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Wansbrough

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    Book through agent or direct with Costa?

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    On 7/24/2022 at 10:04 PM, gerryuk said:

    At this time, the agent is more likely to under than the cruise line, Costa is part of Carnival and is safe. In these uncertain times, i would not personally go through a agent, no matter what perks they try to entice me with. Having said that, its your money, do what you think is good for you.

    I tend to disagree with you but only as a resident of the UK where we have ATOL protection. If something goes wrong you have that as a backup. Our last 3 bookings have gone through an agent as a package where under normal circumstances we do our own thing.

    I certainly would not consider booking direct until we are well clear of Covid and airport chaos. Credit card payment and good insurance are also a consideration

    • Like 2

    Vegan Options on Costa

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    Having twice sailed on Costa Firenze this year, I have done a couple of reviews on the vegan options available. While I am not a vegan, my wife is so I have started to share what we have found on our recent cruises.

     

    Cruising with my Vegan Wife

     

    What has come as a bit of a revelation is Costa now do a vegan breakfast menu and as far as I am aware are the only mainstream cruise line that does this. It wasn't available in January but it was on our last sailing. Well done Costa! Details on the link below

     

    2022 – Vegan Options on Costa Firenze, 16-23 Jul

     

    veganbreakfast2694493949..jpg

     

    Also there are links to our previous Firenze cruise and one from Mediterranea in 2018

     

    2022 – Vegan Options on Costa Firenze, 15-22 Jan

     

    2018 – Vegan Options on Costa Mediterranea, 3 nighter 24-27 Oct

    • Thanks 2

    Inspired by the many others............

    in Cruise Blogs & Websites

    Costa Music

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Schlinger said:

    I'm on the Costa Firenze right now. Are you serious that the casino is "huge"? I think it's one of the smallest I have ever seen on a cruise ship. 40 or so slot machines and 4 tables and a bar.

    I'm also not sure what's limited about the music? They play hits, classics, lounge music, electric violin.. the usual. People seemed to like the ABBA night.

    Buffet was hit and miss (mostly hit), MDR was excellent, Teppanyaki was very good, steakhouse was good.

    Totally agree with you. We thoroughly enjoyed our 7 nights in January, so much so we are joining her again in July to do the Western Med run. It won't be the same experience but interesting to compare the two cruises.

    • Like 1

    The new C|Club will be live on 21st April!

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    Just received an email announcing the new C|Club will be live on 21st April!

    New levels and simple rules, new benefits and exclusive
    experiences, discounts and reserved promotions:
    we have redesigned the Club for a truly unique cruise experience;
    only for     our members. A sea of privileges awaits you.

     

    One wonders what they will have done to it this time?

    I would love to see the lifetime points reinstated but pigs might fly.....

    Booking question

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    We have had cabin selection issues a couple of times with Costa with only a very limited amount available. These have been on cruises well in advance and despite speaking directly with Costa, our TA wasn't able to get a proper answer and could only conclude that they must be holding them back for other markets.

    Costa Firenze Blog

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    On 3/31/2022 at 10:44 AM, Dancer Bob said:

    I am NOT impressed with the Firenze. Built for the Chinese market, huge casino, surrounded by expensive restaurants and shops, not much else. Everything is QR code, you have to haul around a computer all day. You need the Costa app- unless "not available for your device", in which case major aggravation. Worst Costa ship I have ever been on, hardly better than an American ship.

    Hello Bob, I didn't think the Casino was any bigger than others we have encountered. Granted the shopping area is a little more spread and as for QR codes, yes it is tedious but haul around a computer??? I would like to think once the Covid protocols eventually disappear, you should see the return of normal menus. We were given paper ones in the MDR, it was just the bars where the QR codes were more widely used and I don't have a problem choosing what to drink. 😉 🍷🍺🍹🍸🥃

    The only area of the ship we thought was not right was The Cantina Frescobaldi, (the wine bar and tasting area). It took up way too much room in the Tuscany Lounge and you couldn't get any other drink other than wine there. This was the only area I thought was specifically aimed at a different market.

    Sorry you didn't enjoy the ship, so we will have to agree to disagree as we thought it was amazing.

     

    A bit of ship & itinerary shuffling

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    Funny how we are all different, we loved Firenze. 

    The itinerary changes have basically the same start with Abu Dhabi, Muscat and the delightful Salalah then it's full steam through the Suez with a couple of extra Mediterranean ports. As much as we were going for some sunshine, we still need some sort of stimulation. 

    Are you on the repositioning cruise? 

    A bit of ship & itinerary shuffling

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    We have booked the repositioning cruise from Dubai to Civitavecchia next March on Firenze but have just received notification from our TA & Costa that there has been a ship & itinerary change.

    We will likely cancel this now as they have dropped Aqaba ☹, we could just about have tolerated the larger ship but being as there are so many sea days without the stop we we wanted to return to, it now holds little appeal. We were so looking forward to going to Wadi Rum again, I guess its just a case of having to be patient.

     

    "Dear partners, 

    We are looking forward to welcoming our mutual customers on board and our priority is to ensure them with a completely safe, serene, and memorable experience.

    While we are continuing with our operations in strict dialogue with governments and health authorities, we have been recently published on our channels our updated programs with itineraries for amazing cruise experiences for the 2022 and 2023 aimed at discovering destinations in an authentic way, both on board and ashore.

    Therefore, we would like to inform you that the cruise they booked with Costa Firenze from Emirates to the Mediterranean, will be instead performed due to operational reasons by our recently introduced flagship Costa Toscana, with same departures dates and a slightly modified itinerary.  "

    A few pdf menus from Costa Firenze

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, BVILady said:

    Thank you. Do you know whether Pranzo and Cena includes water with lunch and dinner? I don't see it listed in the price-lists.

    What I can tell you is we had the Brindiamo package and bottled water wasn't included. 

    Tap water was plentiful in the MDR (tastes much better out of a glass)

    I don't really know about the two packages you list and I can't say as I have ever heard of them either.

    Sorry I can't help you more

    • Thanks 1

    Costa Firenze Blog

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    2 hours ago, kremerlorraine said:

    Happy to do that. I have subscribed to your blog - it's the kremerl@..... address

    Thank you so much, I have sent you an email with all the details of who to try and track down.

    🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼 You manage to go.

    Costa Firenze Blog

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    On 1/23/2022 at 10:06 PM, kremerlorraine said:

    I'm fairly confident we'll be going and am looking forward to the ship. We've never been on such a new ship before. Thanks again for all your insights. Got any more Costas planned?

    If you do get to go, I have a favour to ask. Our waiters took a group selfie on their phones on the last night and I kick myself for not asking them to send me a copy, this also happened in Bella Bar too so I was wondering if you get onboard you could track them down and pass on an email address?

    Rather than post email addresses here, if you subscribe to my blog i can use the address you register with to pass on mine to you?

    I did ask one of the Ukrainian croupiers on Twitter but despite saying he would hasn't done so as of yet.

    Costa Firenze Blog

    in Costa Cruises

    Posted

    7 hours ago, kremerlorraine said:

    I'm fairly confident we'll be going and am looking forward to the ship. We've never been on such a new ship before. Thanks again for all your insights. Got any more Costas planned?

     

    We are looking  👀👀👀, got our eyes on a 2 week Venezia in mid July and also we want to do a north bound repo through the Suez again but it will have to wait until next year. We did it on Fortuna in 2014 and loved it. Will have to wait and see which ship they deploy there next season, if its one of the new big ones we will have to have a rethink.

    Inspired by the many others............

    in Cruise Blogs & Websites

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