costa neoriviera

[cruisefanatic16]

very nice video thanks for sharing, Maltese port is truly a wonder :)

 

http://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/malta/malta/floriana/senglea-boatyard.html

[steamboats]

Great webcams! Thanks! Saved the link.

 

steamboats

[cruisefanatic16]

managed to get a visit next week on the neoriviera before we actually sail on her I hope that I like it :)

[Rassa]

managed to get a visit next week on the neoriviera before we actually sail on her I hope that I like it :)

 

So, can you tell us about the visit. There is a great cruise on neoriviera next year to the middle east and I would like to know more about the ship.

 

Better still, can you tell us about your cruise on her when you come back.

Rassa

[steamboats]

DH is still working on his pictures. But I´ve uploaded 11 pix here (scroll down and click on the photo).

 

steamboats

[steamboats]

Forced my DH to work a bit faster :D. So here you´ll find the photo gallery. He´s still working on the panoramic shots which hopefully will go online on Sunday.

 

steamboats

[Rassa]

Thanks Steamboats.

Was good to see your photos and google translate helped me read it. I look forward to more photos.

 

Doesn't sound like there would be too many English speaking cruises on board but my husband is Italian.

Thanks again

Rosie

[steamboats]

Rosie,

 

No, there weren´t many English speaking guests onboard (definitely outnumbered by the German speaking guests from Germany, Austria and Switzerland).

 

Anyway, I found it easier to speak English with the waiters and bar staff and also the cabin steward. Only entertainment staff and officers might be Italian (but we had a lot of people from different nations, one guy from the entertainment staff was from Brazil, a photographer was from Romania, the other from Kolumbia).

 

I used to learn English, Latin and French at school and I took additional classes in Italian. I can´t speak much anymore (lacking grammar and words) but by the end of this cruise I sometimes had to think whether I just listened to Italian, French or Spanish :D!

 

steamboats

[louiskam]

Costa neoRiviera's 2015 Mediterranean itineraries are out (no pricing though). Seems due to popularity, they're repeating the 2014 ones.

[cruisefanatic16]

hi regarding our visit

 

my dh did not like the menu in the restaurant prepared for visitors. the menu for guests looked better. we liked the buffet area...

 

good idea that the cutlery is on the table

 

the ship is nice however if you usually cruise on a big ship at first you feel the difference... but sincerely i like the feel of fewer passengers and the relaxed atmosphere of the neo...

 

The pool area is very nice, good refurb. some places on the ship you notice that has some wear and tear.. but on the whole i liked the ship

 

looking foward for our 10 night cruise :)

[louiskam]

hi regarding our visit

 

my dh did not like the menu in the restaurant prepared for visitors. the menu for guests looked better. we liked the buffet area...

 

looking foward for our 10 night cruise :)

 

Can you share the restaurant menu with us?

Edited May 13, 2014 by louiskam

[steamboats]

Louis,

 

I do have all menus (we received all lunch and dinner menus in our cabin). I have taken photos the first night (but of the German version).

 

When I´m back home, I´ll get you a sample meaning I will type one dinner menu. But all 11 nights might be a bit too much ;).

 

steamboats

[louiskam]

Louis,

 

I do have all menus (we received all lunch and dinner menus in our cabin). I have taken photos the first night (but of the German version).

 

When I´m back home, I´ll get you a sample meaning I will type one dinner menu. But all 11 nights might be a bit too much ;).

 

steamboats

 

A review at http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=254716 mentions neoRiviera on board food experience last month. A few evening menus will get me an idea. Thanks.

[steamboats]

Gee, Louis, sorry, I forgot about the menus last night... I´m sending me a reminder mail!

 

As for the review:

 

I agree with the lamb dish which was actually the only disappointing dish we had. I don´t agree with the rabbit which was a ragout but wonderful. And yes, it wasn´t boneless.

 

When you cruise with a European and especially Italian cruise line you must be aware that food is different. You will not find a fillet of fish on the menu but a whole fish. This is regarded as a sign of quality! So there´s no need to complain about it. They had whole fish at the buffet twice for lunch. We had wonderful mussels in the dining room (sauce with white wine, fennel and garlic). My 14 yo DD tried one and immediately asked the waiter if she can have them too. The next day they had mussels for lunch at the buffet in a tomato based sauce. Also great! Expect a lot of seafood including octopus and squid.

 

All neo Collections dishes are marked with a butterfly. And yes, there is no selection of daily offered items. I´m not a picky eater and therefore I didn´t miss it. But even my DD didn´t have a problem with the menu. She decided to eat up at the buffet for two or three nights when she couldn´t find anything on the menu.

 

Regarding the AI package:

 

Yes, there is no included gin tonic on the menu. But as I´ve mentioned before we did get one with Gordon´s. Bombay Sapphire is regarded a premium brand (but that´s the same with most other cruise lines) and therefore not included. This is clearly shown on the bar menu. The gin tonic on the bar menu is made with Bombay Sapphire and marked with an asterix - meaning not included. But when you asked for a gin tonic made with Gordon´s you´ll get it.

 

Bar service and the bar menu are inconsistent. I did write about this earlier. This and the lack of any kind of teen program were my only two points of complain. Actually I did expect the food to be worse and was completely surprised. Most of the nights it was even hard for me to restrain from ordering everything on the menu :D! DH and I decided to split - so we ordered the risotto and the pasta and changed half way through. The dishes appear to be small but you are expected to order an appetizer (or even two), a secondi (pasta/risotto), an entrée and a dessert.

 

Regarding Livorno:

 

BTW I wonder how the person who wrote the review did embark in Genova :D! The cruise started in Savona and doesn´t stop in Genova.

 

Anyway we did dock at the ferry dock. Usually you do need a shuttle bus to leave the port when you are at the cruise ship dock. The shuttle is not complimentary (I had it for 1 Euro up to 8 Dollars - depending on the cruise line). I was surprised not to find any information about a shuttle in the Today - it was mentioned in other ports when needed (so Savona). But from the ferry dock you don´t need a shuttle and can walk into town easily. There was a lady handing out free city maps. I did ask her how to get to the train station and she told me to walk to Grande Piazza and take bus no. 1 to the train station. She marked everything on the map (actually I did know how to get to the station and this was more a test question to be able to answer questions like on here). There were plenty of taxis available plus Hertz rental cars. As we arrived on Easter Monday which is a holiday in Italy we weren´t able to book a rental car online (all stations said they are closed). We hoped that there will be a rental available at the dock (saw that on previous visits to Livorno). We planned to visit a friend in San Gimignano. We got the smallest car for 80 Euro including GPS and they gave us copied maps marking our trip.

 

So all you had to do is go out and ask that nice lady - BTW you could see the tent like booths from aboard.

 

And don´t hesitate to ask the Concierge onboard. He´s willing to answer your questions. We did ask for a public bus from Savona to Pompeii. He came up with the correct answer (we didn´t go to Pompeii but we checked in Savona at the bus stop and he gave the correct information - bus 4 or 50 - 50 being the "high speed" bus taking a bit more than an hour). The reception might not be able to answer your questions.

 

Yes, we did have a slight problem too. We had a dinner organized by the ship in Barcelona. The reception desk told us there will be taxis waiting outside (which is true for the morning) but by 8 pm there was nothing. We found a helpful person who called a taxi for us. Problem solved... We could have walked back onboard and asked the reception desk to call a taxi too.

 

steamboats

[G.M.T.]

And don´t hesitate to ask the Concierge onboard. He´s willing to answer your questions. We did ask for a public bus from Savona to Pompeii. He came up with the correct answer (we didn´t go to Pompeii but we checked in Savona at the bus stop and he gave the correct information - bus 4 or 50 - 50 being the "high speed" bus taking a bit more than an hour).

steamboats

 

Savona to Pompeii in a little over an hour! That's very good going even by Italian standards.:)

 

Ron

[steamboats]

Ron,

 

Gee, you got me! For some reason I do mix up Savona and Salerno all the time. Of course it´s Salerno :D!

 

The main problem is that we didn´t know where the bus will stop in Pompeii. And first you have to take the free harbor shuttle. Then you have to take the bus to Piazza Concordia (in Salerno ;)). And there you can catch the hourly bus to Pompeii.

 

Although we had plenty of time in town we opted to go to Amalfi (by ferry) instead. And when it started pouring we were happy to sit on the SITAsud bus back to Salerno.

 

steamboats

[steamboats]

The incriminated fish menu ;):

 

Kitchen of Catalonia (Barcelona port stop)

 

Appetizer/Soup/Salad

 

Cod fish and Capers of Ballobar with Xato sauce*

Beef Carpaccio

Sopa de Frijol Ganxet (soup of Ganxet beans)*

Mixed Salad

 

Middle Course

Risotto (with pumkin, ships, rocket salad)*

Fusilli (eggplant, ricotta cheese, tomato sauce)

 

Main Courses

Winter Cabbage (with pork belly, bacon, potatoes)*

Whole fresh seabream

Puff pastry parcel filled with vegetables

 

Cheeses

Taleggio, Pyrinero, Gouda

 

Dessert and Fruit

 

Crème Brulée*

Saint Honoré cake

Baked Apple with Cinnamon and Crème Anglaise

Ice Cream of the Day (Pistaccio, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry)

Sorbet of the Day (orange)

Fruit Plate (cantaloupe, red grapes, kiwi)

 

* indicates the neo Collection items, third dessert is sugar free

 

Kitchen of Calabria

 

Appetizer...

 

Tortino di acciughe (anchovies tart with broad beans, garlic, olive oils, chilli)*

Fried meatballs Arabic style

Celery soup*

Mixed salad

 

Middle Course

 

Rasta ´ncasciata (rigatoni, meat sauce, meatballs, sausage, boiled eggs, cheese)*

Potato Gnocchi (ricotta cheese, yogurt, saffron, nutmeg)

 

Main Course

 

Grilled Salmon (zucchini, basil sauce)

Polpette alle Mammolese (pork meatball with egg, goat cheese, chilli)*

Green Asparagus Tarte

 

Cheeses

 

Maasdam, Bel Paese, Brie

 

Desserts and Fruit

 

Varchilglia (chocolate meringue cake, almonds)*

Chocolate Cocunut Flan

Lime and Mint Parfait

Ice Cream of the Day

Sorbet of the Day

Fruit Plate

 

Campanian Cuisine

 

Appetizer...

Seafood Salad (with capers)*

Puff Pastray horn (mixed veggies)

Pasta e fagiolia alla Napoletana (pasta and bean soup)*

Mixed Salad

 

Middle Course

Paccheri Pasta of Gragnano (ragout sauce)*

Risotto (saffron, artichokes)

 

Main Course

Coniglio all´Ischitana (stewed rabbit)*

Oven Baked cod Fillet

Grilled Vegetables

 

Cheese

Gorgonzola, Fontal, Edamer

 

Dessert and Fruit

Babbà*

Diplomatic Cake

Kiwi Mousse

 

Ice Cream of the Day, Sorbet of the Day, Fruit Plate

 

Cuisine of Puglia (here comes the lamb...)

 

Appetizers...

Purée of Carpino beans DOP*

Smoked Tuna

Soup of wheat and mussels*

Mixed Salad

 

Middle Course

Orechiette Pasta (broccoli)*

Maccheroni Pasta (pecorino cheese, black pepper, artichokes)

 

Main Course

Roasted mahi-mahi escalope (crusteacean sauce, sautéed fennel)

Roastad Lamb (with Thistles and eggs)*

Vegetable Samosa

 

Cheeses

Maasdam, Blue Cheese, Camenbert

 

Desserts and Fruits

 

Bocconotto Martinese (pastry with custard)*

Semi-Frozen Cappuccino

Mango and Coconut Cream

 

Ice Cream of the Day, Sorbet of the Day, Fruit Plate

 

 

 

Hope this helps!

 

steamboats

[louiskam]

Thanks for the menu posting, steamboats. In our previous Costa Europe sailings, we enjoyed their foods & entertainment. Most of all, we had a fond memory of the fellow passengers we met & the places we visited. Most of the staffs there treated us as their welcomed guests. If not, the English host there was always available.

 

Regarding your recent neoRiviera sailing...

- Did the classic cat. cabin provide kettle to boil water too?

- Did the classic cat. passenger get long wait for supper seating?

- Which of your port-of-call were tendered?

 

Thanks again for sharing this new "neo" experience with us here.

[steamboats]

Louis,

 

None of the cabins do have water kettles (not even suites). All cabins do have the Dolce Gusto coffee machine which can be used without a pod to heat up water. It will be hot but not boiling. I tried it out with the cappuccino provided (two pods needed milk and coffee). But the cappuccino was so sweet that I didn´t drink it. There´s also a tea pod available (something like Maroccain tea). Two pods are for free. Each additional is 1.50 Euro. I had no problem to bring on my own pods (but didn´t use them, left them in the cabin).

 

As it is open seating I don´t think they did distinguish between Classic and Premium. As we only had a bit less than 500 passengers there never was any kind of wait at all (we went to dinner at different times... 6:30 til 8 pm). The only wait we had was on the first evening when we were a group of 8 people wanting to dine together. But that wait was because they had to lay out a table for that size of group.

 

On our itinerary we were docked in all ports (Savona, La Seyne-sur-mer/Toulon, Barcelona, Porto Empedocle, Malta, Salerno, Livorno, Savona). No tendering.

 

steamboats

[louiskam]

Louis,

 

None of the cabins do have water kettles (not even suites). All cabins do have the Dolce Gusto coffee machine which can be used without a pod to heat up water. It will be hot but not boiling. I tried it out with the cappuccino provided (two pods needed milk and coffee). But the cappuccino was so sweet that I didn´t drink it. There´s also a tea pod available (something like Maroccain tea). Two pods are for free. Each additional is 1.50 Euro. I had no problem to bring on my own pods (but didn´t use them, left them in the cabin).

 

As it is open seating I don´t think they did distinguish between Classic and Premium. As we only had a bit less than 500 passengers there never was any kind of wait at all (we went to dinner at different times... 6:30 til 8 pm). The only wait we had was on the first evening when we were a group of 8 people wanting to dine together. But that wait was because they had to lay out a table for that size of group.

 

On our itinerary we were docked in all ports (Savona, La Seyne-sur-mer/Toulon, Barcelona, Porto Empedocle, Malta, Salerno, Livorno, Savona). No tendering.

 

steamboats

 

You're very kind to stay around sharing your experience/thoughts with us. Much appreciated.

 

Louis

Edited May 16, 2014 by louiskam

[steamboats]

Louis,

 

You´re welcome!

 

steamboats

[cruisefanatic16]

hi steamboats,

 

I have a silly question please is it possible to order french fries during your dinner at the restaurant?

[steamboats]

cruisefanatic16,

 

Sorry, I´m blank on this. There are French fries at the Grill. But let´s say there isn´t any menu of - all day available - side orders.

 

steamboats

[cruisefanatic16]

thanks for your reply my dh adores fries and he will go crazy without them hehe :p thanks for your help ;)

[cruisefanatic16]

hi is the st tropez restaurant free of charge ?