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Costa Cruise Line

MS CostaClassica

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Kim Frankhouser
# previous cruises: 10+
Date of Trip: October 26, 2002
Itinerary: Mediterranean

The worst cruise we have been on. If we could rate it a zero star out of 5 stars we would. This ship is outdated, poorly decorated, filled with cigarette smoke, LOUD, and a total waste of money when compared to other lines such as Holland America and Princess

Marble and metal pretty much covers the decor...which means it is very loud. All public areas were filled with smoke including the elevators, hallways, lounges, and stores...the NO SMOKING AREAS were clearly marked but totally ignored. There is no walk around promenade other then the artificial turf walk on the top of the ship...open to weather and wind. The pools were big enough for about 4 people....we never saw anyone in them. Every inch of space around the pools were covered with metal chaise lounges. There was no room to walk. There were only 2 places on this ship where the windows were unobscured by either life boats or fake plants...this was the spa (closed at 8pm) and the disco (opened at 1am)...the main buffet dining area had small vertical windows of which all were obscured by life boats. The casino looked like something from the 70s...I honestly cant think of one area that was appealing on this ship.

The food was terrible....it was like eating frozen dinners at every meal. There were 3 sandwiches on the room service menu (white bread with ham and pickles) and you were charged for them. One midnight buffet was watermelon and fritters. My husband swears the bean soup at dinner was Campbells...You could only eat dinner in the main dining hall which was marble with patio furniture. Service was unprofessional and rushed. The buffet was closed at dinner. You could get pizza (which was also like a frozen pizza) during 2 hours at night. If you want to lose weight, this is the cruise for you. Breakfast and lunch buffet was like a walk through the highschool cafeteria line.

Small and totally unsoundproofed. We could hear everything through the walls...our neighbors were two quiet little old ladies. We could hear every word of their conversations. The bathroom floor was wood paneling and the shower stall was a corner of this floor with a shower curtain. I am not kidding! There was approximately 2 inches allowed for water before it started spilling out onto the floor and then onto the carpet. The space allowed for the shower was large enough for a very small person. Being that the shower pan was 2 inches below the floor, and the shower curtain was in a circular ring over the corner....well you can imagine how great it was.

Terrible. I really cant say anything positive about it. Cruise staff were indifferent....friendly only where there was a tip concerned...which we did tip our cabin steward well. She was wonderful. And the kids club...they were wonderful...we even tipped them! But the head maitre'd actually made a beeline for us on the last dinner...his hand was out. Photographers were a nuisance....constantly in your face

Kids club was great....but was not worth the 8,000 dollars this trip cost us. Ports of call in the Mediterranean were too short...2 to 4 hours...and one port of call was obviously only for additional embarkation of passengers (Bari, Italy)...and if you didn't sign up for one of Costa's on shore excursions, they wouldn't let you off the boat till all excursion passengers had disembarked. We have never experience this on Holland America. We finally got off the ship 1 hour after arrival in port only to have to get back on in 1 and a half hours...We did not even do the life boat and life jacket exercise until the second day at sea...We all met in the lounge....and no names were recorded...they did a count!...I met several people who did not even go. On our last cruise we were required to be at the lifeboat station and all passengers were checked off and accounted for.

Italian with a few British and Japanese and american and german. And no, most we would never have over for dinner. This group was pushy and obnoxious. Most of the british we met were very nice. I know this review was harsh...but when you spend the same amount of money as you would on princess or hal...you would expect it to be somewhat equivalent in value. We will never sail Costa again.