Cruise Screen

Review of Costa Costa Concordia by miwend (09 May ‘07)

We went on the Costa Concordia for 11 nights around the Med. The Itinerary appealed to us as it encompassed Cyprus, Greece and Egypt and 11 nights, although not quite long enough was a good length of cruise for a quick break.

Getting to the Ship is not one of Costa’s strong points and some work needs to be done as this is the First Impression you have of Costa, we were told just to go to the Cafe around the corner for an hour and wait to be called, no real personal service was forthcoming. Once on the Ship however it became clear that this was a beautiful Ship, brand new, very clean and big.

Our Balcony Cabin was a good size with a good use of space and with all of the usual Cabin Facilities. One small criticism is that for English people there is only 1 English speaking TV channel (BBC World), not greta if you have to occupy the kids whilst you are getting ready. Our Cabin Steward was excellent, in fact if all of the Costa Crew were as attentive we would have re-booked on the spot, sadly though Service is something that Costa needs more work on, especially if it is going to Charge the prices it does for both the cruises and the extra’s.

The food and service was only adequate in the main Restaurants and even worse in the buffets. No variety of food was served from 1 day until the next with the only highlight a Hog Roast and Pasta special on the last sea day. At 4.5 Euro’s for a 330ml bottle of Beer the drinks prices were excessive with a 15% on top. Wine prices are similarly excessive. The only value was the X-L Cocktail of the day Automatic tipping cannot be taken off, it is added to your bill whether you like it or not and considering the Service not value for Money.

Cosat do try hard however to get you a good ‘Whats happening Guide’ and also a good back home leaflet every day and considering the complement of passengers were mainly German, French, Italian, English and then Spanish, Costa tries hard to keep announcements down. Excursions were very good, all of the ones we went on were well taken care of.

Entertainment again considering the language barrier was also OK in the main but again some of the headline performers needed shooting, at least we would have had some fun with them My verdict is that Costa are trying to be P+O/Princess style cruises when in fact they are P+O prices with higher priced extras and only 3 star service and food. Both P+O and Princess do not charge the prices Costa do for their drinks and extras and give far superior service www.idealcruises.com