Costa Cruises, Costa Atlantica Review

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★★☆☆☆
2.5
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  • Food - quality & variety

  • Entertainment on board

  • Value For Money

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Guest's review of Costa Cruises, Costa Atlantica

“Travelling on the Costa Atlantica would be a good ship...”

★★★☆☆

written by on 17/02/2010

Travelling on the Costa Atlantica would be a good ship to go on for a first-time cruiser. With no previous experience on other ships or expectations, the trip would be acceptable and even pleasant for some. The good points about Atlantica is the relative ease and expediency of embarkation and disembarkation.



Everyone we met thought the entertainment was great. I found the performances polished and costumes impressive. The food was fair, but selection very limited. Desserts at the buffet was a variation on the same theme, but different flavors each day like lime, peach, chocolate,etc. The most popular food station was the ice cream machine. People flocked to it so often, one of them broke.



Aesthetically, the Atlantica is a beautiful ship and even though it is ten years old, the stained glass, polished wood, marble floors still are jaw-droppers. Overall, decks are spacious and well laid out. There are several pools, hot tubs, enough for everyone. Entertainment around poolside was rollicking and uplifting.



They spent much attention in building the spa and exercise area. Saunas and showers are elaborate. However, more emphasis should have been made in the planning of food areas. Buffet stations are small. There were too many mini stations which one had to travel in order to assemble a complete meal. No trays available so eating at the buffet was like going out to hunt for your food. Also, it is not pleasant eating and drinking on plasticware and cheap diner utensils. No frills like juice, except for breakfast. Forget about toast. It's cold. Forget about talking to the service people because they seem not to understand. If you ask for anything out of the ordinary like Tabasco sauce, expect a surly reaction or no reaction at all.



The diningroom was pleasant, however the 8:30 pm seating was not. It is far too late for anyone to be eating, as one never gets out of there until 10:00 pm. As it is the second seating, the waiters seem to have no need to rush. The alternative would be the buffet, but buffet does not open until 7:30 pm. I found the times for eating very stressful and unlike most ships, eating areas seem to have too many closing times and it was impossible to memorize who closed when and where so most of the time, if you were hungry, all that was available was the same salad bar, fruit salad, and old pizza. Tea was available 3:45.



On Atlantica, service was probably the worst feature of the entire cruise. Our safe did not work, and even though we told the cabin steward and later went to the front desk, the safe was not fixed until the night before last. We figured they came around, because questionnaires had been handed out on the ship's crew.



During the cruise, there were plumbing problems. The carpet before our room was wet from leaking pipes. One stateroom had wet carpets, and the people were not moved to another cabin. One night I set to take a shower and found brown water coming out of the shower head. My husband went to the public showers, only to have the water turned off on him, consequent scalding hot water when it was turned back on, and then brown water. They should warn people beforehand about these things before taking on repairs. They did do one plumbing repair during the night, and we were told about that.



I hear cruise ships have cut back on frills but Atlantica cut back on basic items like facecloths, soap, etc. There is a common shampoo dispenser inside the shower which I did not use. If you didn't bring your own conditioner or body lotion, you are out of luck. Some people were told there weren't enough facecloths to go around, so each morning you had to ask. Sometimes they came, sometimes not.



Being of a certain minority, getting cordial service at the front desk was met with discrimination. I know, because the people at our table got a totally different attitude when they went to the desk for a similar problem. As well, be prepared for different languages being spoken by both passengers and crew. Whenever information was given over the intercom, it was given in at least five different languages. Kudos for their international approach but it does get tiring.



Compared to other cruises, the port stays were several hours shorter than other lines. Pulling in at 12 and leaving at 5:30 doesn't give one much time for excursions. It seemed like stops to ports were token stops only.

St. Thomas was fine but Nassau is nothing but fumes and dirt, with 10,000 people all on main street as six cruise ships alighted docked at its piers.

  • January, 2010

    Date of Cruise

  • 7

    Nights on board

  • Eastern Caribbean

    Itinerary Name

  • Balcony

    Cabin Type

  • Couple

    Group description

  • Food - quality & variety

  • Entertainment on board

  • Value For Money

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