Back from Atlantica Western Caribbean!

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

We are back from our first Costa cruise and, despite the weather, we all had a good time! We were a party of 8 with 4 children ranging in age from 5 to 12. We have cruised on Disney, Princess and Carnival. I have to admit that I was a little nervous after reading some of the negative reviews, but went with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised. This will be a little long, but I will try to address some of the concerns that I had been worrying about as well as things I was wondering about pre-cruise…

 

Embarkation was quick & painless – though getting to the terminal was a little rough – there were so many ships in port that day (including Oasis) that we were stuck in traffic within the port for about an hour before we could reach our terminal (Terminal 19). When we got there, they were not using the kiosks to do self check in – we were directed to the desks to check in. We were able to go right to our rooms by that time and found our cards there. We used the kiosks on the ship to register our credit card – again, quick & painless.

 

I found the service to be very good (with the exception of our dinner sever – more on that later). Everyone we dealt with was very friendly, from our steward, to guest services to the kid’s club. I never met any staff that was rude or unfriendly. I enjoyed hearing the announcements in several languages - I am not sure why this bothers some people??? :confused:

 

I have read many complaints about smoking on board, so was concerned about this. However, the only time I noticed it was in Café Florian, where they have a certain section for smoking – but there were never more than 2 or 3 people there at a time, if any at all. I passed through the casino a few times and didn’t notice any smoke there or anywhere else on board. There was a cigar lounge on deck 10, but I never saw it.

 

I have also read many complaints about the food. I found the food to be typical cruise food – there were plenty of choices and I liked most of what I tried. Some things were better than others – a big disappointment for one of my sons was the lack of chicken fingers – we found them at the buffet for lunch one day – they were called fried chicken, but were actually chicken fingers, lol. We tried the buffet for breakfast and lunch, the main dining room for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the pool deck grill and taco bar for lunch. We did not try the buffet for dinner.

 

Our dinner service turned out to be a running joke for the length of the cruise – the courses never really came out in any particular order – one person would get their salad first, while another would get their appetizer, while another would get their soup. Sometimes someone’s course would not come out at all. Once 3 of the 4 kids’ dinners came out with the appetizers, and the 4th child’s dinner didn’t come out until the adult dinners came (and the other kids were already done). It was a running joke as to who would actually get all the courses they ordered at each dinner. By the end of the week, I was down to ordering only 2 courses to move things along! :p

 

Early seating was at 6:00, late seating at 8:45. At dinner each night, there was an “Always Available” menu, which included pasta alfredo, spaghetti & meatballs, Caesar salad, grilled chicken breast, salmon and the Costa Delight dessert (yummy!).

 

Our dress codes were as follows:

Sat. – informal

Sun. – Key West – gala

Mon. – at sea – informal

Tues. – Grand Cayman – informal

Wed. – Roatan – informal / tropical

Thurs. – Cozumel – gala

Fri – at sea – informal

It was a little strange that the Caribbean menu in the dining room was the Italian night in the main atrium, and the Italian night menu in the dining room was the tropical dress code night ?? Anyway, it was all still fun. The kids enjoyed the surprise “shows” in the dining room.

The Roman toga night was on Tuesday night at 11:00 pm – togas were not left in our cabins, but they were available outside the theatre as you walked in. The staff was also helping people put them on correctly.

The happy hour 2 for 1 drink specials were everyday from 11am- noon and from 5-6pm.

There always seemed to be plenty of entertainment throughout the day and night. We enjoyed the shows we went to and those we saw were family friendly.

The waterslide was open from 10-12 and 2-4 on port days and 10-4 on sea days.

At first site, the kids club was a disappointment to my 2 boys, but they ended up asking to go at least once a day throughout the cruise, so either they liked the club or they really, really wanted to get away from Mom & Dad! :rolleyes: The club took them to the show in the theatre one night and up to the pool deck for the tropical party another night. They had several activities in the disco and a couple of movie nights I believe. On the last day of the cruise they put on a kids talent show in one of the lounges which was very cute. The last night they came back with hats, Frisbees, backpacks and a few other little things that they had bought with their Squok money that they had received throughout the week at the club. My daughter and her friend were a little too old for the kids club and a little too young for the teen group, so did their own thing for the most part. I wish they had better activities for this in between age (11-12).

Ports –

Key West – We docked at the Naval pier and there was a free trolley to Mallory Square. The last trolley back to the ship was at 1:00, all aboard was 1:30pm. We went to the aquarium and did a little shopping.

Grand Cayman – We tendered in – all aboard was 3:30pm. We did the pirate encounter excursion and some shopping. The meeting time for the excursion was noon.

Roatan – We docked at Mahogony Bay and had a nice beach day there. The water was shallow and calm for the kids, there were plenty of beach chairs, live music and even a small playground for the kids. Also plenty of shops for shopping. All aboard was 5:30.

Cozumel – We docked here – I believe it was Puerta Maya. Lots of shopping available at the pier. My daughter was not feeling well this day so we ended up cancelling our plans for the day. All aboard was 5:30.

We were auto charged 11.00 per adult, per day for tips. Rather than go to guest services to adjust the tips up, we just gave extra cash directly. We were not charged any tips for the kids. I believe kids over 12 are charged 1/2.

Overall, I believe the cruise was a great value for the amount we paid.

That’s all I can think of at the moment! I have all my Todays, as well as the kids club schedules and a couple of kids menus, excursion, port, spa and room service info if anyone has any questions.

[Cruise4Andy]

Thanks for your review! Great to hear that you had a wonderful time! It's interesting that there seems to be quite a few differences between the Fortuna and Atlantica.

 

You said you had the Roman/Toga night on Tuesday? Did you still have a guest talent show?

 

On the Fortuna the Roman/Toga night is on Saturday, the night before coming back, as the staff is looking for talented guests, which are audition and practice during the week, before performing on Saturday. How did that work on the Atlantica? Not a lot of time between Saturday and Tuesday...

[krisj]

Thank you so much for the info!

 

What time were you allowed to get onto the Atlantica in Ft. Lauderdale?

 

Where do you find the free trolley to Key West? Is it right after you get off the ship?

 

Was there a big screen tv anywhere? I think we booked the cruise during the Super Bowl. No wonder we got such a good deal....

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions for you later.

Thanks!

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

Thanks for your review! Great to hear that you had a wonderful time! It's interesting that there seems to be quite a few differences between the Fortuna and Atlantica.

 

You said you had the Roman/Toga night on Tuesday? Did you still have a guest talent show?

 

On the Fortuna the Roman/Toga night is on Saturday, the night before coming back, as the staff is looking for talented guests, which are audition and practice during the week, before performing on Saturday. How did that work on the Atlantica? Not a lot of time between Saturday and Tuesday...

 

Looking at the Todays, the first notice I see for the Roman night talent show sign up is in Monday's Today. The talent show was the following night at 11pm - so not a lot of time to practice! Everyone was pretty good - I believe only one person was sent to the lions. It showed several times throughout the cruise on the stateroom tv's if you missed it the first time.

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

Thank you so much for the info!

 

What time were you allowed to get onto the Atlantica in Ft. Lauderdale?

 

Where do you find the free trolley to Key West? Is it right after you get off the ship?

 

Was there a big screen tv anywhere? I think we booked the cruise during the Super Bowl. No wonder we got such a good deal....

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions for you later.

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure what time boarding started as we got held up waiting for the shuttle from the airport and then again trying to get to the terminal. Looking at the info I brought home, the buffet opened that day at noon and cabins were ready by 1pm.

 

The trolleys were waiting for us on the pier right as we got off the ship. When they drop you off in town, they point out where they will pick you up - it was right up the road from the aquarium.

 

I don't recall seeing a big screen tv anywhere. There is a huge screen in the disco, but don't know if it is a tv or not. The kids used it to play bingo. There is also the screen used for the kids' movie night, but again, I'm not sure if it is also a tv. This was in an area that was always closed off - I never saw this room open except for the movies.

 

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[BooBooMonkey]

What kind of cabin did you have? What location of the ship, and would you book the same location again? Where do you think the best/worst cabin locations are on Atlantica?

 

Thanks, I'm getting ready to book a cruise in the next couple of days and this ship is one of our choices.

 

Boo

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

What kind of cabin did you have? What location of the ship, and would you book the same location again? Where do you think the best/worst cabin locations are on Atlantica?

 

Thanks, I'm getting ready to book a cruise in the next couple of days and this ship is one of our choices.

 

Boo

 

We had 2 balcony cabins on deck 5 halfway between the mid & aft elevators. I thought it was a good location - convenient to the elevators and easy to walk down to dinner and the action going on on deck 2. The only drawback was it was a long walk forward to the kids club! If you are sensitive to noise I would avoid the forward cabins on deck 5 - they will be above the theatre. Deck 8 midship may get some noise too being below the pool deck - they had a few deck parties and music playing throughout the day up there.

 

Deck 1 seemed very quiet, except for port days because we got off the ship on this deck or deck A below it.

 

Hope this helps - enjoy your cruise!

[Cruise4Andy]

One of the nicest cabins on the Atlantica are the Panorama Suites in the aft corner of the ship. We had cabin 5266 before, and that cabin offers a huge wrap around balcony, plus all other amenities only found in Suites and Grand Suites, such as whirlpool tub, marble bathroom with double sinks, butler service, etc.

 

Would book that room again in a heartbeat when cruising on the Atlantica or Mediterranea!

[sunlover58]

Cruise4Andy- We are booked in the PS 5266 for April. I am so glad to hear that it is a nice cabin. It looks like there are stairs close by on the left side- is that true? My only concern is that it is so far from the center of the ship to get to an elevator. Was this a problem? Anything else you can share about the room?

[Cruise4Andy]

No, there are no stairs on this deck. Both balcony dividers are bordering to the cabin next to you. The balcony on this cabin is absolutely HUGE! You'll have plenty of room for a party.

The entryway of the cabin is a long-stretched "hallway", which leads to the bathroom (straight ahead) and to the main cabin. The bed will be on your right, with the headboard on the wall, facing the windows/balcony door. Behind the bed is the couch, table, chair and the armoir with the TV on it. There is also a desk with chair.

Granted, the Panorama Suite does not provideas much storage space as the Grand Suite, but that's okay... you're on vacation!

 

Enclosed are a few pictures of the cabin and balcony... hope you'll enjoy it!

[NancyJewel92]

O-P-H-71 -- Thanks for posting your review! While our trip will be in the E. Carib, it was great to read about the Atlantica. And you brought to mind something I hadn't thought of -- encountering the Oasis at Port Everglades. Yikes!

 

I checked her schedule. Except for one port, she'll on the same itinerary as the Atlantica during my sailing. I think we'll be sure to head over to the terminal early!

 

Andy - thanks for posting those photos. Looks like a nice cabin.

 

Sunlover -- the best site I've found lately to see deck plans that can actually be read on line :p and to get a sense of adjacencies is at w w w dot c r u i s e c h e a p dot c o m (Obviously, remove the spaces. I'm not sure CC would allow posting of such a link.) The deck plans are easy to find for each ship. And they have this nice thing - if you type in a cabin number and click GO, it will take you to the cabin and a flashing box will show. Click on the flashing box to get a bit more info. While it doesn't show you the specific cabin, it does describe the category.

[SheenaTheWarriorPrincess]

Hi there! THANK YOU for the link to deck plans that are actually visible! So, we are booked in 1108. Does anyone have any experience with these low level rooms close to the bow?

 

Thanks!!!

[szdiver]

Andy: We are in that exact cabin this Saturday; is it really a great one? The pictures are great.. Any more of them?

[sunlover58]

szdiver- can't wait to hear about your trip. We are also in this room in April. Please take lots of pictures to show us when you return.