Vald78

On 2/29/2020 at 5:59 PM, Bobbingbob said:

Thanks so much for that info Vald, really interesting. There were a lot of serious complaints regarding the food on the Smeralda on the very earliest cruises and it really does sound as if they have pulled their socks up and improved dramatically. I hope it continues.

The recent reviews on TripAdvisor also reflect improvement. I also posted a review on our experiences there.

6 hours ago, Bobbingbob said:

Were they actually checking that everyone washed and disinfected their hands? Also, how did you feel about the overall precautions if you don’t mind me asking! Did you feel reassured? 
 

Yes they were. We always do this this, but those who did’t, were not allowed to enter the dr. There was one staff member to check this. I think this was implemented only towards the end of our cruise (Feb 26 maybe). I was not very convinced about the precautions. At least it is better than nothing. 

6 hours ago, Bobbingbob said:

Did you have lobster the night it was on offer and, if so, how was it? Don’t think I’ll pay for it again.

 

By the way, I imagine it was the same tenor on both nights as I can’t imagine they would have two onboard for a one week cruise? Did you go and did you enjoy it?

Hi Bob,

Yes, we all had the lobster that night (half tail). It was very good, although maybe a bit overcooked. Another night they served mixed seafood cake, which was accompanied with a lobster claw. Delicious! I think lobster meat was included in some of the other dishes as well. I have to admit I was very positively surprised when we had the first lunch right after embarkation, when the provided excellent antipasto plate followed by grilled prawns and had the wine I asked immediately available. Absolutely best food we have had with Costa (only 4 cruises, though). 
The tenor was the same. Due to timing, we were not able to listen, although would have wanted. Same with the acrobat show. 

Concerning the jazz bar, they had a very good singer on one night. Otherwise instrumental.

They seem to have improved the menus and entertainment! I was talking about complimentary dishes (no extra charge) at the mdr. Lobster was included there on one night. Tenor shows were mentioned in the English program we received. We had early dinner at 6.45 pm which was quite inconvenient concerning the timing of the shows. The first one was at 8pm (dinner ending 8.45-9 pm) and the second too late for us to stay awake (11pm). 

Just returned from Smeralda. I agree on most of the points, but would like to correct some details:

- There was beef fillet on 2 nights in mdr.
- Grilled prawns at lunch in il Rugantino and also for dinner. They also served lobster and wide variety of other excellent seafood. 

- There was live music at the jazz and piano bars. 
- there was a tenor show on a couple evenings. 
 

Just returned from Smeralda. Everything was quite much as normal. There was additional health questionnaire and temperature check when embarking. In addition, all quests were required to wash or disinfect hands before entering dining rooms. That’s it. In case you have questions, I am happy to help. 

It would be nice to hear how the additional checks affect the embarkation in practice and whether there are any additional checks on board and for visiting passengers returning to the ship. In addition to restrictions related to travel to China, they have implemented health questionnaire and mandatory temperature scan, where 37.8 C is the upper limit for embarkation.

Based on the press release, it seems Smeralda is departing from Civitavecchia today, one day late (still docked). I assume they will skip La Spezia in order to reach Savona in time (today morning)?

Great review and pics! Many thanks!

I have a couple of questions still:

- Is the larger outdoor pool area in your pictures (pool with white/blue stripes) open to all customers or to spa guests only? Is it heated?

- Was the outdoor bar and food venue close to the pool (Settimo cielo?) open during your cruise or is it for the summer season only? How about the other outside bar aft on Deck 7?

- Was there any a la carte breakfast available or is it all buffet?

Great stuff! Your extensive review is highly appreciated. I hope you will cover a couple of "hot topics" from the previous reviews/ this forum:

- Dining experience and selection of MDR (there has been discussion whether to select Menegghino or Arlecchino)

- Quality of food

- Embarkation at each port: all bars and restaurants closed during mandatory safety drill each day

- There have also been complaints on crowded buffet and poor entertainment, but based on my previous experience on Costa, these are very much expected (and there is no need to attend either)!

Many thanks!

Dear Italian Cruiser,

Thanks for the great tips for us waiting for our next cruise. More than dozen negative reviews on TA and CC have been published already (there really are no positive ones!). One common complaint seems to be the food and dining experience. You already commented that, but may I ask some further questions:

- Were the dinner menus similar to your previous Costa cruises? Typically antipasto, primi, secondi, cheese and dessert, with optional salad and soup?

- There are several complaints of food being cold. Did you experience this? If yes, did it seem to be due to the kitchen or the waiters?

- People are complaining of food quality and portions being returned to kitchen. Did you encounter this?

- Breakfast and lunch being only buffet has been mentioned. Do they still serve ala carte lunch (with menus quite similar to dinner) at some of the restaurants or are there days when they have buffet only? Do they still have the ala carte breakfast (American, English, Belgian, etc) added with cold buffet?

Many thanks!

With Piu Gusto, you can get the same wines included in the package by the glass from all the bars in the ship. Also the wine bars.

On 1/8/2020 at 11:39 AM, Italian_Cruiser said:

On 1/8/2020 at 9:55 AM, dethman said:

we have never cruised on costa, only princess, RC, carnival, and NCL.  we are american and hope it's not too much of a culture shock.

 

As per my understanding Costa service is more or less aligned to Carnival - never cruised with any of the companies you listed so cannot really compare.

Hi,

I have been on Costa, Carnival and NCL. Although the basic concept is the same, I would say that the biggest difference is in food. Carnival and NCL were quite comparable in that respect while Costa is completely different. Costa serves Italian menus with 4-6 courses. Do not expect beef tenderloin, lobster etc but pasta, risotto, variety of antipasti, etc. I think the quality of the food has usually been very good on Costa. It is just different. Another difference, especially to NCL, is the entertainment, where Costa does not perform very well... Where Costa is better than the other cruise lines are the drink packages. Especially Piu Gusto is of extremely good value for the money.

On 1/6/2020 at 10:00 PM, Elrynna said:

Just returned from  the sailing of 28/12-4/1, ship brand new with lots of interesting areas, bars and waiters every few meters on 3 floors, 80% italian guests, few french and spanish, all ages with 50+ being the largest age group, decor hit and miss, crew varies from indifferent to very nice, certainly not a 5* place and personnel. The tours we chose were all very good and smoothly executed, a few got cancelled due to not enough english speakers, nice guides. Got lucky with the weather too, the outside areas looked very nice, even better in summer I imagine. I found the animation team to be quite good and funny and they certainly improved the experience. For the price paid, I was very happy with the choice IF you exclude the food that was quite frankly downright terrible. MDR was half empty most of the times and most plates were sent back. On the menus, the only fresh items were fruit, dessert and fish, all the rest had the frozen sign, you could tell from eating them as well! Tried the paid restaurants and it was almost as bad. We ended up losing weight on this one 🤷‍♀️

Thanks for the review! Concerning the food, have you cruised with Costa before? If yes, was Smeralda worse than the other Costa ships? We have always enjoyed the food on Costa MDRs. It is very different to other cruise lines we have been because it is almost entirely Italian and not typical international ala carte. 

Many thanks for the comprehensive responses! We actually have one of the four staterooms with "hump" balconies reserved for my parents-in-law... Will change our preference for MDR to Arlecchino. How about the indoor pool area, I assume it was quite busy? Were the outdoor pools/ water slides closed during your cruise? You mentioned special coffees included in the corallo tier. How were these different to the comprehensive menu of coffees included in Piu Gusto?

Thanks again!

I have always had the same wines included in the dining rooms (3 reds). How they are served seems to depend on the ship/ personnel. On Mediterranea (both from Savona and Dubai) we were provided with bottles of wines after the first one or two nights of asking them by the glass (prosecco and nero d'avola). In our recent cruise from Tokyo this was not the case. They only provided the wine they seemed to have at hand. After discussing with Maître 'd we once got glasses of nero d'avola, but it took almost an hour to get it.

Many thanks for the excellent responses and being available to help on Smeralda, for which there is not much information from the cruisers yet!

We are boarding from Civitavecchia in Feb. I have a couple of questions:

- By default, the requested MDR for us is Meneghino. You preferred Arlecchino and Rugantino. We are looking for the most "up-scale" MDR (table clots etc) with possibility for a table for 6 and not too noisy. Should we change to e.g. Arlecchino? I assume we are still able to visit the other MDRs as well during lunch/ breakfast?

- Do they have the same wines included in Piu Gusto as usually (3 reds if I remember correctly)? Is it an issue to get wines by the bottle (the one you prefer) with Piu Gusto at the dinner, or do they just pour from the bottle they happen to have in hand (we experienced this in our last cruise from Japan but newer in Mediterranea, where we always had the right bottles waiting for us at the table)?

- Do you know when it is possible to board in Civitavecchia (still in time for ala carte lunch)?

- Do you have any experience on balcony cabins in the middle part of the ship (we reserved one from deck 12 which looks a bit bigger in the deck plan, above Colosseo)?

- Which ports of call provide shuttle service that you would advise to use (last time I remember that in Marseille there was a huge queue for the shuttle)?

Many thanks in advance!