Costa Favolosa Review
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This was our first ever cruise and was part of a coach & cruise holiday with Leger. We embarked in Venice after driving to Italy with overnight stays in Belgium and Austria. The boarding process appeared to be a bit of a cattle market with people milling about all over the place although it was in fact fairly painless and after 30-45 minutes of joining several queues for passport and security checks we were onboard.
Our photographs were taken as we stepped aboard and we were soon in our cabin ( a balcony room on deck 9)to be met by our cabin steward Mervin (nice helpful guy). He showed us around the room which had a double bed, a flat screen TV (which also doubles as an information source, messages are displayed on it from Costa and you can also check your onboard spend from it), a decent size bathroom with a great shower and plenty of shelves for toiletries. 3 single wardrobes (one has a safe in it, no extra charge for this), a long dressing table with several drawers, a fridge (minibar, be warned this isn't part of the all inclusive even though it contained the same drinks we could have for free at the bar!) (one of the drawers contained a built in hairdryer) and the room has a sofa and coffee table. The balcony wasn't that big but enough room for two chairs and a small table.
There was no tea/coffee facilities in the room which was a big minus for me, I like a cup of tea in the morning when I wake up and a hot drink before bed in my room. The self service machines are available at night in the Pizzeria but are switched off at 1am (the bars shut at 1:30am) so if you stay for last orders you've blown it, they are switched on again at 6am for the early risers but it still meant getting dressed and taking a longish walk to the restaurant for your first cuppa of the day. Either the water wasn't hot enough for a decent cup of tea or the tea bags are rubbish but I kept with the coffee. The machine coffee was of the filter variety and I like instant, for some reason only one of the drinks stations stocked sachets of Nescafe which meant having to find the right machine everyday.
Cabin Review
Well equipped apart from lack of tea/coffee making facilities. Plenty of wardrobe space (issue with silly loops for wardrobe and drawer handles,solved by the tip from previous cruisers to put a pen or similar into the loop). Bathroom very nice, plenty of room, good storage. Powerful shower.Bed comfortable (storage for cases under the bed). Balcony smaller than expected but adequate. No noise from engines. Room close to lido deck,restaurants and lifts,made it easy to find way around the ship.