great cruise,great food,great entertainment and great gambling too.
i even won 4,000 dollars how the hell can you go wrong!!!!

I went on a cruise the week of March 7, 2005 with a friend of mine. We are in our mid 40's. The cruise ship is amazingly beautiful. The food was amazing with the Italian Influence. All the food you could possibly eat. Alchohol, pop, bottled water is all extra. Most people don't realize that the booze is extra. Also, Gratuities are added onto your bill automatically. I believe I paid $60.00 U.S. for the whole week, that is not a lot of money if you consider a week away in restaurants and the tips you would be handing out. Not to mention the cabin and the service you get for that small fee.

The service was great, the entertainment was good but I found it to cater to a certain age group which believe it or not is much older than us. I would like to try a singles cruise next time. This cruise line The Costa Mediterranean is used for a singles cruise.

I would recommend it.

Anyone who was on that trip, email some comments.

This past December, My family and I went on the Costa Atlantica..The ship is absoutely gorgeous and very clean.. .. .
No problems at all during the week in the Caribbean. I'm in my early 30's and loved every minute.. .. .
Casino is very lucky for all, Myself won about $2300 and my partner was also lucky at about 1500
Cant wait for December 05 for another one

My husband and I (both late forties) sailed on the Costa Mediterranea April 2005 to the Western Carribbean. The ship was built in 2003 and it was fabulous. Cabins are clean and comfortable with very nice bathrooms. We had an outside veranda stateroom that was just so nice.
The food was very good, with the exception of the desserts, there is only so many ways that you can serve sponge cake!
The amenities on the ship were excellent (several bars, casino, spa, fittness center, pools, hot tubs, adult only sunbathing decks, no nudity, just no kids allowed.
The music and entertainment was just OK, directed at a 60yrs plus crowd as far as I could tell.
There were guests from 25 different countries and all announcements were made in 5 languages (English, Spanish, French, German and Italian). . The crew was multi-national many Italians, Engish and Asian employees.
This was my first cruise and I loved it. Although be warned if you are a non-smoker, there is no such thing as a non-smoking cabin and we had to request that our cabin be ionzed because it smelled strongly of cigarette smoke.

I just came back from a seven day cruise with COSTA on their new ship the COSTA MAGICA. It was a 7 day Mediterrenean Cruise with ports in Barcelona, Tunis, Palma De Mallorca, Palermo, Malta, Savona, etc. It was supposed to be a dream come true, but was more like a nightmare. If you have ever been on a Royal Car. cruise and are expecting that kind of treatment, with fancy midnight buffets and employees that are cheerful and eager to place, then prepare to be dissapointed and upset. Don't get me wrong, the ship itself is super nice, but that's about it. From the crappy entrance they set up for your boarding to the greeter's faces, you can already tell its gonna be hell. The Employees are all disgruntled, and most of the wait staff, and cleaning, cabin, and others are either Indian or from the Phillipines, problably getting paid 50 cents an hour by Costa, and its defenitely blood money. At dinner they have one waiter for about 6 tables. The rest of the time the other wait staff walks around with their lips puckered or with these desperate and upset looks on their faces as if they cant wait to leave, or the rest of them just ignore you and make you wait 15minutes for glass a water. And these are not the worst of it. If you think they are bad, wait till you meet the rest of the staff. Most of the higher end positions, if you will!!!! like the tour desk or guest service people are Europeans, especially Italians, boy do they have attitudes. They just didnt care about anything. The cruise couldnt be anymore anti-american. They were bothered if you didn't understand them and had to ask the same question twice. They were bothered if you spoke in english, they were bothered because you wanted to change money at the casino for tokens, basically they were bothered about everything. They would spend the time rolling their eyes and laughing and anyone that dared complain. One American lady later told us, she approached guest services to complain about the fact she had been left behind at one of the tours and had to take a taxi to the port, as well as how bad they had treated her, and they basically laughed in her face, and said it was impossible that their cruise line would treat her like that. The Tour guides would leave you behind in a heartbeat, everyone who spoke italian seemed to get things done very quickly and efficiently, and everyone else not italian or European was left behind. And what about that Yummy Italian cuisine, YEA! WHAT ABOUT IT???. .. ..It couldnt have been worst. Don't expect the yummy meals you might be used to in the good ol' USA. The meals onboard are bland and tasteless. The same food is repeated throughtout the cruise during your 7 seven day stay, and dont be surprised to eat the same cheese or pastry at the midnight buffet and you were snacking on at 7 am. It just the same ol' thing over and over again. The pastries are stale, or just plain groce. The pizza is no NYC style pizza, trust me! Their soups taste like water. Basically everything is a waste, except maybe their ice cream. You don't get soda at all. You only get water and coffee, which tastes like toilet wated and milk. And what about those wonderful style broadway shows, Well their not here. They must be hiding. In their place they have some flamenco dancers, and muscle men who think climbing a rope is like discovering the last glass of water on Earth. The worst part is, seeing these Europeans eat it all up. I mean come on, aren't they supposed to be the most cultured of them all. What's wrong with these people, haven't they every seen Cirque Du Soleil. Its amazing listening to their claps. We actually attempted to watch 3 of their shows, and three times we got up and left, and we werent the only one's. I guess it was more of those undercultured American's who cant appreciate fine entertainment(notice the sarcasm!. ..hint)Anyhow the food -, so does the entertainment, the employees, the onboard activities, the gala dinner and buffets are a joke, what else can i say, expect complain about the other passengers themselves. More than just once we had out feet trampled on by rude Italians and their lovely luggage, pushed out of the way by other Italians rushing to board the elevators, or had them just plain and simple cut us off in like when trying to access the restaurant, shops, or picture areas. It wasnt until the last day some guy said "SCUSI" and that's only because after running our feet over with his bags and trying to get by, we extended out arms, blocked him in and, said "You aren't going anywhere, until you say excuse me!" aren't they friendly!!! In conclusion don't waste your money. Don't be fooled by false ads of beautiful italian dinners and Unique Italian Customer Service, Its like getting 3 thousand dollar and throwing down the garbage. Go back to ROYAL, before the Costa gets contagious!

Hi i recently came back from the EasternCarribbean and the group i belong too had a fundraising criuse and we used the Costa Atlantica i thought it was totally awesome way cool i have seen cruise ships before but this one is very beautiful. i would recommend it strongly.

Wow! I'd like to respond to that posting. I took a Costa Mediterranean cruise on one of their older ships several years ago and had a great time. Sounds like the writer of the posting either had bad luck with a new ship, or culture shock, or both.

I had lived in Italy for two years at that time, so I knew not to expect it to be "just like America". . Italian culture is different. For example, the wait staff in an Italian restaurant will usually not come to your table until you call them over. This takes some getting used to for us Americans who are constantly subjected to "can I get you anything" by the wait staff (which is code for "if you aren't spending any more money please leave"). . Italians can sometimes seem rude to people they don't know, and they do have a habit of forming a gaggle and pushing forward instead of a line. Once you get to know them, they are incredibly generous, warm people.

For a balanced comparison: I found that the Costa cruise had less emphasis on physical activities and sports than a Caribbean cruise targeted mostly at Americans would. The emphasis was on food, which was very good, and on tours to shop and see historical sight. The language and culture differences might make it a bad choice for people who aren't flexible and open to that kind of challenge.

[quote="sosaaranot"]I just came back from a seven day cruise with COSTA on their new ship the COSTA MAGICA. It was a 7 day Mediterrenean Cruise with ports in Barcelona, Tunis, Palma De Mallorca, Palermo, Malta, Savona, etc. It was supposed to be a dream come true, but was more like a nightmare. If you have ever been on a Royal Car. cruise and are expecting that kind of treatment, with fancy midnight buffets and employees that are cheerful and eager to place, then prepare to be dissapointed and upset. Don't get me wrong, the ship itself is super nice, but that's about it. From the crappy entrance they set up for your boarding to the greeter's faces, you can already tell its gonna be hell. The Employees are all disgruntled, and most of the wait staff, and cleaning, cabin, and others are either Indian or from the Phillipines, problably getting paid 50 cents an hour by Costa, and its defenitely blood money. At dinner they have one waiter for about 6 tables. The rest of the time the other wait staff walks around with their lips puckered or with these desperate and upset looks on their faces as if they cant wait to leave, or the rest of them just ignore you and make you wait 15minutes for glass a water. And these are not the worst of it. If you think they are bad, wait till you meet the rest of the staff. Most of the higher end positions, if you will!!!! like the tour desk or guest service people are Europeans, especially Italians, boy do they have attitudes. They just didnt care about anything. The cruise couldnt be anymore anti-american. They were bothered if you didn't understand them and had to ask the same question twice. They were bothered if you spoke in english, they were bothered because you wanted to change money at the casino for tokens, basically they were bothered about everything. They would spend the time rolling their eyes and laughing and anyone that dared complain. One American lady later told us, she approached guest services to complain about the fact she had been left behind at one of the tours and had to take a taxi to the port, as well as how bad they had treated her, and they basically laughed in her face, and said it was impossible that their cruise line would treat her like that. The Tour guides would leave you behind in a heartbeat, everyone who spoke italian seemed to get things done very quickly and efficiently, and everyone else not italian or European was left behind. And what about that Yummy Italian cuisine, YEA! WHAT ABOUT IT???. .. ..It couldnt have been worst. Don't expect the yummy meals you might be used to in the good ol' USA. The meals onboard are bland and tasteless. The same food is repeated throughtout the cruise during your 7 seven day stay, and dont be surprised to eat the same cheese or pastry at the midnight buffet and you were snacking on at 7 am. It just the same ol' thing over and over again. The pastries are stale, or just plain groce. The pizza is no NYC style pizza, trust me! Their soups taste like water. Basically everything is a waste, except maybe their ice cream. You don't get soda at all. You only get water and coffee, which tastes like toilet wated and milk. And what about those wonderful style broadway shows, Well their not here. They must be hiding. In their place they have some flamenco dancers, and muscle men who think climbing a rope is like discovering the last glass of water on Earth. The worst part is, seeing these Europeans eat it all up. I mean come on, aren't they supposed to be the most cultured of them all. What's wrong with these people, haven't they every seen Cirque Du Soleil. Its amazing listening to their claps. We actually attempted to watch 3 of their shows, and three times we got up and left, and we werent the only one's. I guess it was more of those undercultured American's who cant appreciate fine entertainment(notice the sarcasm!. ..hint)Anyhow the food -, so does the entertainment, the employees, the onboard activities, the gala dinner and buffets are a joke, what else can i say, expect complain about the other passengers themselves. More than just once we had out feet trampled on by rude Italians and their lovely luggage, pushed out of the way by other Italians rushing to board the elevators, or had them just plain and simple cut us off in like when trying to access the restaurant, shops, or picture areas. It wasnt until the last day some guy said "SCUSI" and that's only because after running our feet over with his bags and trying to get by, we extended out arms, blocked him in and, said "You aren't going anywhere, until you say excuse me!" aren't they friendly!!! In conclusion don't waste your money. Don't be fooled by false ads of beautiful italian dinners and Unique Italian Customer Service, Its like getting 3 thousand dollar and throwing down the garbage. Go back to ROYAL, before the Costa gets contagious![/quote]

[quote="sosaaranot"]I just came back from a seven day cruise with COSTA on their new ship the COSTA MAGICA. It was a 7 day Mediterrenean Cruise with ports in Barcelona, Tunis, Palma De Mallorca, Palermo, Malta, Savona, etc. It was supposed to be a dream come true, but was more like a nightmare. If you have ever been on a Royal Car. cruise and are expecting that kind of treatment, with fancy midnight buffets and employees that are cheerful and eager to place, then prepare to be dissapointed and upset. Don't get me wrong, the ship itself is super nice, but that's about it. From the crappy entrance they set up for your boarding to the greeter's faces, you can already tell its gonna be hell. The Employees are all disgruntled, and most of the wait staff, and cleaning, cabin, and others are either Indian or from the Phillipines, problably getting paid 50 cents an hour by Costa, and its defenitely blood money. At dinner they have one waiter for about 6 tables. The rest of the time the other wait staff walks around with their lips puckered or with these desperate and upset looks on their faces as if they cant wait to leave, or the rest of them just ignore you and make you wait 15minutes for glass a water. And these are not the worst of it. If you think they are bad, wait till you meet the rest of the staff. Most of the higher end positions, if you will!!!! like the tour desk or guest service people are Europeans, especially Italians, boy do they have attitudes. They just didnt care about anything. The cruise couldnt be anymore anti-american. They were bothered if you didn't understand them and had to ask the same question twice. They were bothered if you spoke in english, they were bothered because you wanted to change money at the casino for tokens, basically they were bothered about everything. They would spend the time rolling their eyes and laughing and anyone that dared complain. One American lady later told us, she approached guest services to complain about the fact she had been left behind at one of the tours and had to take a taxi to the port, as well as how bad they had treated her, and they basically laughed in her face, and said it was impossible that their cruise line would treat her like that. The Tour guides would leave you behind in a heartbeat, everyone who spoke italian seemed to get things done very quickly and efficiently, and everyone else not italian or European was left behind. And what about that Yummy Italian cuisine, YEA! WHAT ABOUT IT???. .. ..It couldnt have been worst. Don't expect the yummy meals you might be used to in the good ol' USA. The meals onboard are bland and tasteless. The same food is repeated throughtout the cruise during your 7 seven day stay, and dont be surprised to eat the same cheese or pastry at the midnight buffet and you were snacking on at 7 am. It just the same ol' thing over and over again. The pastries are stale, or just plain groce. The pizza is no NYC style pizza, trust me! Their soups taste like water. Basically everything is a waste, except maybe their ice cream. You don't get soda at all. You only get water and coffee, which tastes like toilet wated and milk. And what about those wonderful style broadway shows, Well their not here. They must be hiding. In their place they have some flamenco dancers, and muscle men who think climbing a rope is like discovering the last glass of water on Earth. The worst part is, seeing these Europeans eat it all up. I mean come on, aren't they supposed to be the most cultured of them all. What's wrong with these people, haven't they every seen Cirque Du Soleil. Its amazing listening to their claps. We actually attempted to watch 3 of their shows, and three times we got up and left, and we werent the only one's. I guess it was more of those undercultured American's who cant appreciate fine entertainment(notice the sarcasm!. ..hint)Anyhow the food -, so does the entertainment, the employees, the onboard activities, the gala dinner and buffets are a joke, what else can i say, expect complain about the other passengers themselves. More than just once we had out feet trampled on by rude Italians and their lovely luggage, pushed out of the way by other Italians rushing to board the elevators, or had them just plain and simple cut us off in like when trying to access the restaurant, shops, or picture areas. It wasnt until the last day some guy said "SCUSI" and that's only because after running our feet over with his bags and trying to get by, we extended out arms, blocked him in and, said "You aren't going anywhere, until you say excuse me!" aren't they friendly!!! In conclusion don't waste your money. Don't be fooled by false ads of beautiful italian dinners and Unique Italian Customer Service, Its like getting 3 thousand dollar and throwing down the garbage. Go back to ROYAL, before the Costa gets contagious![/quote]

HMMM! Is everyone in Europe anti American? Do you have a small inferiority complex? Please, please, please, don't take Costa Cruises again. Would be great not to have any chauvinistic US clients aboard. I have had several cruises on Costa.. .. .. .. ..good service and food. Some obnoxious Americans.. .. .. . but there again there were some obnoxious Europeans. You cannot generalise! We met some wonderful people, American, Canadian, Spanish, French and Italian. If you cannot deal with other cultures, stay at home and good riddance
[quote="EUROPEAN"][quote="sosaaranot"]I just came back from a seven day cruise with COSTA on their new ship the COSTA MAGICA. It was a 7 day Mediterrenean Cruise with ports in Barcelona, Tunis, Palma De Mallorca, Palermo, Malta, Savona, etc. It was supposed to be a dream come true, but was more like a nightmare. If you have ever been on a Royal Car. cruise and are expecting that kind of treatment, with fancy midnight buffets and employees that are cheerful and eager to place, then prepare to be dissapointed and upset. Don't get me wrong, the ship itself is super nice, but that's about it. From the crappy entrance they set up for your boarding to the greeter's faces, you can already tell its gonna be hell. The Employees are all disgruntled, and most of the wait staff, and cleaning, cabin, and others are either Indian or from the Phillipines, problably getting paid 50 cents an hour by Costa, and its defenitely blood money. At dinner they have one waiter for about 6 tables. The rest of the time the other wait staff walks around with their lips puckered or with these desperate and upset looks on their faces as if they cant wait to leave, or the rest of them just ignore you and make you wait 15minutes for glass a water. And these are not the worst of it. If you think they are bad, wait till you meet the rest of the staff. Most of the higher end positions, if you will!!!! like the tour desk or guest service people are Europeans, especially Italians, boy do they have attitudes. They just didnt care about anything. The cruise couldnt be anymore anti-american. They were bothered if you didn't understand them and had to ask the same question twice. They were bothered if you spoke in english, they were bothered because you wanted to change money at the casino for tokens, basically they were bothered about everything. They would spend the time rolling their eyes and laughing and anyone that dared complain. One American lady later told us, she approached guest services to complain about the fact she had been left behind at one of the tours and had to take a taxi to the port, as well as how bad they had treated her, and they basically laughed in her face, and said it was impossible that their cruise line would treat her like that. The Tour guides would leave you behind in a heartbeat, everyone who spoke italian seemed to get things done very quickly and efficiently, and everyone else not italian or European was left behind. And what about that Yummy Italian cuisine, YEA! WHAT ABOUT IT???. .. ..It couldnt have been worst. Don't expect the yummy meals you might be used to in the good ol' USA. The meals onboard are bland and tasteless. The same food is repeated throughtout the cruise during your 7 seven day stay, and dont be surprised to eat the same cheese or pastry at the midnight buffet and you were snacking on at 7 am. It just the same ol' thing over and over again. The pastries are stale, or just plain groce. The pizza is no NYC style pizza, trust me! Their soups taste like water. Basically everything is a waste, except maybe their ice cream. You don't get soda at all. You only get water and coffee, which tastes like toilet wated and milk. And what about those wonderful style broadway shows, Well their not here. They must be hiding. In their place they have some flamenco dancers, and muscle men who think climbing a rope is like discovering the last glass of water on Earth. The worst part is, seeing these Europeans eat it all up. I mean come on, aren't they supposed to be the most cultured of them all. What's wrong with these people, haven't they every seen Cirque Du Soleil. Its amazing listening to their claps. We actually attempted to watch 3 of their shows, and three times we got up and left, and we werent the only one's. I guess it was more of those undercultured American's who cant appreciate fine entertainment(notice the sarcasm!. ..hint)Anyhow the food -, so does the entertainment, the employees, the onboard activities, the gala dinner and buffets are a joke, what else can i say, expect complain about the other passengers themselves. More than just once we had out feet trampled on by rude Italians and their lovely luggage, pushed out of the way by other Italians rushing to board the elevators, or had them just plain and simple cut us off in like when trying to access the restaurant, shops, or picture areas. It wasnt until the last day some guy said "SCUSI" and that's only because after running our feet over with his bags and trying to get by, we extended out arms, blocked him in and, said "You aren't going anywhere, until you say excuse me!" aren't they friendly!!! In conclusion don't waste your money. Don't be fooled by false ads of beautiful italian dinners and Unique Italian Customer Service, Its like getting 3 thousand dollar and throwing down the garbage. Go back to ROYAL, before the Costa gets contagious![/quote][/quote]