Costa Cruises

MS CostaMarina

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Operator: Costa Cruise Lines
Year Built / Last Refurbished: 1969/2006
Length / Tonnage: 572 / 25,441
Number of Cabins / Passengers: 385 / 800
Officers / Crew: Italian / Italian
Operating Area: Europe, Northern Africa
Telephone / Fax: Tel 125 2245 / Fax 125 2246

Yes, the COSTA MARINA began life as a container ship...it's amazing what you can do with a little steel and metal. It's true that you can't convert a sow's ear into a silk purse but Costa Crociere proved that you CAN turn ordinary container ships into real dandy cruise liners. How did they do it? With a pair of good hulls, a healthy dollop of ingenuity plus a finely honed sense of aesthetics, some showmanship and a lot of good taste...and VOILA...there were the COSTA MARINA and COSTA ALLEGRA!

She came down the ways in 1969 as Johnson Line's AXEL JOHNSON, a fast, modern container ship...she was handsome, too...not a word usually associated with box boats...but Sweden's Johnson Line always DID have an eye for the handsome ship...Through one of his many companies, Greek shipowner Antonis Lelakis bought her in 1986 for his Regency Cruises...the plan was to convert her into the modern cruise ship REGENT SUN....but things didn't quite happen that way and the ship was sold in 1988 to the Italian Navy Club. The idea behind the whole project was to create jobs for Italian shipyard workers, so the Italian government ponied up the dough to get the work rolling. With some prodding from the Italian government, in the form of construction subsidies, they convinced Costa Line to take over, and between 1988 and 1989 the hull was converted into a cruise ship at Genoa's experienced Mariotti Shipyards. When she entered Costa Cruise service in 1990, many heads turned to gawk at her, and her appearance caused more than a few to gag. But a second, third and even fourth look shows a certain appealing aesthetic employed in this conversion job, and in the design, decoration and outfitting of all of her interiors and deck spaces, the COSTA MARINA epitomizes the work of a highly trained hand.....it's a thoroughly rational use of space.

Not quite as sophisticated in the execution of her decor as is her sister COSTA ALLEGRA, the MARINA presents a bright, cheery aspect through the use of glass and color. While you won't find the warm romantic atmosphere of a COSTA ROMANTICA, you will find plenty of adorable whimsy to make you smile. The COSTA MARINA is casual and carefree. Want a cruise ship that fits the bill? Think COSTA MARINA because...she IS just that...and she is NOT overpriced! For me that's a big plus...I don't ever advise paying more for anything than you NEED to pay. Another reason I favor this ship so highly is her size...she's all of 25,441 tons....which would have made her a big ship years ago, but less than a fourth the size of the "GLAND PRINCESS"....(not a typo.....you know which ship I mean!). The COSTA MARINA is plenty big enough for me....and she has every amenity you would want in a cruise ship too.

Credit Guido Canale, ingenious Italian architect, for the development of the COSTA MARINA. It was his vision that transformed the container ship into a real crystal cruise ship, through the abundant use of glass and natural light. He called for a glass roofed atrium, a slanted wall of glass over which a waterfall rushes, a glass dome over the disco. One anonymous pundit quipped "glass with class"....and so it is, for though the MARINA is basically casual, she's a pretty classy ship. The COSTA MARINA exudes the sophisticated atmosphere of a Ligurian resort.

Lemme go all out...sleek and refined are the words for this ship's public rooms...even when her entertainment gets a bit too loud or some of the passengers be a bit out of place...The COSTA MARINA's public spaces will both please and wow you! Maybe it's that fine Italian hand that designed and decorated the spaces several hundred people will share...maybe it's the lack of pretense and gimmickry that so please here...but whatever it takes...this ship has it...I'd go so far as to say that some of her public rooms are "eye candy"!!! The designers and decorators know an awful lot about color and its effects on people...Pretty Ship! Where to start? How about the embarkation foyer...? Spacious and airy....those are your first impressions when you board this liner..they were mine and they linger with me...

The Tropicana Showroom - 400 seats...The drawback to this beautiful room is the position of the stage...it's front and center..and if you don't like the act in progress or even if you need simply to visit the gentlemen's or lady's sand box...you will be rude as you make your way out of the room.

Since some of the musicians play for volume rather than anything else, you may find the tiny, yet perfect library or card room an alluring refuge from entertainment...dull folks like me flock to such spaces...our hearing the better for our unsocial conduct...

Chic and stylish is the richly earth toned Harry's Bar...thrillingly situated between the Tropicana Showroom and the two course casino.....one room on either side of the swimming pool tank....Harry's Bar is a natural! With 210 seats this room is a throwback to the Smoking Room on Atlantic liners of yore...and is quite the magnet for cruise passengers able to amuse themselves in conversation....there's a combo playing in here most nights...once in a while they do get too loud...when they do I usually move on...the COSTA MARINA has a lot of places to go..So it's usually aft for me to the dramatically glassed in Marina Lounge...a room with plenty of views because there are three sides of glass...There's a "U" shaped bar at the forward end in here and if you like a competent bartender who lives to "set em up" for you...you might find yourself doing your drinking in here and your passing out in here, too. One flight up is the Galaxy Disco...It's round...and not a thing like the teacup ride at Disney Land but it IS round, it's glassed in, too, and has a glass dome to boot..and oh well, you need to see this room to believe it. Naturally, a ship like the COSTA MARINA offers even more spaces.....especially for health and fitness buffs...will head up to the spa and gym...it's a beautiful duplex space equipped with gymnasium, sauna and shower facilities. Since I do like a heavy workout I find the gym a bit minimally equipped but it suffices 95% of this ship's passengers and since you won't be onboard for THAT long...the inability to bench press your usual 350lbs shouldn't trouble you TOO TOO much....

The devout will welcome the Chapel...attended by the ship's resident Roman Catholic priest.

You'll eat here at LEAST once a day...and on some days two, three or even FOUR times...the Crystal Restaurant is a pretty room, ingeniously fitted to serve 452 diners at a time.You cannot help but praise the designers for the extraordinary efficiency of the ship's main eatery. From the grande descente of a main entrance, through other means of ingress and egress, this a very well planned space that somehow manages to convey the air of a much smaller, genteel dining room. You never get a sense that 400+ diners can busily chomp away at the same time...yet it's still a pretty gracious room and the service a real crowd pleaser..

But you want to know about the food...I hear you asking: How's the food? Pretty good...most of it...and while only some of it is extraordinary...there's almost nothing you'll send back...but if you do...don't struggle through it...your waiter wants you to enjoy your food...and he won't be happy until you are...I remember food presentation on the COSTA MARINA more clearly than on other ships...everything looked so pretty...good enough to eat...and most of it was better than good enough.

For more casual eating events...for dining alfresco...there's the Yacht Club. High up in the ship, this room was arranged by people who know how to keep a chow line happy! From breakfast buffets to please the heartiest North American appetites to lunch buffets in that "ABBONDANZA" style of New York's famous old Mamma Leone's, you'll find a lot to eat here...and a pleasant place to enjoy it...the Yacht Club seats 2200 people inside and a few dozen more outside...on terraces on either side of the ship...I myself like one of the tables outside on the starboard side but don't tell too many people...all too often on ships I am about to tuck into some tasties or other...when a fellow passenger sets upon me to talk ships...and good thing for me that they do...I have gained more stories for my American Merchant Marine History Series from other travelers than I have gained weight from cruise ship food....so if you find me and want to talk ships...come on over!

There are 386 of them and except for the eight suites, the 175 outsides and 203 inside rooms are small...yet you probably won't notice because they were ingeniously designed and perfectly fitted....they're nicely decorated, too, with a nod toward the whimsical. You'll be surprised to learn just how many amenities have been incorporated into the 140 square feet of a standard cabin. Expect direct dial phones, TV, hair dryer and safe in your cabin...and more storage space than initially meets the eye...if you book one of the suites...you get sleeping places for four and a terrace. They are large and well designed and they reflect a floorplan that would do an apartment building owner proud.

Few ships cater for so nationally and linguistically varied a passenger list as does a Costa Liner, yet few ships come near handling different language groups in the same ship nearly as well. Granted, during North America's winter when the COSTA MARINA cruises along the Brasilian and Argentinian coasts (with an occasional stop in Uruguay)...about half of the passengers carry Argentine passports, the remainder Brasilian...dining times reflect this mix...

In summer, expect small groups of Americans - 40 to 80 would be my guess for the number of Yankees on this ship's average European cruise...of the remainder there are always LOTS of Italians...and you know the Italians rank way up there among the friendliest people on the planet...as well as speaking the most gorgeous language human ears have ever heard...Italians love children so expect to meet quite a number of Italian families traveling with all the kids they can find...and aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters...count me IN!!! Germans, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese and British passengers often choose a COSTA MARINA cruise...and it's not just for the ship's great itineraries and good prices...Costa's European cruises are always a good value...they come for Costa's "Cruising Italian Style"...they come because the ship has earned an enviable reputation among European passengers for her classy interiors and high standards of catering and service.

As for her transAtlantic cruises between Italy and South America...well...no cruise attracts more interesting people than transAtlantic crossings...and don't be surprised if you run into me on board the COSTA MARINA some day.

If you like a good itinerary, Costa Crociere can surely please you on a COSTA MARINA cruise. Let me advise the North American traveler interested in a European cruise to contact a travel agent or Costa Line about special savings. I'm not a travel agent so I don't have the latest information on special savings....but your travel agent can steer you in the right direction.

For 2009 Costa Marina will offer 14-night fall and winter voyages to the Spanish islands, all departing from Savona. In September she will sail from Savona to Italy, Malta and Tunisia. She will also sail 11-night voyages from Amsterdam through the Fjords and North Cape and 12-night sailings through the Baltic and Russia.

If you're an "English-only" kind of guy or gal, this packet is NOT for you....if you are uncomfortable in the presence of foreigners, stay away because this welcoming ship is not specifically geared to the English speaking North American market and the five language announcements alone will drive you batty! However, if meeting people from other countries and cultures and making friends with people who don't live down the block is as much your style as it is mine....then by all means consider the COSTA MARINA.

Militant non-smokers might get a bit miffed here for many Europeans still puff away in public spaces and have little regard for our controlling American ways...you may come away from the ship feeling that there were times when you smoked an entire packet of cigarettes in a phone booth...but I hope you won't feel that way.

If the COSTA MARINA holds any big minus for me it is the length of her cruises...Her longest are the 17 to 21 day transAtlantic...and most are 7, 9 or 10 days...and this is a ship that can certainly please in the long run....in fact I think 21 days would be about the shortest cruise I would want to make when I next sail in her...but remember...I am multilingual and very much traveled and my friends live on many continents and on many ships at sea...I often dream in Italian or Spanish so I am totally at home here...so...the final word from me is...I LOVE her!