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Costa Pacifica Review


dizzypig44

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Wow..OK here goes. First the positive. I traveled on Costa Pacifica on the July 5th trip in the Western Mediterranean. The ship is beautiful and absolutely spotless. My cabin steward and waiters were incredibly nice and efficient and spoke fluent English. All of the staff with the exception of one gal were amazingly nice and helpful. English was not their first language but we got by. I purchased the X1 card and it was the smartest thing we did. This you have to purchase in advance from your travel agent. It can only be used during lunch and dinner BUT meals are always being served. I really enjoyed the casino. The dealers and pit bosses were really nice and pleasant. We had a outside room at the front of the ship and it was adequate in size...we were comfortable.

 

OK now....with a population of 3000 there were only 30 English speaking passengers on board. The person in charge of us was Deborah. She was NOT pleased when there were complaints by the English speaking passengers. The complaints were numerous and Deborah crossed the line of professionalism and actually told the gal I was traveling with that her daughter was very difficult. Now, her daughter was upset as were all of us because Costa cancelled an excursion because they did not want to hire an English speaking guide for a small group. Then we were put on another excursion that zero english was spoken. When we vehemently complained and said we wanted all of our excursion money returned if we were not going to have English speaking guides we then received those guides. Numerous encounters with Deborah were not pleasant and I would have to say that this seriously impacted our vacation. She was extremely offensive and not with just our group. For the position she held she was ineffective.

 

We knew going in that this is an Italian ship but if Costa is not going to cater to all languages than that should be said upfront.

 

The ports of call were lovely. Not quite sure the reason for going into Savona, Italy other than its cheaper than the dock charges in Monaco. I will say that it really bugged me that we picked up passengers in every port and dropped them off. This was like a moving transport system. I am used to cruises when everyone gets on at a certain port and off at a certain port.

 

The first 2 nights the food was horrible. Than, for some reason, it was good. We could not figure out this one. I will tell you it was HORRIBLE...and then we really enjoyed it.

 

The constant music on the ship was annoying. They had the same soundtrack they kept playing over and over. On this soundtrack included Christmas songs. That was driving us CRAZY. For the ship of "MUSIC" it sucked. The shows were sub par except for one evening that was really good. We could not quite figure this out either.

 

The ship could have really used a third pool. The 2 pools are small and were ALWAYS crammed full. Not appealing at all and I did not once put on a suit to sit in a toilet.

 

I dont know if this is just Costa but at beginning of cruise, because we were non Europeans our passports were conviscated and we did not get them back till end of cruise. That bugged me a bit. They did give us a photo copy.

 

We only had one formal night and Costa did not have the traditonal toga night that they usually have. This was fine just letting you know.

 

All in all...we(4 firends) had a decent time because we viewed the ship as our transportation to get us to the ports. This is NOT a ship for English speakers because truthfully.....COSTA does not care.

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We only had one formal night and Costa did not have the traditonal toga night that they usually have. This was fine just letting you know.

Thanks for an interesting review on a new ship.

 

Costa only do TOGA night on their Caribbean cruise (also repositioning back to Europe) and never on their Med cruises.

 

Savona is Cosa's home port, so you were correct on cheap port dues and also supplies.

 

Ron

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When in the Far East last year Deborah was the Aussie hostess and Rose was the British one, I found both to be excellent..great laugh despite a few difficulties with a professional complainer that was aboard from Australia.

 

The shorex language is mentioned both on the MyCosta webpage when booking ahead of departure and when on the ship at the 'welcome aboard' briefing done by the hostesses, it is also mentioned that if there is an insufficient number of any one language guest, you will be added to another group from another nationality where possible. It also mentioned this in the daily 'what's on' sheet too - granted in the smaller print, but it was certainly there.

 

Pacifica has literally only just entered service so a few hiccups should be anticipated by both crew and guests until the ship and crew are settled into their respective roles. Doing the shakedown or pre-inaugurals can be a way around problems like this...I have done two aboard NCL ships and they highlighted similar problems to those you experienced aboard Pacifica, but being shakedowns they could work them out before full fare payers boarded. Maybe Costa and the rest of the operators could do similar shakedowns on their ships in future and thus aleviate teething troubles ahead of time better, who knows.

 

As Ron has already said, Costa own and paid for the cruise ship facilities at Savona...they also have a hefty share in the facilities in Barcelona too, so it is more than reasonable to assume that their ships will go there or start/finish cruises there. Many of the Med short cruises of a week and under have the bus-stop type embarkations from multiple ports, it is normal and if you look on the Costa website at the cruise for Pacifica, you will see the same itineraries listed, starting on different days and different ports of call on the loop, it is just the way it can be done and has been so for quite some time.

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Cool Cruiser---with all due respect...I live in the states...Costa heavily was pushing this cruise....now with that said.we were told BEFORE we booked our excursions that there would be an english speaking guide. I am glad that you had a good experience with Deborah...she was RUDE to our group and at least 3 other groups that we shared time with. There is absolutely no reason to be rude to a customer and hurl personal insults. She came late into every meeting and then said "I am going to separate you guys so you don't share your horror stories" The rest of the staff was extraordinary. Cruise critic is a forum for everyone to post their own experiences. This was ours and I was very professional about it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We recently travelled on Costa Pacifica and like you had a great overall experience. Our main cause for complaint was Deborah the English speaking hostess. She was no rude and condescending to all in our group. In fact she didn't do half the job of her counterparts on other ships.

 

Who doesn't like Savona? Did you try getting off the ship and walking through the old town with it's fantastic Duomo (Cathedral) and fort. We loved the markets and ice cream shops. It's also a great hub for Potofino, Monaco and Genoa. We liked it so much last year that we stayed there for the day before the cruise this year. Hard to please everyone!

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When travelling the med in summer it´s hardly a suprise that an italian ship sailing from an italian port will have mostly italian customers. It´s more common than not, that the ship will be cramped with italian families and all other languages are rare. I´ve been on cruises with Costa myself where there were less than 20 English speaking passengers aboard and even Germans were quite few.

Costa does tell you in print that it might be, that an excursion cannot be provided in your language if there are few participants, the worst I´ve seen were 3 languages in one coach together...

 

Hope that you remember the Med as worthwhile even if you didn´t like the service provided.

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Derry...you are correct Savona was sweet. Yes we did go to the duomo and got a tour from a young gal who attends the church and does voluntary tours. It was quaint. However....Savona does not support the idea of an "excursion' port. The play would have been to go to Portofino or Monaco...but my point...why not just dock there instead of a long coach ride.

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Derry...you are correct Savona was sweet. Yes we did go to the duomo and got a tour from a young gal who attends the church and does voluntary tours. It was quaint. However....Savona does not support the idea of an "excursion' port. The play would have been to go to Portofino or Monaco...but my point...why not just dock there instead of a long coach ride.

Savona is Costa's main base, they would have very little to pay for harbour dues (as they are a major employer in Savona) also the ship can be restocked very easily.

 

The porblem with Monaco and Portofini is that they would not have the intrastructure to support such a latge ship (e.g. tendering) also both place are very expensive.

 

Been to Savona 5 times fir embarcation / disembarcation, but have never spent anytime in Savona it's self. Maybe I should change that.

 

Ron

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Regarding the English-speaking passengers having to double up with other nationalities on a shore excursion, believe it or not it happens to us Italian speakers as well. We just came off the Costa Serena and for our excursion at Izmir we had to double up on a bus with Spanish passengers because there weren't enough Italians for that particular tour. No problem, for the Spanish guide was much better than our Italian speaker. Also, on the Costa Concordia this past April at Alexandria, we Italians were put on a bus with English speakers! Imagine that, Ron!

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Okay, I'm a little confused.:confused: If you are English-speaking and there are not enough of you to fill out an excursion, are you; a) put on a tour with non-English-speaking passengers and info is only given in the majority's language, or b) you are put on an excursion with non-English-speaking passengers and info is given in their language and also in English? I would not want to be put on an excursion where I paid lots of money and then couldn't understand a word of what what being said about the port I was visiting. However, I wouldn't mind sitting through hearing info in a variety of languages, as long as one was English. Please let me know how this works. Thanks, we are considering cruising on the Costa Pacifica spring break 2010. This would be a major issue for us as our intention is to introduce our 14-yr old son to Europe.

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If there is not enough say English speakers to fill an excursion then they will be together with say German speaker to fil he bus. Commenetary and information would then in these case be in English and German, either from one tour guide (if proficent in the required languages) or two tour guides.

 

Ron

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Ron is absolutely correct. You'll always have a guide speaking your language. Now, if you're from Uzbekistan or Cambodia, you may have a problem. In this case you'll have to make do with Italian, French, English, German, or Spanish speaking guides.

 

I don't get why people are making such a fuss if this is the case. When we were in Canada in Quebec the bus tours we went on were in both French - and English.This is hardly just a Costa thing o even just a cruise thing. Why can't people deal with hearing more than one language when they are in another country!

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I don't get why people are making such a fuss if this is the case. When we were in Canada in Quebec the bus tours we went on were in both French - and English.This is hardly just a Costa thing o even just a cruise thing. Why can't people deal with hearing more than one language when they are in another country!

It's not a case of dealing with more than one language as per the public abboucements aboard Costa ships, but about wanting to learn more about the country you are visting and also after paying Euro 100 PLUS for a day's excursion.

 

Quebec, Canada is a not a typical situation as noth French and English are offical languages, all sign have to be in both languages.

 

Ron

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I don't have a problem with the multi-lingual tours but then I used to be in the tours business myself anyway and when we had mixed nationalities on a vehicle chartered from us, the group had their own courier/guide and they rattled off in their own language all the time. I used to chat to the guide in English and that was then interpreted to the group...quite good fun really, especially in the humour department since not everything translates in the same way, some 'interesting' results sometimes but we all got along just fine and if all else failed, we could always use the hand signals and the toy clockface to ensure that everyone knew what time they had to be back on the coach by :)

 

Not a problem at all really if you're flexible and can exercise patience and tolerance along the way, it can be alot of fun :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Totally agree, we were on board mid June, and would never travel with Costa again. Crap, Crap, Crap. Entertainment if you could call entertainment was very ordinary, bingo cost 20 euros per card per person. We had a 13 & 14 year old, activities were virtually nil. English speaking hostess Deborah was hopless, rude and didnt take to any

critisism. My son was so bored he decided to play ping pong with his sister, only to be told there was a fee for the paddle. I guess when you decide to travel on an Italian Ship you can expect a lot of italians who did not follow any rules eg. no smoking areas were filled with people smoking, no children in adult pool areas were filled with CHILDREN...and the list can go on and on....in summary NEVER AGAIN

:mad:

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there was a fee for the paddle.

 

First we had the fuel surcharge. Now Costa has stopped the motors and the passengers have to paddle - OK but having to buy your own paddle is taking the (ships) biscuit.

 

I guess when you decide to travel on an Italian Ship you can expect a lot of italians who did not follow any rules eg. no smoking areas were filled with people smoking, no children in adult pool areas were filled with CHILDREN...and the list can go on and on....in summary NEVER AGAIN

:mad:

 

How could that have happened, Costa letting Italians onto it's ships. Why should the Italians follow other nationalities rules? The have their own golden rule and that is No Rules.

 

Ron

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What surprises me is when I read 'only 30 English speaking pax' on board.

Lots of Matese go on the Costa Med. cruises and all are fluent in English.

Most are also fluent in Italian and speak to each other in Maltese so maybe folk don't realise they are also fluent in English.

I would have thought that they would choose the English tours but as the ship is Italian, maybe they decide to choose the Italian ones.

In fact English is an official language in Malta.

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Glad to have found Deborah again, an excellent English Oz Hostess, could not do more for one if she tried, sailed several times and when boarding, she even rembembered us from a couple of years earlier

On one cruise she did have some err questions

 

Do the staff sleep on the ship?

Her quip reply was NO we stay on an island, and are helicoptered on board each morning :-)

 

Questioner complaint, that he was woken early by helicopter noise !

 

Excursions, we were advised even before we embarked that if not enough English speakers took the excursion then

A. join a dual language trip OR

B. we could opt to join another language trip OR

C. we could cancel and have money refunded

 

It depends entirely on how many have booked the trip, They are not going to run a fifty seater coach and an interpretor for eight people, it just will not happen, it may disappoint but it is reality

 

Out of thirty excursions we have only had two problems

One. No English so took the Italian as ho italiano un poco but most of the Italians spoke perfect ENGLISH and helped us

 

Two. Fullly English but partner disabled and could not manage the walking required, full refund for partner but I did the trip

 

Back to Deborah, an excellent hostess, we needed wheelchair assistance, and within literally five minutes my wife had a wheelchair at the cabin door

 

Deborah if you are reading this "Up yer BUM"

 

Jack McH

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  • 5 months later...

What a horrible time we had on this cruise. It was only my second cruise but my Mom's 15th. I would not recommend this cruise to anyone. The food is horrible, the service just OK. I mean I could go on and on about the things it does not offer. They need to totally revamp that company. My Mom's 15th cruise and by FAR the worst she has ever endured. We could not get over how many hidden charges - including a fee for room service. Excuse me? Don't people cruise to eat and eat without worrying about that kind of thing. The difference between the my last cruise and this one is 180 degrees. Do yourself a favor, book another line. Seriously. Even the Italian food, of which I was eagerly awaiting, is better at a medium-scale chain restaurant here in California. Would love to hear from anyone else who was on January 18th cruise to Holy Land from Savona. Have an important question.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I did the January 29th cruise and had a mostly positive experience.

Positives-

-My cabin steward was the best. This was my 16th cruise and she was amazing. I thought some of my other stewards were good. They did not compare to her.

-My table waiter was great! He made sure we were happy. The man even learned to make iced tea for me! He said it was the first time. (I could tell!! I had to give him a few helpful hints) I had a pitcher of tea waiting on me every night. :D Yes, I do believe I was the only person at dinner who drank iced tea with their meal.

- It was a clean ship!

- Most people who worked on the ship did their best. There are always the exceptions.

The Bad-

Check-in was odd. That's all I can say about that. There was a lack of help getting where we needed to be and with luggage assistance. It was just odd.

-The food quality. I've had better food at McDonalds. Sometimes the meals where good and other times it was just poor quality. I know feeding 3,000+ people is difficult but the food quality needed some help. I'm not complaining about the menu- just the quality.

-Night time meal options. If you don't eat in the main dinning hall for 2 hrs you are going to starve. LOL! Really. Pizza is your only option at night if you skip dinner. Ask my 9 year old who would beg to go to dinner because of this.

-lack of chocolate. This is my personal issue. Really? I need more chocolate on the menu. LOL!!!

 

Over all I wouldn't recommend Costa for the first time cruiser. There are issues with communication (You must know to be assertive and read everything they give you. You can't rely on overhead announcements like I know some people do. We read everything no matter what cruise line we are using.) If you are experienced and now how to "do a cruise" then I say go for it. Just knowing what to expect makes things easier.

We had a fabulous time and would go on this trip again in a heart beat!

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