Costa

[disneyjunkie]

Anyone here have any experience with Costa?
A teacher I work with gave me a flyer for a Costa Atlantica cruise. (Her sister is a TA)

The ports are Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Key West. The price is GREAT for a cruise that departs Easter Sunday.

Anyone ever do this cruise with kids?

Thanks

 

[my3kids]

I have not, but did a lot of research into Costa because they have such good rates for children in the cabin, and overall, some really good fares available. The biggest issue for me was smoking. Costa is European in its traditions and passengers and there is a LOT of smoking everywhere. Again, never experienced it firsthand, but that seemed to be the consistant complaint I came across. The ship looked good, rooms good, food hadn't any complaints...just the smoking.

 

[sillysmom]

Myself and my DH cruised on the Costa Riviera in 1985 (long long ago). It was nice. Just nice. I don't remember there being anything to do for children. I just remember being 25 and wanting to hang out by the pool, relax, and have a couple of drinks, but there were lots of kids running around with nothing to do! The food was good, the service very good (maybe the fact that most of the servers were italian, and I speak the language helped). But there is no comparison to the DCL.

 

[lookingforward]

We sailed Costa a few years ago. The food was wonderful and the ship (The Romantica) was nice. I did not like the smoking EVERYWHERE on the ship. Lots of Europeans and people from Columbia, Brazil, etc. so smoking is very much accepted and the norm. I also got tired of the many announcements in five different languages. I understanded the need for it but it got really boring after a while.

All in all it was okay. I would not take my kids, it did not seem family centered. There were teenagers in the casinos every night. They were from Brazil and very sophisticated but it bothered me. I asked one girl how old she was and she said 15.

 

[zeke11]

I was a "stowaway" on a Costa ship many years ago.

I was in my 20's and a bit naive. A girlfriend and I were vacationing in the Bahamas. We struck up a conversation on a glass bottom boat ride with some people who were on a Costa cruise. They told us we could board the ship and take a look around.

So later that day we did -- not realizing that the ship was leaving port within minutes.

We were wandering around, ended up on the deck watching as the dock moved past us.....and it was a very sinking feeling (no pun intended).

Very long story! But lots of fun to tell at parties and though this happened over 20 years ago, people still ask me to tell them the stowaway story again and again!

Kris

 

[magic cruiser]

Our first cruise was on the FLAVIA, a Costa ship.That was in 1976 !! The Flavia has since sunk !! It was a tiny ship,wonderful Italian food, Italian orchestra played beautiful, romantic music...it was our honeymoon ! We've been hooked on cruising ever since !

But I agree with the previous posters.Today I would not go on Costa...too much smoking and really feeling out-of-place.It's really a European line.

My dh reads all the cruise magazines and said that Costa's ratings have really dropped; it's just not the cruise line it once was.

 

[oceanmarina]

From a few co-workers who sailed on Costa, the common statement was "never again' mainly because:

1- Awful food
2-Surly / disorganized staff
3- Smoke EVERYWHERE

One person told me if there were given a free cruise from Costa, they would not go after their dissapointing cruise.

If you are looking for a bargain, we have sailed Carnival (Paradise) and were pleasantly surprised with the very good cuisine (We had sailed Celebrity the month before & were surprised to see Carnival's food was very good. Celebrity's cuisine was excellent, but Carnnival's was very good overall, with a few excellent dishes sprikled in. Never a bad meal our whole cruise.) I would steer towards Carnival over Costa.

Just to give you an idea of the prices, this is what we paid (all our cruises were in July)

1- Celebrity 1100. per person
2- Carnival 900.00 per person
3-Disney Wonder 1300.00 PP (4 night Wonder cruise)

Hope this helps

 

[plutospup]

I believe the Flavia caught on fire, and sunk in San Juan Harbor. My father was suppose to be on the ship's next cruise! They still flew him from Chicago to San Juan, and put him on a different ship of a different line. In the process they lost his luggage. The day before they returned to San Juan was their port call in St Thomas. That afternoon his luggage appeared outside of his cabin. He didn't touch it since it had to be outside his stateroom for pickup that night and they were disembarking the following morning!

 

[magic cruiser]

Plutospup: thanks for the info...interesting story. It's sad to see Costa going down hill. i'm very sentimental about the Flavia...our 1st cruise.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Thanks for the replies.

I've found a little info about Costa on cruise critic, not as much as the other lines but it helps.

I called Costa to get some information and the lady I spoke to said the only ship she would take a child on is Atlantica. She said the others are not as kid friendly. They all have kids programs but the Atlantica appeals to families more than the others.

I checked the price for DCL and several Carnival ships during the same time. Costa's price is $1402.00, Victory is $1682.00, Glory is $1694.00, Miracle $1903.00 and the Magic is $3300.00.

 

[christinou]

Kris, I have to ask, did you stay on the ship for the rest of the cruise.....
Enquiring minds want to know....

 

[Tigfanjeff]

Originally posted by plutospup
I believe the Flavia caught on fire, and sunk in San Juan Harbor. My father was suppose to be on the ship's next cruise! They still flew him from Chicago to San Juan, and put him on a different ship of a different line. In the process they lost his luggage. The day before they returned to San Juan was their port call in St Thomas. That afternoon his luggage appeared outside of his cabin. He didn't touch it since it had to be outside his stateroom for pickup that night and they were disembarking the following morning!

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/CostaPCs2.html#anchor303732

Doesn't look like it sank, at least thats what I found.

 

[magic cruiser]

Tigfanjeff : DH and I thank you for the information and wonderful picture postcards of the FLAVIA ! I will never forget all my wonderful memories of her...and I can still hear the FLAVIA band.We had an old 8 track of theirs...wish I could still listen to it.Thanks again !!!

 

[preb]

OK, Kris

Now we want to hear the whole story! Fess up!

 

[zeke11]

Oh my gosh its a long story!

They did give my friend and me a stateroom, we attended the formal dinner that evening in our jeans -- since all we had to wear was literally on our backs....

Although they did first threaten to call the
FBI and have us thrown in jail (true) and we were scared to death.

I begged them to put down a lifeboat so we could just row back to shore (young and dumb).

Going through customs was a real trip in itself since they could not believe we had no luggage whatsoever.

AND, it was spring break weekend and we had to try to find a flight back from Lauderdale to the Bahamas.....

Oh, what a crazy trip that was!

Kris

 

[Tigfanjeff]

Originally posted by magic cruiser
Tigfanjeff : DH and I thank you for the information and wonderful picture postcards of the FLAVIA ! I will never forget all my wonderful memories of her...and I can still hear the FLAVIA band.We had an old 8 track of theirs...wish I could still listen to it.Thanks again !!!

No problem. If you look one down on that page you'll see that the Costa Fulvia caught fire and sank off the Canary Islands. Maybe that is what you were thinking about.