The Good, The Bad, and the X1: Costa Medterenea Review 4/5-4/12 2008

[carribeansol]

Costa Mediterranea

4/5/08-4/12/08

We are a family of four with two boys. We sailed with friends with kids the same age. This was our third Costa Cruise and 2nd on this ship. We book this line mainly for the kids sail free program, but have enjoyed every cruise we have taken with Costa. We do not feel they are perfect, but the cost out ways the few things we dislike.

Embarkation: Arrived at 11:55 on the ship in our room at 12:15. We have priority check in as I am a Coral member in the Costa Club but did not need to use it. They registered our credit card right there and off we went. A+

X1: BEWARE; THIS DOES NOT SAVE YOU MONEY, LOL:D . Please know that it paid for itself the first day. My husband said that it saved us so much money I spent the difference in the spa. My husband was the only one out of the 8 of us with the X1. The first day we were at the pool bar and our two boys were served soda, my husband beer, and I wine. The bartenders were great and never hesitated to serve us. They never asked to see if anyone other than my husband had the X1. Each day they saw us walk up and just handed us drinks without us asking. At dinner each night all the kids (our friends 2 and ours) had soda waiting, there was a bottle of wine and more if we wanted, bottled water, and non stop beer being delivered to my husband and friend. The waiters were well aware he was the only one with the package. This package was well worth it. Our actual bar bill was only $79 for the week.

Smuggling beer and alcohol: There is a sign as you walk in that all alcohol will be confiscated. In our checked bags was a case of beer, a bottle of rum, and pineapple juice. Our friends had much more! As we walked around the ship we saw many people with cans of beer that were not of the ship variety. It seemed many did this. The beerand rum was out in the open in our room. Our cabin steward even brought a cooler for the beer without us even asking. We came in our room and it was all placed in the cooler with ice. Our friend bought a 12 pack of diet pepsi in Key West and walked righ on board with it in their hands and no one said anything.

Dinning: The food was very good. It was always severed hot. There were many dishes to choose from and the one I did not like was taken back and another dish brought to me. The seafood dishes were all very good. I did not find any to be mushy or over cooked. The deserts were all good, especially the Costa delight. For those who did not try this, it was available every night and was a ball of chocolate. The buffet was like most ships with the exception of a different theme area everyday for lunch. There was always a wide varity to eat not all was our taste but we all don’t like the same things. Our waiter was not the best, but the assistant waiter was VERY good. I missed little things like my chair being pulled out, the napkin placed in my lap, and fresh ground pepper without asking. On a side note, we had the pleasure of having Edwin Malapote as a waiter twice before he was the best on any line we have ever sailed. He was on this ship and we requested Edwin but he is a head waiter and had back to back large parties from Belgium. I was disappointed they could not make the arrangements for me but how could they move 25 people for just us.

Cabin/Cabin Steward: Our cabin was like most other ships with a balcony. Plenty of closet space. We found bar soap and shampoo waiting for us in the bathroom. There was a bowl of fruit (Costa club) on the table. Every night we had a different towel animal. This was a first on Costa for us. Our cabin steward even had cookies or chocolates waiting for us every night. Our friends did not so we asked if this was because we were Costa club members. He said no, it was just how he liked to do things.

Pools/chair hogs: Yes, if you wanted a chair next to the pool you had to be there early. But there were plenty on the sun decks to be had. I really did not encounter any chair hogs, they were always a chair with a towel on it somewhere but I would see those people come and go to the pool, bar, or buffet and come back. Every day they had games, dance lessons, and yoga on the stage by the pool.

Rude Europeans/Americans: Either one, we all have them! I can honestly say I never ran into anyone who was rude. One lady cut in front of me on the buffet and I said something and she was very apologetic. We happen to love the different cultures. I guess this year my son (10) was use to the speedo’s and bare chest. He never even made a comment about it. I sure wish I had the self esteem to wear a bikini. Good bless the old lady in the brown bikini. I sure hope I can feel that good about myself at her age.

Entertainment: This was a low point! The nightly shows were mediocre to just plain bad! The late night Vegas guy was the best. I along with many past passengers were really afraid of Stephano as Caesar the last night. He actually did ok. I read another review that it was unrehearsed and they were disappointed in the Roman Night show. This show is impromptu. It is not meant to be perfect. It is all adlibbed.

Squak Club: For the third year in a row we had the same counselors. We walked in and they again knew my boys names. This is nice to be remembered, but it does not mean we loved it. My oldest has definitely reached his limit on the squak club. The youngest still loved to go. I was disappointed that they had all the kids in the same room. There was no separation between the ages this time. We gave our kids permission to check in and check out on there own so that made it easy. They are responsible and knew what to do and were to find us at all times. They said they only watched one movie. They did a LOT of dance competitions. It seemed to be always loud in there. If anything keeps us from not going on Costa again it will be the lack of things for the kids in the squak club. By next year, our youngest will be ready for more too.

Tenders: Grand Cayman was not so bad other than the LONG line. Our private tour to stingray city was not till 12:00 so we had plenty of time and no worries. Honduras was a different story. We went down early with our email confirmation as our private tour was early there. We were first in line for the tenders. The girl working the stairs was rude to say the least. All of a sudden hundreds of Costa Tours with orange tickets came down the stairs and we were told to step aside until they got down the stairs. If this was one tour it would have been no big deal, but the line never stopped and others with no orange ticket were going down and not being stopped. I have to admit I was not nice and I stepped in and stopped the line. I went on down even though the girl told me no. It was getting so crazy with all the yelling that I asked for security to come, but no one came. When I got down to deck A the crew were all lined up to go ashore. They let them on the tender before us! We were lucky to get off, but is was only because I was forceful. Otherwise we would have been waiting two hours like others have posted. This was a real problem that Costa needs to address.

Ports: We did all privately arranged tours at a great savings to the ship prices. Cozomel we did a dune buggy tour, Grand Cayman we snorkeled and went to stingray city with Soto Cruises and Rotan we went zip lining at southshore with Victor Bodden then off to Half Moon Bay. Key West was just a bar day as we visit there often.

Spa: I had three treatments! They were really slow this week. My therapist kept offering me big discounts or free service if I purchased a product. She said she got more commission if I bought something rather than pay for the treatment. I have never got this before on any cruises. She was very good and I enjoyed all the treatments. I had the ginger lime scrub with massage, stone massage, and some kind of seaweed wrap with a facial and 45 minute stone massage. I know the seaweed/facial/stone massage combo was not even offered as an official treatment. I paid for a $99 eye cream and got the treatment for free. It lasted for 2 hours. She did ask that I tipped her which was no big deal as I would have done this no matter what I paid. She told me she was usually booked on sea days from 8am-10pm but our last sea day she only had 4 clients. It was like this the whole week she said. Wonder if the American economy has anything to do with this.

All in all, it was a great cruise and I would sail again with Costa. I will note that we are sailing with Costa for thanksgiving on the Concordia but will choose another line for spring break next year as the kids will want more ship activities for them. I hope that the new ships coming out will sail out of Florida sometime soon. I see that the first two will not, but my fingers are crossed for the future.

[tweety33]

I wonder if we had the same waiter and assistant waiter the week before that you had this past week. Our head waiter was not good, but our assistant was much much better. I can't remember there names but would remember if I heard it. We sat first seat as you entered the dining room on deck 2.

 

I agree with the entertainment, Also no problem smuggling on liquor.

 

Glad you had a good cruise.

[Morgsmom]

WE, too, are sailing the Concordia over Thanksgiving! Myself (mom) and 12 y.o. DD (who also dislikes the Squok club). I stared a "roll call" but so far no one else has said "hello." :)

[monicajay]

Great review!

 

Very similar to our experience except I didn't make it to the spa and I had the good fortune of having Edwin Malapote as our waiter. He was amazing and certainly contributed to our enjoyment of Costa as a cruise-line.

 

I wonder if Costa realizes what a treasure they have in this guy! Hope someone from the head office reads these boards.

[carribeansol]

tweety33: We had Erick and Albertque (sp?). They were on deck 2 to the right as you walked in. Table 9 I think. The assiastant waiter was a head waiter on Celebrity and was let go because of a "fling" with a passenger. He told us about it and said he learned his lesson and now has to work his way back up.

 

Morgsmom: We will check out the roll call. I have not even started thinking about that one yet. I guess in another week or so I will be ready to start.

 

monicajay: Thanks! They know how good Edwin is. Three years ago he was just a waiter. Last year on the Magica he was traing to be a head waiter and this years he is a head waiter. When I tried to get our table changed the matrid (sorry i give up on spelling!) said he had the big party because he was their best. Edwin was so nice, he gave us his email so next year we could email him ahead of time and he would arrange it for us. He did take time out to check in on us once during the week. It was funny when we walked in the first night and he saw us. He came right over called us by name and greeted us as if we were family. That is one thing about Costa we have noticed, crew remember you year to year or at least they are good at making you think they do.;)

[drum]

Thankyou for a great review! and for taking the time to do it.

It was interesting and easy to read.

Even though you sailed on a different ship to the one we have booked, and I know they are all different, it has still given us a good insight into Costa.

 

Only one complaint...I'm even more excited about our cruise in June.

:D

[Morgsmom]

We are in complete agreement! We did the Magica in December of 06 and then three months later in March of 07. When we walked into the dining room the first night a waiter and asst. came up to us and said "Hey, weren't you here a couple of months ago?" they even remembered where we SAT!! We were treated great for the whole cruise -- parmesean chunks and prosciutto on our table every night. The crew really tries very hard to connect with the guest!!

[NancySellsGlass]

Good review! I can't believe I never saw you again after the first day... Glad you had a good trip. So did we! :)