Costa Cruises, Costa Mediterranea, Western Caribbean

Costa is a European cruise line - and it's important to understand that impacts most, if not all, of this "cruising experience". If you can get over the confusion of hearing announcements spoken in 5 or 6 difference languages, you can probably treat many of the new experiences as part of the adventure.

Gratuities are automatically billed to your account, included room steward. Which is not necessarily bad, but different.

The food had a definite European influence, as you would expect. Left me craving a normal American burger and fries!However, the only salad dressings available were Thousand Island and Ceasar, which I found to be a bit odd. And at one point, the entire ship had run out of diet coke. Fortunately, at the next port they were able to purchase more.

Spa treatments were nice - however there were only six staff members on board so it was difficult to get an appointment that was convenient. They encouraged you to make your appointments in the beginning of the cruise, but then it was difficult to take advantage of any "specials" they ran during the week...or the only times available for those specials were during dinner or excursions, etc.

The entertainment was marginal at best. The shows were boring, and most of the lounge singers we heard had pitch and intonation problems. The best musical group in our opinion was Les Aristocrats - but they seemed almost "hidden" on the lowest deck in the front of the boat.

Compared to other cruises/cruise lines we've been on, this is not one we'll repeat - nor recommend to others.

We sailed Feb 4th from Ft. Lauderdale on Costa Mediterranea and had a really great time. We had a balcony stateroom (5270) on deck 5 at the stern near the centerline. The 'ride' was very smooth with a minor amount of the usual ship noises, occasional small vibrations, etc. The balcony was a plus. We left the door propped open at night for the sound of the sea sliding past the ship and the great night air.

Boarding the ship was an easy affair. We lined up for mere minutes at the terminal and the shoreside folks had us registered and on the ship is short order. The stateroom was roomy, clean, and bright. The bathroom was actually quite well laid out and shower had no end of hot water. There a great big dressing mirror in the room and gobs of lighting. The TV was sort of superfluous except for the great briefing tapes about the ship and the excursions.

The food was good to great. The formal dining room is a treat. However, the seven course meals were a bit too much for us for every day, so we ate at the deck nine buffet quite a few times. The buffet had just about everything the main dining room had, but in a very relaxed setting. There's a hamburger and hot dog grill next to one of the pools and pizza and snacks at the buffet outside of lunch and dinner hours.

The ship's crew were marvelous. Our cabin and the ship were always clean. They really make a fetish out of it on Mediterranea. The food staff were always ready to fetch anything or help find anything. I had an appetizer I didn't like and the immediately took it away and brought me another to try, and all with a truly helpful attitude - no snobby waiters. The entertainment staff did a great job. There are full productions in the Osiris Theather as well as numerous lounge acts and musical solo, duo, and trio acts in the many lounges.

The shoreside tours were a mixed bag (as expected). We froze in Key West due to nasty weather arriving from Canada, so we cut or shore time to go back and warm up. We did do the Conch Train Tour and I'd recommend that as a good way to just roam about the island and see things. Georgetown, Grand Cayman was nice, if a bit touristy (well, what did you expect?). We just roamed about until landing at Margarittaville where we had a pleasant couple of hours chomping on a monster chips and salsa 'Volcano' and washing it down with various rum and tequila drinks. Tourist junk is a lot cheaper here than in Key West, by the way. Roatan was our favorite. The weather cooperated and we took the Canopy Adventure Tour and Tabiyana Beach. You have to be physically fit to do the Canopy Tour. If you can't do a chin up or two and 5 or 10 full situps without collapsing in pain - forget it. You also have to do a little walking on a jungle path full of tree roots. It is a very do-able tour and a once in a lifetime adventure. If you're up to it - GO! My wife and I are 61 years old and we made it. She did a minor George of the Jungle and banged a knee on one of the trees, but nothing serious. Tabiyana Beach was a real treat. There are trees providing adequate shade except right on the shore line. So you can cool off or bake away. The beers were a bit steep at $4 a bottle, but once again - what did you expect? Cozumel started out nice and then the weather did it again. A real downpour for hours messed up the desire to roam the beach. For me it was costly as we were stranded inside the beachside shopping mall - full of jewelry shops! My wife wound up with a beautiful red coral necklace and accessory set, set in silver. The guy we bought from had unique designs which is why we bought. The rest of them tend to all look alike, and then there was this guy.

Finally back to Ft Lauderdale. Debarking was a minor disaster. Some couple scheduled to go up to West Palm Beach with the other 40 of us never bothered to read anything the ship sent us all, or go to the briefing in the theater, etc. So we all had to sit on the bus for nearly an hour while the crew tried to track these idiots down. Costa needs to group the exits by destination, and then give everyone something like 30 minutes from the time the first person shows up at the bus and then you're on your own! The customs and immigration folks were very laid back and that part of it went very nicely.

The airlines coming and going managed to screw up in about as many ways as possible. Not Costa's issue, so I won't dwell on it except to say - airlines -!

Our only regret is that we did not have more shore time at each stop. We rate the cruise as SUPER! The only negative thing is that in the US Costa uses hired hands to handle the phones, so no one can actually tell you about the tours or the ship as they've never been on it. Not a show stopper, but annoying. At sea, Costa really shines.

Costa Cruises, Costa Mediterranea - This is my 6th cruise, first on Costa. I was on the 4/4/04 Western Caribbean cruise. Read a lot of marginal reviews but did not find them justified. Due to Easter break, lots of kids. European travelers were plentiful. Most ship info was translated into 6 languages which was time intensive. I think the key to having a good experience was to get into the European mode of living and to try and experience new and, yes, different things to do and eat. Don't expect what you get back home with fast food nor casual dining. The weather was great so mal de mer was never an issue. The wife and I enjoyed ourselves on the excursion, and wish there was more shopping time. Gratuities are automatically added to the bill, but we wanted to give more since the service was that good. there were two formal nights and all the rest of the nights were casual. Brought a suit and a tux, didn't need the suit. Brought plenty of sunscreen and used it; saw the results of those who didn't.

We reserved Air to Sea, all inclusive worry free vacation with Costa Cruises, Costa Mediterranea. We had trouble from airport to the date we debarked. Lost luggage, inability from Costa's personnel to assist us. Toiletry kit for men only (only my husband uses after shave lotion). No Rental facilities on Costa Mediterranea ship. Shops don't sell bathing suits, sandals. They sell dresses and purses but no shoes. What happens when you have no luggage. Inability to get beach towels because we had not reserved shore excursion with Costa. Impossible to open balcony doors (we had reserved 2 rooms side by side). Had to argue with Maitre D to access main dining room on Captain's night. Reason, we were not wearing proper attire. Well, Costa lost our travelling luggage (for all 6 of us). Our table had been assigned twice. We had to be assigned a table in the corner, next to the wine cellar.

Water slide was open from 10h30 to 12h00. Basketball court.. net unstable and ball was not inflated correctly. Arcade: Had to place a service call, change machine was empty.

To make matters worst, Average age of travellers on the boat: 72

We travelled on a Geriatric boat.

I think I said enough!