Marjar

Most cruiselines operate the same way so with your experience you should have no problems. Costa is an Italian cruiseline so treat it as if you were visiting Italy. Don't expect the same food or wine. There is alot more seafood than other cruiselines and alot less meat. If you are meat and potatoes person, you are on the wrong cruiseline. However, they have great pasta and gelato. The wines are almost all Italian, but inexpensive, cheaper than Princess. The announcements are up to 6 different languages. It is not a problem, unless the announcer has such a heavy Italian accent that you can't tell one language from another. Their shore excursions are priced less than other cruiselines. We sailed only once with Costa, a few months ago, and the only excursion was for a time-constraint excursion (where if we went on our own, missing the boat was a possibility.) Sometimes, the excursion will done in more than one language (like ours, although a little abbreviated). If you like dancing, you will have a great time. Music is quite varied, but entertainment could be better. If you like socializing on a cruiseship, this may be the wrong line unless you speak Italian or German. Many of the older passengers will not be able to carry on a conversation with you. If you treat this cruise like you are visiting Italy, you will have a great time else :( or :mad:

I understand that Costa will be different, and I am ok with that. I am mostly looking at it as a floating hotel, to get us from one place to another. I'm sure I will enjoy the on board experience :) I am just concerned about the shore excursions being cancelled as I am an over planner and have trouble letting go of my PLAN. So hopefully, we won't get cancelled on too much, but in any case I am going to try to have a plan B in place. Thanks for your input!

I was kind of bummed when I was first looking for reviews in English about Costa. The reason is there are simply less English people that cruise with them. The reviews I did find were usually horrible which made me nervous. If you can read Italian there is a plethora of facebook groups and forums about Costa, luckily I speak Italian so I usually get all my information there. There is a uk cruise site that has some Costa reviews but they weren't very helpful to me because they seem to compare Costa to P&O and other English lines which I have never cruised on and don't ever plan to honestly. I just decided to go and had a wonderful time. I recently cruised with Carnival in Caribbean and I find Costa to be much better (but that's just my opinion). I will be on the Diadema in 12 days so I can answer any questions you have about it when I get back. I don't really do shore excursions because I find it's pretty easy and cheaper to do European ports on my own. It's a lot easier here than in the Caribbean. The English shore excursions do get cancelled because of lack of English speakers on the ship.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for your comments! This is our first time to Europe and we went the cruise ship route so we didn't have to deal with planes, trains and automobiles:) But I want to see some of Europe, so I am nervous about my shore excursions being cancelled and being left without a plan. I do think that the shore excursions seem to be reasonably priced..so I want to use them in some cases, but all I have to go on is the rather limited information that Costa puts on its website. I wish I did speak Italian! Or any other language for that matter. The USA does not stress language in its education system unfortunately. I had three years of Spanish, but I am afraid that living in northern Minnesota, that is long forgotten now. I guess I will make a plan B for all of my ship shore excursions, just in case....

I will most assuredly have some questions for you when you get back, if you don't mind:)

My husband and I are taking our first Costa Cruise on the Costa Diadema from Rome on September 9, 2016. I use these boards extensively, but am somewhat frustrated by the lack of presence on the boards regarding Costa Cruises, shore excursions, ship experience etc. Also, the Costa website is less than stellar in giving shore excursion information. I am unable to find any reviews of the shore excursions anywhere. I also am alarmed to read that often the shore excursions are cancelled due to not enough people. Is anyone else having this problem? Is there a European equivalent of cruise critic that I can go to for information?

We used Executive VIP limo for our transfer of our party of 4 to the airport as we had an early flight and did not want to wait for a shared shuttle. Michael quoted us a price of $120 for the trip in the minivan and he arrived in the stretch limo and charged us the same price, as he was using it that day to go to Tampa! What a fun surprise for us! He was super professional, right on time and I would not hesitate to use him.:):):)

We are just off of the Sunshine and they have started adding fridges to some of the rooms. We were on Deck 9 in an interior room and 3 of the four rooms our party had, just had fridges added. We were not expecting it, having done my research on this site. They are not mini bars, and the cords go right up over the cabinet, so they didn't do any fancy electrical work, but the fridges worked fine for keeping things cold. :)

I will take lots of pictures and post them when we return on here.

That would be awesome!

Adjoining and connecting are two different things. Make sure that you're asking for what you want.

Ok. I was assuming they are the same. How are they different?

Thanks fingers crossed. Now off to research ports :D so excited I haven't been on a cruise in 2 almost 3yrs this should be a crime haha

Can you post how those adjoining rooms on deck 9 were? We have these rooms booked for next February. (for kids) and I am interested if there is any noise or any other positives or negatives you had with this location.

Thanks!!

This is our first time to Grenada. Should we book a land tour or just go to the spice market and Gand Anse Beach? What would be a better day.

 

Mindy

We spent the day at Grand Anse Beach and it was a beautiful beach. Gorgeous sand and water. Chairs and umbrella were $20 and there was a spice market located on the beach as well. A great day!

On Grande Anse Beach, I would like to find a scenic location right up at the water's edge, with chair/umbrella rentals as well as good food. What are the best options? AM I better off with a water taxi or cab?

We stopped at Grand Anse Beach about two weeks ago. We took a land taxi there- about $15 with tip (for two) and the water taxi back. $4 ea. We beat the water taxi there and saw a bit of the city on the way. The cab dropped us at the beach by the Grand Anse Spice Market, so we were able to get some spices from a lovely island woman named Cecilia, who was a real sweetie. We had nice padded beach chairs for $20 for two chairs and an umbrella and they were right on the ocean. There was bar service on the beach. Also, in the Spice Market was Rosie's Spice Flavored Rum bar which has reportedly great rum drinks though we didn't try any. The "free Wi-Fi" did not work on the beach, however.

Cruisegirl,

I am just back from Titou Gorge. I am 59 and also not a strong swimmer. There is a bit of a current but it is not too strong. Also, the guides have floats they can tow someone through if they are not able to handle the currents. I saw them do this with one older gentleman. I didn't go past the small waterfall as you have to climb up it and I am kind of a chicken, but there is a small ledge to hang out while the others do this.

As I recall, the water was a kind of orangish/brown color. I wore a black suit with white circles and I didn't get any kind of stain on them.

We just came back from Coconut Beach Club and were told they are tearing down the hotel in April. Probably this is why they are not taking beach club reservations beyond that point. Also, beach loungers are very limited. We arrived a few minutes after 10:00 and there were only 2 left. Our group of 8 had to sit on towels until about noon when some others were vacated. The bar and pool area were nice and the place is definitely relaxing, but for $50pp I would kind of like a chair. Also, our taxi driver mistakenly took us to Coconut Grove which is on the opposite side of the Coconut Beach Club, so make sure you tell him it is in Yepton.