Cheap Cruise Holidays & Latest Cruises Deals

Thursday 24th May 2012

www.cruise.co.uk - Cruise Deals, Cruises & Cruise Holidays

0800 408 6200

Cruise Reviews
127,222 Opinions Cruise Answers
190,845 Q&As Cruise Photos
14,371 Real Photos Cruise Videos
1,645 Real Videos Shore Excursions Our Cruise
Consultants Cruise Info
Guides Cruise Forum Get a Quote Special Offers Last Minute Cruises Luxury Cruises Tailor Made Cruise River Cruises Family Cruises Free Brochures Make a Payment

Cruise Reviews

Costa Cruises

Costa Europa

COSTA EUROPA – DUBAI TO SAVONA 14 – 02 - 10

Back

COSTA EUROPA – DUBAI TO SAVONA 14 – 02 - 10

Reviewed By: Cleal, Gwent Way on 23rd Mar 2010
Cruise Line: Costa Cruises	Times cruised before: 1-2
Cruise Ship: Costa Europa	Sailed: March, 2010
Destination: Dubai	Age: 56-65
Cabin: Inside

DAY 1 - 14th Feb ‘10 Emirates flight to Dubai from Gatwick excellent! Check in shore side at Dubai –staff seem uncertain of what documents required by them – but we were processed quickly as very few passengers attempting to register – it was 9.30pm! Wait for promised shuttle bus to take us to the ship. Not one arrive –all to be seen at gangway in the far distance! After long flight and high temperatures, carrying our bags with heavy jackets and wearing warm clothing, we are forced to walk to the boat. There is a single, narrow gangway. It is located as far from us as possible, towards the bow of the ship. Get to gangway and officer on duty advises that we do not have correct documents from reception staff!! Finally OK’d by him we attempt to board – only to face about 200 people leaving the ship – most seemed very unhappy from their comments - a good start!! They of course went to the waiting shuttle buses!! On board at last, our cabin is +80 F, there was also a regular beeping in the cabin!!, I spoke with female cabin steward – who knew very little about anything so I adjusted A/C down and she immediately put it back up – after a while I told her to go away. I then attempted to use the safe to store our valuables. Eventually got the mechanism to work but found I could not open the safe without the use of a knife – because the knob had broken off!! Steward not interested! Back to the beeping! This turned out to be the smoke alarm and is an indication that the battery needs changing! Steward not interested!! That night I removed the battery to give us some peace and left it on the dressing table! We went to the buffet as it was getting later! I have never ever before seen such a pathetic selection of nothing in all my life! We have cruised for 25 years, including some with cheaper ships but had never ever come across food that poor! DAY 2 Back to the beeping smoke alarm!Steward reconnects battery ( but not properly as push studs on PP3 not pushed on!!) Surprise, surprise, its now beeping away again! Removed again by me and left on dresser! Dinner in restaurant: Had major problems with the waiter as he was extremely reluctant to provide a jug of water to our table – he was only interested in selling bottled water or wine!! DAY 3 Smoke alarm same again, as day 2! Went to Customer Services to tell them to sort! They attempt to read the ‘riot act’ to me for tampering with the safety equip on the vessel and as such hazarding the ship - again I tell them it only requires a battery change! Nothing happens! Day 4 Note in door, asking me to dial 77 ref complain as they have dealt with problem! I advise them it is not dealt with and again advise it just requires a new battery! I now mark old battery to identify it after removing it once more! DAY 5 or 6 – its such a long saga I forget!! Further note in door -Battery finally changed! Knock at cabin door! 2 officers want to know about problem ! Were they going to read the riot act to me again, I wonder!! General Lifeboat drill Normal practise is for staff to be present at all stairs etc to ensure that passengers are directed to their respective lifeboat assembly stations. Staff were not present on some stairwells to direct passengers to the right area! What a farce –took four times as long as on good ships and passengers alongside us did not even put their lifejackets on. The roll call was a farce as a member of staff read a few europa cards and then just walked off. I asked him to read mine and others and he ignored this! Use of GSM mobiles on ship Only TIM (Italian!) SIM cards would work – NO OTHER OPERATORS WORLD WIDE. It was stated that SIM cards would be available to enable passengers to make GSM calls - BUT YOU GUESSED IT – none were available as they had supposedly run out! Smoking policy – a joke Getting totally fed up with the lack of policing of smoking on the ship! Passengers doing exactly as they please and are smoking below and above decks, including cigars above and below! Speaking to passengers about it just brought verbal abuse from them!! Went to establish exactly what is ‘the policy’ on smoking. Told smoking allowed on port side, above and below decks only! They picked up phone immediately to act on this and they thanked me for bringing it to their attention! You guessed it – nothing changed at all! Smoking in cabins The Costa daily info sheet, under smoke detector heading, stated that smoking should not be undertaken under the smoke detectors - does this mean smoking is allowed in the cabins??? Unbelievable!! Loungers on outside decks There was absolutely no policing of these and absolute abuse. We got up early to watch sunrises and nearly all loungers had been taken / reserved by placing towels/objects on them and left like that all day!! Our own personal experience was that we found 2 free ones then went to the buffet for 20 mins to find a german had pinched them –we were told this by a fellow german who was disgusted with his fellow countryman’s behaviour! Laissez faire attitude of staff You had to get out of their way rather than the other way round! Guaranteed tipping seemed to mean that service levels were particularly poor -- worse than I have ever experienced on the previous 30 cruises! Food and menu choices Worst ever on both counts! Gala dinners were a joke – forget about wrapping the menus in a ‘bow’ -- provide better food! The Sharm el Sheik Incident Awoken at 0400 –NOT 0445 AS STATED IN REPORTS Drawers flying open and other things flying around our cabin 7116! Looked out of cabin window (port side!) to see what I now assume, was a pilot boat some 30 metres from the ship clearly motoring in calm conditions!! Boat immediately listing to starboard following the massive noise! This was 3 HOURS before the scheduled arrival at 0700 (having left Safaga in Egypt after 2200 hrs) I immediately recognised something serious is occurring so went immediately to the lifeboat deck. I am a qualified ‘skipper’ so know when to get out! N.B. THERE WAS NO HIGH WIND OR SEAS so where the supposed ‘severe weather’ came from and when I do not know! Also, I have to get up a couple of times in the night, which I did, and at neither time did I experience any movement on the ship! Ship is completely clear of the dock by about 2 metres and parallel over whole 2/3rds of its length – but at least one third of the stern section of the hull is totally clear of the pier, sticking out into open water. Got this recorded on video! Meet staff on lifeboat deck (9). They are soaked from their waists down and have their lifejackets. I ask one whether I should get mine as things look serious. He says no – ITS ONLY AN EXERCISE!! The ship continued to heel to starboard! I was monitoring this from datum points on the ship and the cliff behind. I know what I’m talking about! Talk to another who says it was like TITANIC down below, as when he opened doors he was hit by a wall of water. Spoke with others, also soaked and dripping wet, who said they had lost everything and indeed some did not even have anything on their feet. I have video of a lot of this but obviously I needed to be sensitive to the feelings/tensions of everyone! More and more crew came out on deck 9 again, all with their lifejackets. Went to cabin to get our lifejackets! I videoed the damaged quay and was told that the ship was badly holed effecting at least 5 cabins - STILL NO ANNOUCEMENTS After a period of 25 to 40 mins the ship then starts to list to port. This is more scary as this is the seaward side. Again I monitored the list over a fair period of time as it went over further and further! One hour after the incident now at 0500, AN ANNOUNCEMENT WAS FINALLY MADE – BUT NOT FROM THE CAPTAIN. It said basically we have arrived at the port of Sharm El Sheik and we should carry on as normal. REALLY COMFORTING!! All this I have on video! A 2nd announcement followed at 0536 – also on video – in which the same woman - AGAIN NOT THE CAPTAIN – said the damage had been ‘evaluated’ and we should proceed to our cabins to pack our cases and prepare to leave the ship. There would be a further announcement. We duly, but hurriedly, packed our cases and waited for a further announcement. We were waiting in the corridor on deck 7, when a 3rd announcement told us to leave the cases and make way to leave the ship but a repeat announcement was cut off mid stream – all this on video!! We proceeded as requested BUT NO STAFF WERE MANNING THE STAIRS TO DIRECT PASSENGERS! Indeed we, with others, went down the wrong stairs! WHERE WAS THE LIFEBOAT DRILL PROCEDURE HERE. PEOPLE WERE STARTING TO PANIC SOMEWHAT –talking of throwing up etc!! Major congestion and confusion, as very little progress made through the corridors and also down the stairs. TOOK AN EXTRA 2 ¼ HOURS AFTER THE 3RD ANNOUCEMENT BEFORE WE WERE ABLE TO LEAVE THE SHIP – ALL THE BETTER IT WASN’T SINKING!! The gangway was at a very steep angle, this was severely limiting the number of passengers who could be on the gangway at any one time. To prevent passengers falling down, 6/7 crew members man handled each passenger to the bottom – this was done well , BUT why was there not a 2nd gangway and why was it not at a lower level to make leaving the ship easier and far quicker?? It was now 0815. This was now four and a quarter hours after the accident!! All loaded into coaches but only for 200 metres. Dropped off on quay. Spent next 3 3/4 hours sitting on pavement kerbing with all other passengers. After a number of hours a lorry turned up with bottles of water. No communication between staff and passengers!! Eventually the lower deck passengers were transferred to coaches (to hotels!) We were finally coached to a hotel 20 mins ride away ,arriving at 1210pm. The hotel , THE ROTANA, directed us to breakfast as they had extended this to meet our needs, telling us to check in after we had eaten. (NB Lunch was not till 1pm and would be late!) Information and the cases Later that afternoon we were told that the cases would be delivered to our hotel. We had all had our cabin numbers recorded when we boarded the coach to the hotel so Costa knew exactly where everyone was!! Told that we are checked into hotel on full board until mid morning tomorrow! Searched hotel grounds for our cases each time a new coach came in – loads were left there unclaimed. At approx 9.30pm we are still told there is to be another coach load of cases from the ship and that ours and numerous other passengers’ cases will probably be amongst them! Went to bed! Told info available 0900 in am – all info by word of mouth – no official statements made anywhere! NO COSTA STAFF OF ANY AUTHOURITY PRESENT AT ANY TIME!! Next day Sat 27th Feb 10 Up at 0900… no info, but a FAX was awaited which would contain names and flight info for amongst others , the british passengers and so, as advised that we wait in the hotel foyer. This went on and on throughout the day with no news being given to us!. Eventually told there were to be 2 flights to UK today, one at 4PM and the other at 6PM, BUT our names must be on the list to be allowed to board the coach. At some stage a notice appeared on a white board NOT in the foyer but around the corner by some shops. This stated, in about 5 languages, that our luggage was being held at the airport under police guard but that under no circumstances would the Police release this luggage. Passengers would only be allowed to identify it before boarding a flight! Our names were not on any list –altho we were told that the planes would cater for all uk bound passengers. We were, with numerous other ‘brits’, left behind!! Next Day Sun 28th Feb 10 Asked about our flights!! Told we missed our plane, but it was not our fault as we were recorded as being staying at the Marriot hotel. NB This was after 2 further lists, on 2 further occasions, being made of all the passengers at our hotel by the junior Costa staff present! All lists were in long hand - not a laptop in sight!! This was another day where we could not leave the foyer as the flight info was always imminent – but never came! This is 3rd day with only the clothes we were standing in when we left the ship. Me, in just shorts and T shirt, my wife did not even have a BRA!! I was forced to demand of staff that I and others be given transport to the airport to retrieve our baggage. Finally staff saw sense and late pm arranged a coach and 12 brits managed to recover their cases!! SO AT LAST AFTER 3 WHOLE DAYS WE NOW HAD A CHANGE OF CLOTHES. I also continually requested that, if no info was likely to be available, that a realistic time is given so we can attempt to unwind from this very traumatic event by attempting to use some of the facilities of the resort! Later that day we were told that no info would be made available to us until 2pm the next day and it was probable that we may not be able to fly out until the Tuesday as all flights were fully booked!! Mon 29th Feb 10 At last a bit of free time! At about 2pm found out that a flight has been arranged for all remaining Brits. We appear to be the only ones left in the hotel. Advised by costa staff that tickets are ‘E’ tickets and will be available at the airport and they will include a Gatwick Airport hotel voucher as the plane will not arrive til 2330. It will also include the ticket for the onward journey –all paid for by costa! A coach duly arrived to take us to the airport, so far so good. A costa rep is with us as she has to get a visa one of the passengers from another country! Get to airport, unload, get cases, tip porters! Try to find check in - no luck! Establish that coach driver has dropped us off at the wrong terminal – the other is quite a long way away. Back to the coach, we have to manually load the cases unto the coach –the driver is not interested at all –and me with a bad back too!! Finally dropped off at correct terminal but time running out fast!. Major problems with very unhelpful airport security staff, we have no flight tickets and there appears to be other problems. We are forced to allow lots of other passengers to go thro. Eventually the problem appears to be that we only have departure cards filled in but they are insisting that we fill in arrival cards (although our last port of call, Safaga was also in Egypt!!) This done we are finally allowed thro. We thought the costa reps would follow but as we went thro they waved goodbye on the other side of security!! We rushed to check in having found the Viking airways check in desk, we were first in the queue, only to be told ‘who the hell were we’ and ‘why do we think we would be allowed on a flight with no tickets and no information’. The airline had apparently been told nothing and none of our names were on the passenger lists for the flight in question (or any other!). After numerous exchanges, the ‘apparent’ shipping agent for costa turned up, eventually, all our passports were collected and a man disappeared from view for a fair period of time! The clock was serious running out of time! Eventually he returned and we were then allowed to check in and had to rush. almost run, to the coach to take us to the plane for a 1850 flight back to Gatwick. Incidently, it was never confirmed by Costa, that our flight would be to the destination we wanted to go to! NB We had friends on this flight who had been awakened to be told they could take a flight to Rome at 0200 the previous night!! These passengers wanted to go to Gatwick or Heathrow. They were also told that the onward flight from Rome would be at their own cost! Other Brits had contacted travel agents and found that flights to the uk were available each day, at a price, but on approaching costa, Costa stated they would not bear the cost and the passengers would not be reimbursed!! On arrival at Gatwick, we were met by friendly costa staff who took us to reception at the Gatwick Hilton ,where costa had negotiated a special rate. We were told that all costs would be borne by costa but we must pay ourselves and put in the expense claim. This also applied to the onward flight to our final destination. Update on situation Costa want us to sign a document where they promise to give a full refund of the cost of the cruise on condition that we agree the incident was due to severe weather and that we will make no further claims against costa. The hotel booked by costa and our onward flights alone cost nearly £500! By signing we would not be reimbursed for any of this and indeed other expenses! We have not signed and await a response from costa!
Quality of Food	n/a

Entertainment	n/a

Shore Excursions	n/a

Staff	n/a

Children's Facilities	n/a

Onboard Activities	n/a

Cabins	n/a

Overall Rating	n/a

Was this review informative to you?

Report this review

Opinion: Agree Comment by Goodess, north muskham (20 May 10 08:39) about this REVIEW

I, by chance came apoun this site. OH how I wish I'd have before our pre Xmas cruise (Dec 1st _20th Dec 2009) What Hell it was, you are so right & how dare people knock you down for telling YOUR experience ! calling names what low life are they. Yes it was very bad for us we are still trying to get some sort of compasation for our rotten time last year. (everthing everyone has said bad & more) spent 5 days in hospital because of aircon, ridicualed when did go ashore & came back with bottled water had it taken off me & shouted at when re boarding, told we would never get off the ship if we didnt sign over our debit card for daily unauthorised deductions, flies, dirt, sewage, smooking every where the list goes on & on (Now what rude name am I going to get for writting the truth !!!!) hell on earth cruise's the more people know the truth the better.

Report this comment

Opinion: Agree Comment by Thompson, Milton Keynes (14 May 10 15:20) about this REVIEW

We were on the Costa Europa cruise in March and have not had a refund or vouchers as promised by Costa to date or any communication ferom them'

Report this comment

Opinion: Agree Question by Lloyd, Norfolk (06 Apr 10 19:11) about this REVIEW

I signed the document but still have not had any response from Costa, how about you?

Report this comment

Comment by Moss, Derby (24 Mar 10 00:04) about this REVIEW

Comment on Cleal, review 23/03/10 (Costa Europa). Thank you for your very full and precise review of this "cruise". My wife and I have cruised many time but so far not on Costa. We have thought a few times of giving Costa a try but your comments have ended any thoughts we may have had in this direction. Your whole trip sounded like a nightmare. Moss, Derby.

Report this comment

Comment by Dawson, Rochdale (23 Mar 10 16:55) about this REVIEW

Doesnt everyone love a "smart arse" Cleal of Gwent you are most certainly one!

Report this comment

Comment by Walker, Leeds (23 Mar 10 22:04) about a COMMENT by Dawson (23 Mar 10 16:55)

You appear to be more suited to the description you chose as you seem to have made this childish comment on a Thomson Red Sea magic review this evening also.

Report this comment

Comment by Hewitt, Skipton (23 Mar 10 20:28) about a COMMENT by Dawson (23 Mar 10 16:55)

Understand what you mean,would have been better with a better choice of words though.

Report this comment

Comment by bloggs, garlieston (23 Mar 10 19:08) about a COMMENT by Dawson (23 Mar 10 16:55)

and you are obviously the hole part of the arse

Report this comment