Costa? Never Again!
Costa Deliziosa Cruise Review by b.wiss
- Sail Date: Mar 2019
- Destination: Transatlantic
- Cabin Type: Samsara Outside with Balcony
We were looking for an alternative to cross the Atlantic other than by plane to avoid the jetlag. As this sailing fit in our time schedule we booked a cruise on Costa Deliziosa leaving Ft. Lauderdale March 03.
-To begin with the ship: Costa Deliziosa is an eldery lady in need of a thorough make-over. The entire interior decor and design was retro.
- Our cabin, which was a so-called Samsara balcony cabin mid forward looked tired and worn with stains on the old carpet and a shower curtain not properly fastened. Worse, the bedding reeked, and the linens were worn and had holes in them. The blankets were flimsy and not warm enough.
- The food at the restaurant was mostly overcooked or too salty and poorly presented. So after a week we simply changed to buffet style for more selection but still had issues with the quality of the food, During the entire cruise the fruit consisted of old and beyond shelf-life plums, nectarines and oranges or fruit salad with stale melons.
- We had booked a shore excursion to the island of Gordo in the Dom.Rep. which turned out to be quite hazardous due to very slippery rocks and rickety steps inside and through the caves. In Costa's tour description these hazards were not mentioned.
- A week into the cruise we and a large number of other passengers contracted a severe bronchitis which made treatment at the ship hospital necessary. Yet, the ship management undertook no extra measures to contain the spreading of the disease or making sure that every passenger used the disinfectant displayed in public areas and restaurants. We saw people grabbing food at the buffet with their fingers!
- Disembarking procedures in Venice were chaotic. There was no proper information and people were kept in large groups in different locations for hours to wait. So we finally took things in our hands and left the ship so as not to miss our connecting train.
In comparison to other cruises we did with other cruise lines like MeinSchiff, Holland America and Princess this was the worst experience ever.
Needless to say we wrote a detailed letter of complaint to Costa Cruises. And also needless to say their answer was non-committal as expected.
Cabin Review
very poor standard for a Samsara Outside and noisy from above
Port & Shore Excursion Reviews
Amber Cove is a really nice port, clean and with interesting facilities
the hike into the caves was hazardous because of slippery rocks and rickety stairs with loose railings. The description of this tour was misleading. Had we known what lay ahead we would not have booked this tour.
View All 248 Virgin Gorda ReviewsVery touristy
interesting town offering nice strolls
very nice and easy to discover
beautiful town with wonderful historic buildings
we very pleasantly surprised by vieux Marseille and really enjoyed our walk through old town.
The ship berthed in Savona not Genoa we were amazed by the beauty of this little town.
well, Naples is Naples so in comparison to other Italian cities we did not find it too appealing.
Just did a city tour on the hop-on-hop-off but beware they are trying to catch customers right outside the pier and then, make them wait until the bus is full. Not recommendable.
Unexpectedley beautiful city with lots of history and nice to walk about.
we took a simple transfer bus from the ship and that did it. Historic Dubrovnik is easily self discovered although we found prices outrageous and a tourist grab.