This was the first time my husband and I had taken a cruise.

The good points first!

We spent a couple of days in Venice which is amazing! The Costa Fascinosa takes your breath away - its size and it's immaculate inside and out. We booked an inside cabin and it was a lot bigger than we expected. Our cabin steward Ivan cleaned the cabin twice daily and was always close by. Nothing was too much trouble. We took out a drinks package which covered anything from coffee to cocktails. The buffet breakfast was excellent - something for everyone. Depending on the time in port a buffet lunch was also sometimes available - again excellent. You are allocated a table in the restaurant for the duration of your stay - 6 courses, not gourmet, but very good. There's also an a la carte restaurant and a pizza restaurant which you pay extra for but we didn't use them but were told they were very good. There are many different bars and various musical entertainment. There's a beautiful theatre but the standard of shows is very poor, apart from the acrobatic show. The cabin, bar and restaurant staff work incredibly hard and are a credit to Costa. The Customer Service staff could do with lessons from them - they can barely smile! Read more