While I'm sad to say I'm back, it's a big help to have Cruise-Chat to come back to. Hope all had a marvelous holiday season and Happy New Year to all.
The Costa Magica was a great ship. There was plenty of space on board. We had an Oceanview cabin that was larger than our balcony cabins on board the Princess sun class ships and much larger than any of the cabins we've had on any other ship. I saw the inside of a balcony room and it looked very large as well. The ship is beautifully decorated, to me the lay out was a little strange, but it was easy to get around. Both dining rooms were 2 floors, the theatre was 3 floors and there wasn't a bad seat in the house. There were 2 pools and 4 hot tubs, the gym was well equipped, the spa had all the massages that are on most ships, there was a beauty salon as well. They had great prices on board in the shops and different items on sale each evening. The food was good, Princess is better, but you wont go hungry. The buffet area had plenty of lines, plus they had a grill with good sandwiches. The ship was crowded, as one can expect on a holiday cruise, and there were at least 1000 children on board. There were plenty of events daily, the only problem being that everything was crowded. It was hard to manuver through the crowds, but it was still fun.
The muster drill was like most lines, except Princess who has it down corrctly. You have to stand outside while they go through all 5 languages. All announcements were made in 5 languages as well. Most staff on board did speak English, even if it was limited, we had no problems understanding them.
There were 11 bars on board. The drink prices were a little more expensive than Princess, on average $.50-$1.00 depending on what you ordered. They did have espresso and cappucino machines at all of the bars.
Your cruise cards were in your room, which was different to me. There was a key card in the door for entry, then you found your cards and excursion tickets on the bed. If you have many ships in port on the day you embark or disembark, be prepared to wait. There were 8 ships in port the day we left. We were an hour late sailing. They had one scanning machine to get 3500 people through. Once through the scanner, it moved rapidly as Costa had lots of reps there to check you in. None of this was Costa's fault, it was Port Everglades. When we disembarked we were over an hour late due to immigration, again NOT Costa's fault. There were a good many passengers that were upset with Costa, but there was nothing they could do about the staff at the port.
They still have Toga night, it was the last night of our cruise. They had lobster night as well as the traditional Baked Alaska. The casino was large with a non-smoking section. There was also a non-smoking section outside of the ship on the lido deck (which is named some long Italian name I'm not even going to try to remember).
The ship was spotless, the service was great, and the crew was friendly. I enjoyed the Italian atmosphere completely. I would definitely recommend Costa to anyone that doesn't mind a lot of children on board. They do have activities for children, but kids will be kids and love to run, scream, throw fits, etc.
penny3333, nice to have you back and glad you had a good trip. Thank you for the very thorough critique; I have always been curious about Costa ships and you make me want to invertigate further. Again, welcome back!
Posts: 3378 | Location: Costa Mesa, California | Registered: November 16, 2006
Yes, in my view you can't beat Princess for the most effective yet user-friendly muster drills. We have not cruised with Costa.
Customs and Immigration seems to be a common complaint lately, with their processes causing more and more delays. Too bad the cruise lines get blamed for something totally out of their control.
I guess I'll have to find a website to host my pictures. I took 4 rolls, with a good deal of interior shots. It was really hard to get the atrium area, it was huge!! There were lots of things Costa did really well, I guess I'm just a Princess junkie. I do wish all cruise lines would take a note from Princess with the muster drills. The one thing I really liked, I was able to purchase and smoke the cigarettes I purchased on board. Sorry, I am a smoker. Princess will sell them to you, but will not let you smoke them. They give them to you at the end of the cruise. Costa also had great prices on alcohol, by the bottle not by the drink. Princess drink prices were less expensive. Costa also some great special prices on clothing, jewelry, etc. It is definitely an Italian atmosphere, and was a fun time!
Penny, here are a couple links to free sites for uploading photos. Sonny V used smugmug but if I'm not mistaken, it appears to be a subscriber service.
I'm sure there are other sites but either of these might work for you.
Penny, glad you had a good time. We sailed on the Costa Atlantica in 2001. My one biggest gripe was that everytime you either heard an annoucement, or went to a live show, everything was said in 5 or more languages before anything even started. Kind of a waste to me. But, we lived through it. It was our first cruise on Costa. We booked an inside, and was upgraded to a balcony! I've never had that on Princess. But, there's hope. Anyway, glad you had a good time. We're looking to book the Emerald for October 27 sailing. So going to miss the sun class ships for the 10 day fall Caribbean. But, the Emerald will be new, and I'm looking forward to that!
Posts: 143 | Location: Pittsburgh, PA | Registered: July 09, 2006
Also enjoyed Toga night. Wasn't it a blast?? Did they also have the midnight buffet? I found that great as well. Also, you mentioned about buying cigarettes on board. I know on Princess, if you buy a carton, then they hold them until the end, but you can buy individual packs at the bars and use right away. It's just the selection isn't that good. Yes, I'm a smoker too.
Posts: 143 | Location: Pittsburgh, PA | Registered: July 09, 2006
They did do midnight buffets, although I never ate at one. The cruise director, Max, stated one of the top 10 questions asked was "What time is the midnight buffet?" The toga night was a lot of fun, didn't see anyone getting crazy, but they did have some very creative people on board. There were a few that used the wreaths around the ship for crowns, some found Christmas decorations that worked well as adornments to their outfit, and they had a parade through the dining room that night.
Chef Ken-thank you for the websites. If they'll ever stop making me work at work, I'll get them posted. Otherwise, it may be this weekend. Best wishes!!
My husband and 3 sons 6, 7, and 8 we on Costa for Thanksgiving. It was awesome! Everything Penny stated. We're going back with neighbors plus kids in Feb.
How are the prices on the princess? How are the inside room compared to Costa?
We were on level 1...not a problem! Net time level 6.
The rooms were kept immacculate!
Posts: 3 | Location: GA | Registered: January 18, 2007
The rooms on Princess will depend on the class and age of the ship. The newer ships have a slightly larger cabin. On the sun class ships the balcony room including the balcony, was about the same size as the inside rooms on the Magica. We're booked on the Emerald which is the sister ship to the Crown, but we don't sail until November. I can let you know the room size once we're back. As far as the prices, Princess seems to be very competitive, and to me they're just a little better, but that is my opinion. I was looking at a 5 day Royal Caribbean, they wanted $1099/pp for a balcony room. Our 10 day on the Emerald is $1499/pp for a balcony. I booked Costa because they were about $500/pp less for the Christmas week than Princess. Normally, Princess has better prices than the rest of the main stream lines for the cruises I am interested in. I like 10-14 day itineraries, and I love the Caribbean. I do compare prices, normally RCL is way too expensive, HAL is higher, but competitive, Carnival and Princess are close to the same, NCL is slightly higher, Celebrity is a lot higher, QM2 is extremely higher, I don't even bother with Seaborn or Crystal because I know I can't afford them. I'm glad you enjoyed the Magica as well. I promise to post some pictures soon. Best wishes!
Originally posted by penny3333: The rooms on Princess will depend on the class and age of the ship. The newer ships have a slightly larger cabin. On the sun class ships the balcony room including the balcony, was about the same size as the inside rooms on the Magica. We're booked on the Emerald which is the sister ship to the Crown, but we don't sail until November. I can let you know the room size once we're back. As far as the prices, Princess seems to be very competitive, and to me they're just a little better, but that is my opinion. I was looking at a 5 day Royal Caribbean, they wanted $1099/pp for a balcony room. Our 10 day on the Emerald is $1499/pp for a balcony. I booked Costa because they were about $500/pp less for the Christmas week than Princess. Normally, Princess has better prices than the rest of the main stream lines for the cruises I am interested in. I like 10-14 day itineraries, and I love the Caribbean. I do compare prices, normally RCL is way too expensive, HAL is higher, but competitive, Carnival and Princess are close to the same, NCL is slightly higher, Celebrity is a lot higher, QM2 is extremely higher, I don't even bother with Seaborn or Crystal because I know I can't afford them. I'm glad you enjoyed the Magica as well. I promise to post some pictures soon. Best wishes!
Posts: 3 | Location: GA | Registered: January 18, 2007
Thanks Penny! You seem like a Pro-Cruiser! My husband is always looking for a deal! There are 5 of us. We use 2 rooms and are paying for 3. My friends are going with us on Costa next month. They have 2 kids free for 2 adults in the room paying $1600 total for 7 days in the Carribean. If you hear about any, feel free to pass it on! We're addicted to vacationing. This will be our 3rd cruise and my friends 1st.
Posts: 3 | Location: GA | Registered: January 18, 2007
Well I went on the Costa magica last year.. Well I must say did not really like the ship.. Found it to be dirty and in need of repairs.. It was there last cruise of the season before sailing across to Europe.. I did not like the food in the dinning room.. Was mostly upper-class Italian food, thought there would be some more traditional Italian foods.. It wasn’t all bad, we had a lot of fun, and how can you not, on a cruise? All the staff treated us great.. I have been on several cruises and this had to be the biggest disappointments.. You just come to expect great food and a ship in great condition...
Going on the Carnival Triumph on Feb. 24th Havn't been on a Carnival ship Not counting Costa cruises for quite some time now, last time was when the Ecstasy was brand new and sailed out of Miami.. I had a great time on that, I hope it wasn't due to the fact I was so much younger...LOL Was like 15 or 16 years ago..
Wow, that's strange. She's a pretty new ship and was really clean. I think she was built in 2004. I think I've managed to post a few pictures. If not, let me know and I'll try again. I just work on computers, new to this picture posting stuff. I think this link will work http://www.flickr.com/photos/69517971@N00/ Best wishes.
Yea I found it strange also that it was in such bad shape... I say bad shape, for a cruise ship that is... I am just so used to it being in great shape.. Like I said was there last cruise for the season before sailing across the Atlantic, so maybe they put off some stuff till they got over....
I don't know what Magica you were on but we were on it in January and it was probably the most beautiful ship I have ever been on. It is a newer ship and was kept up very well. This ship came into service in 2004 so if you were on it last year it just seem rather odd that it would be in bad shape.
