounts of money on the tables and slots.

Overall, there were a few problems with language barriers among staff members. If I asked certain questions regarding times of events and activities, many could not express themselves clearly in English.

The only complaints I received was the poor service in the dining room that first night which seemed to be a problem with everyone. The food was an issue only to those who prefer very Americanized cuisine and are somewhat averse to change.

As for age ratio, I would say the average age was perhaps 40 ish. Keep in mind that my group averaged age 70 ish. Our oldest was 92 and we had one teenager, one child age 8 and a baby in our group.

I saw a fairly small amount of kids, two or three babies besides the one in our group and a small amount of school aged kids. I imagine this would be higher during school break of holiday times.

I find that my regular Holland America croud will probably stick with Holland on their future cruises.

There are some in our group that love Costa above all else. And we had quite a few that were first timers on Costa and plan to do it again.

We sail the Magica on April 28th to Bermuda and the Concordia on Octover 29th to Italy, so we look forward to future Costa cruises.

By the way, check out was a agent/escorts DREAM! Can you believe from debarkation to getting on our busses was less than 30 minutes (including customes)!

What a great way to end a good cruise vacation! :)

Now that is 2 great reviews that I have just read. I am so excited to be going. Only 4 looong months to go. Thanks for your review

Hello,

 

I just returned from the 12/04 - 12/11 sailing of the Costa Mediterranea.

 

I'm a T/A and specialize in group cruises, and I escorted close to 200 passengers on this sailing.

 

I will give my review and also interject some revieews from my group participants.

 

Most of us arrived in Ft Lauderdale on three charter busses. The porters at the pier did a great job of handling luggage for so many incoming busses. One of our passengers getting off the bus had a minor but scary accident, (a small head cut - but considerable bleeding). The Costa representatives at the pier called the paramedics who arrived in a flash. No stitiches, thank goodness, and the injured passenger was guided to a quick check in.

 

Since many of my passengers were senior citizens, the pre-requested wheel chair pier assistance was handled very efficiently.

 

As a matter of fact, check in for all of our group was one of the fastest I have ever experienced in my travel career of over three decades.

 

Luggage also arrived at the cabins quickly.

 

The muster drill was also very organized, and crew members were great at directing everyone to their proper station.

 

The buffet on board upon arrival was lovely. Fresh cooked pastas, tasty roast beef and hand dipped ice cream were just a few of the goodies.

 

Most of my passengers had early seating, (I had late), and everyone had the assigned seating with the people they wanted to dine with, which they had requested prior to the cruise. This is a HUGE plus for my groups, and I was happy that all of our requests were carried out.

 

We also had many birthday and anniversary celebrations in our group, and the cakes that Costa provided were large enough to serve the entire table of 8, (unlike the tiny cupcakes that other cruise lines offer).

 

Dinner on the first night was disorganized the first night and some of the food selections were over cooked. Example, soggy snap peas and fish on the dry side. My menu had no pages inside, and when I asked for another, I was given the wine list. I had to borrow a menu from one of my dining companions. I heard that the same disorganization happened in early seating.

 

I spoke to the head waiter since I was concerned about any on going problems with a group this size.

 

Subsequent dinners were very good and the service was much better throughout the rest of the cruise.

 

I personally enjoyed the food. As for my group, I would say that about as many as 20 percent of my group participants had some negative comments regarding the food. Keep in mind that my group were primarily seniors, and they were also primarily frequent cruisers who were used to the more Americanized cuisine on Celebrity, Princess and Holland America. A few said they would have preferred paying a slightly higher price to take their next cruise on another line because they like the food better on other lines.

 

The food is more geared to Italian and European cooking. Not the typical meat and potatoes of American cuisine. But more of dishes with sauces.

 

One passenger had a problem with the lobster having a butter sauce rather than the plain broiled lobster with drawn butter, (that kind of thing).

 

I LOVED both the grouper with a melt in your mouth sauce to die for. Also rack of lamb was one of the best I ever had, (and I had that lobster I described above and I found it to be a plesant change from the ordinary).

 

If you don't like change, you may not like Costa's food, but if you want something a little less American, then you will love it.

 

As for the ship; the Mediterranea is one of the most beautiful at sea!!! The art work is fantastic, and the decor is simply amazing and well worth the price of admission. And the cleanliness is spotless. I wish I could have brought my cabin steward home to clean my house! :)

 

The cabins were well appointed, and I was very comfortable. The mattress was very firm which I liked, but several of my passsengers said they would have preferred a softer bed and softer pillows.

 

Bar service was very nice. The TODAY daily newsletter offered a drink of the day. Drinks were very nice, well priced, and one thing I really liked was that although there were plenty of bar servers everywhere, they were not in your face hawking drinks like on other cruise lines which is an annoyance on other cruise lines.

 

There were lots of available deck chairs, and they were the mesh kind that were very comfortable. Towels were very available as well.

 

The entertainment was good. Not as elaborate stage set as perhaps Holland America, but very good. I loved a show called "Solid Gold." The dancers were great considering that we had some rough seas on Friday night during the show.

 

Customer service was very good. One of my passengers became seriously ill on Thursday when we were in the Dominican Republic. The medical staff was very efficient, as was the coordination of removing my passenger and his spuose from the ship and transportating them to the hospital, and then home.

 

The main complaint that I had was the shore excursion desk which seemed unavailable most of the time. Many of my passengers were unable to book shore excursions, or get proper meeting information once they did manage to purchase an excursion. Also some excursions were cancelled with no other replacement options offered. In fact the excursion desk actually closed while three of my passengers were still waiting in line for service, (not a good thing)!

 

For those of us that did manage to book excursions, the excursions were very good. The side trip to St John from St Thomas was excellent and comes highly recommended. I did not go on excursion in San Juan because I knew the area, and there are always cab drivers where you can negotiate a price and see all the sights for much less and have a more personable tour as well.

 

Catalina Island, (Costa's private Island stop), in my opinion, (and the opinion of the vast majority of my passengers), far surpasses the private Islands of other lines including Princess Cay and Holland Americans Half Moon Cay, and Royal Caribbeans Labadee.

 

The itinerary was set us where you could take a tour to La Romana and the be dropped off back at Catalina Island for beach time and a great buffet lunch on the Island.

 

We took the tour called the amphibious boat tour down the Chavon River. NOTE: the shore excursion discription says this is a HARD tour meaning challenging. But unless you are in a wheelchair or very elderly, this tour is not difficult at all. We took a 10 month baby in a stroller with no problems at all. It's a great tour, scenery is great, entertainment, drinks, music and dancing on board the land and water vehicle. Well worth the $64.00 for the 5 hour tour.

 

At the end of the day the ship moves from Catalina Island to La Romana for an evening show there called Kandala. The show is incredible and held in a man made amphatheatre that looks like an Roman Forum. I believe the cost was $36.00 and it is definitely a must see show!

 

The toga party on the last night is an event not to be missed. Shame on anyone who does not bother with the toga. Costa is known for this, and I think it's always a special touch for the last night of the cruise since last nights are always a bit of a let down on a cruise. This is a great remedy.

 

They had a passenger talent show which was delightful, and two of our group passengers were in the show.

 

Dining room entertainment is great on two nights of the cruise, (second formal and toga nights), which included a lot of passenger participation.

 

The photo gallery staff was very organized and helpful in finding photos for those of us who wanted to view our photos. We were very dissapointed however, that they did not have ability to make our photos into christmas cards, (which other cruise lines do in December sailings). Also Costa did not offer the ship photo and frame booklets for sale, or for a multiple photo purchase bonus offer, (a standard feature of other cruise lines).

 

Our group cocktail party was held in a beautiful lounge called the Isobella Lounge at the front of the ship. It was very well done.

 

My only complaint about the cocktail party and TRAVEL AGENTS PLEASE TAKE NOTE, is that my passengers received an invitation for our cocktail party which read COMPLIMENTS OF COSTA CRUISE LINES. Since travel agents pay for these parties from their group amenitiy points in lieu of bonus commissions or other amenitiy choices, it is important that the travel agents get recognition to their group passengers that their travel agent hosted the party. For a group my size this sailing that party is worth considerable money and it is important that we the agents get credit for this.

 

When I mentioned this at the customer service desk, they gave me a microphone so I could make announcements and clarify. But I would have much preferred that the invitations indicated this.

 

As requested, we had a phoptographer at our cocktail party to take group photographs. This is a feature that is important to me, and it was handled very well.

 

The spa was wonderful. I'm a spa lover, and treatment and service prices were good. The spa staff did not try to hawk product or push tipping for services, (a real plus). The gym, exercise classes, spa treatments, spa jucuzzi, sun lamps, steam and sauna were all state of the art and available morning to late evening.

 

The casino was very passenger friendly. Several of our passengers won significant amounts of money on the tables and slots.

 

Overall, there were a few problems with language barriers among staff members. If I asked certain questions regarding times of events and activities, many could not express themselves clearly in English.

 

The only complaints I received was the poor service in the dining room that first night which seemed to be a problem with everyone. The food was an issue only to those who prefer very Americanized cuisine and are somewhat averse to change.

 

As for age ratio, I would say the average age was perhaps 40 ish. Keep in mind that my group averaged age 70 ish. Our oldest was 92 and we had one teenager, one child age 8 and a baby in our group.

 

I saw a fairly small amount of kids, two or three babies besides the one in our group and a small amount of school aged kids. I imagine this would be higher during school break of holiday times.

 

I find that my regular Holland America croud will probably stick with Holland on their future cruises.

 

There are some in our group that love Costa above all else. And we had quite a few that were first timers on Costa and plan to do it again.

 

We sail the Magica on April 28th to Bermuda and the Concordia on Octover 29th to Italy, so we look forward to future Costa cruises.

 

By the way, check out was a agent/escorts DREAM! Can you believe from debarkation to getting on our busses was less than 30 minutes (including customes)!

 

What a great way to end a good cruise vacation! :)

I was wondering why I didn't hear back from you.. now i know.. I have to agree with you on the shore excursion desk.. we sent our butler down to deal with them (worth her tip in gold).. we heard Paul announce that his cruise staff had NOTHING to do with the shore excursion desk.. it was obvous why.. we really didn't have any problems the first nite in the dining room.. that's the nite we fell in love with our philipino waiter and asst..I ordered salmon the first nite and it arrived nice and moist.. we were one of the lucky first niters.. the show in la romano was definitely worth the 36.00 price of admission.. the ampitheater is just amazing..and it was a perfect nite.. the entire staff (except for the shore excursion desk) was an infectious happy atmosphere.. first time I've seen music and dancing on the tenders.. lol.. the tender staff were dancing with the pax on the way to and back to the private island and blowing kisses back to the ship as we pulled away.. I'm sure you ordered the great weather we had !! now to finish unpacking..

CruisinGroupie!

Hey, welcome back! Sounds like you had a wonderful time... I am really glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your review by the way... nice and detailed, that's how I like it. Make sure to post your review also at the Member Review section under the ship... this will also give the ship the average review rating.

Oh... by the way... Welcome to the CLC (the Costa Lover's Club) ;-)

Great to have you back..

Andy

Thanks for your detailed review. I am departing on the Costa Mediterranea on December 18. I have cruised with most of the major cruise lines (Celebrity, Crystal, Cunard, Holland America, NCL, Princess, and Royal Caribbean), but this will be my first cruise with Costa. I am looking forward to trying something different. After reading some recent negative reviews about this ship, I was starting to wonder if I made the right decision to book this cruise. However, your review makes me feel better.

I am also leaving on the 18th and I am glad to read this review. I always try to keep an open mind unless a lot of things happen.

I know that everyone's tastes will never be satisfied as many people have many different tastes. I know, that the one who will be the hardest to please, will be my husband. He is the picky eater. I hope they have peanut butter and jelly - he can always eat that.

I am glad to have read this review and we are so looking forward to this trip. We have a varied range of ages - 13 to 73.

Thanks for the review and I will post mine upon our return on the 23rd.

It's much appreciated! I'm glad you pointed out the writing on the cocktail party invite. We also have a cocktail party for our group in Jan.

You are welcome.

If you are a group leader or a T/A one suggestion I have is to try to get the time, date and location where your cocktail party will be held and then do your own invitations and insert them in your client's documents.

Most of the other cruise lines always contact me before the sailing date and give me that information.

But in the case of my most recent group on the Mediterranea, I was told my special services that the cocktail party would likely be on December 9th (which it was), but that the time and the location on the ship would be determined onboard and stated in the invitations. So unfortunately I was not able to do my own invitations, or invite others prior to my receiving the invitation which was the night before the party.

In any event, it is very important to a T/A that the invitations acknowledge the agent, since we select the amenities from our gap points, and essentialy this has a direct effect on our earnings.

I made this very clear to our onboard group specialist, and hopefully that was enough for them to make the necessary changes to acknowledge the agents that bring groups to them. :o

First off, to CruisinGroupe and others, thank you all for putting forth a positive note to the Costa Mediterranea. I'm sure that with this ship, as with any other, there will be those that are satisfied and those that are not. My wife and I will be sailing her on the 12th of February for our 19th cruise, and I do have a question regarding the excursions. My wife is mobile but walks rather slowly and has to take "breaks" quite often. On the "not so good" times I will be pushing her is a collapsible wheelchair. I was going to wait until we got aboard to check with the Excursion Desk on what tours might be okay to take if we needed the wheelchair, but form what I have heard here, I don't know now if I should wait to get an answer and to book them.

My question is this:

What tours do you think we could handle with the folding chair….???

Again, Thanks,

manualwriter :rolleyes:

Hi there!

Enjoy your cruise. Are you going on the eastern or western itinerary?

We went on the eastern and we escorted a majority of seniors some of which were in wheelchairs or walkers.

The only shore excursion that may be questionable is the one from Catalina Island to La Romana called the anphibious boat tour.

It is said to be HARD, but I would say the only difficulty would be getting onto the anphibious boat. If your wife can get out of the chair and walk up a ladder (about 6 steps), then it will be fine. Otherwise it may be a challenge. There is another tour on a regular boat that goes down the Chavon River which has beautiful scenery. If you cannot do the anphibious #34032 tour, I would consider substituting it for the Tour #3033 Chavon River Boat Tour. Same scenery/easier boat.

We actually took the amphibious boat tour and we had a 10 month old baby with us that had a collapseable stroller/car seat thing, and they just took the baby from the stroller and handed her off to the top and then put her back in her seat when they were on board.

In Casa de Campo there is a show called Kandala which is a must see. The streets in the little Mediterranian style village are a cobblestone type so the wheel chair ride could be a bit bumpy. The amphatheatre is build like old riuns with lots of very uneven steps and the show is at night. There are many many staff members light the way and assisting people to get in and out of the theatre. Those with wheeelchairs parked in the back/top of the theatre so as not to have to maneuver those steps.

The baby stroller manuevered the cobblestone OK but it was a little bumpy. They baby seemed to be enjoying it.

All other tours are very easy on the eastern caribbean itinerary.

Bon Voyage and have a wonderful cruise! :)

Again CruisinGroupe, thanks for your reply. I should have explained a little bit more. The cruise we're taking on the Mediterranea is the Eastern cruise. My wife walks pretty well, but slowly. So if we want to keep up with the crowd it's just as easy for her to use the wheelchair , with me pushing, we have no problem keeping up. I was mainly worried about fitting the chair aboard and transportation (it weights about 30 lbs and I can lift it and carry it just fine). But sometimes the tours have you packed in a little mini-bus, and there just isn't room for the chair.

Anyway, again, Thanks for the advice. What around Catalina Island?? Is it pretty accessible? :D

Manualwriter:

At Catalina Island the ship will be anchored off shore and tenders will bring you on shore. Sometimes the water is a bit rough and the tenders are bouncing up and down, but the Costa staff is extemely helpful and will certainly assist you with getting you on and off the ship safely.

Once you dock on Catalina Island you most likely will be greeted by some locals with music. The photographers will take you picture, which you will find later on board.

You'll find a large pavillion straight ahead of you. This is where the ship's staff will serve lunch later, a nice BBQ with all the fixings. Towards your left you see the beach with countless beach chairs. Usually somebody is offering to prepare a chair for you with your towel, and of course is expecting a tip for that service.

If you stoll along the walkway on top of the beach, you'll find some tents (that's where the ship's staff is offering the massages - see more details in your onboard "TODAY" newsletter), as well as some merchants which will desperatly are trying to sell you something.

The access should be fairly easy for you and your wife, although of course you have plenty of fine sand along the beach. If you stay on the walkway, you should not have a problem.

Have a wonderful cruise!

Andy ;-)

Hi CruisinGroupie,

I decided to make invitations to bring along onboard for the cocktail party. Once I find out when and where, I'll hand write the place, date and time in and deliver to staterooms.

You mentioned that the cocktail party was well done. Sometimes the group cocktail parties are just so-so. Could you tell me if there was enough wait staff? Was your group able to order drinks rather than just choose from pre-made umbrella drinks? Did you have hors d'oeuvres at your party? If so, how were they? Was it an hour party?

Did you have other groups combined with yours at the party? Did officers or anyone from the cruise directors staff attend? Just curious...

Thanks!