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Cruise Reviews

Costa Cruises

Costa Marina

Costa Marina Spain, Morocco And Canaries

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Costa Marina Spain, Morocco and Canaries

Reviewed By: Hayes, Preston on 3rd Feb 2010
Cruise Line: Costa Cruises	Times cruised before: 6-10
Cruise Ship: Costa Marina	Sailed: January, 2010
Destination: Canaries	Age: 65+
Cabin: Inside	Occasion: Birthday

Costa Marina isn’t a very large ship but is very nice and friendlier than the large ships because you have a chance to get to know people with meeting them again. It was a very good itinerary - Savona- Barcelona-At Sea-Casablanca-Agadir-Lanzarote-Gran Canaria-La Palma-Tenerife-Funchal-At Sea-Malaga-At Sea-Marseille-Savona. Check flights very carefully if you are booking through Costa because we flew Manchester to Amsterdam, then Milan then coach to Savona. It was worrying with only an hour in Amsterdam and 45 minutes in Milan to get connections. It took over 14 hours to get home to Preston from Savona with journey time and waiting at airports – I would never do that again. Hadn’t realised you could join the ship at different ports, so could have booked cruise only and got acheap Easyjet flight from Liverpool to Barcelona and stayed a night or two. I was concerned after reading a lot of negative reports about Costa cruises but we enjoyed it and can’t think of anything really to complain about, but we did hear British people moaning. We enjoyed the food in the restaurant and only ate three times in the buffet when we got back to the ship too late for lunch in the restaurant. Couldn’t understand why the majority of people ate in there as the food was lukewarm and it wasn’t as pleasant an experience as dining in the restaurant. Drinks are pricey - Mixers like Gin and Tonic 7.30 Euros, 25 cl beer 3.50, 40 cl 4.50, soft drink 2.60, wine £18-£20 a bottle, glass of wine 4.20, cocktails 6.25 or cocktail of the day 5 Euros - plus 15%. The bar staff wandered around trying to find custom because a lot of people sat without a drink in front of them. The shows have to cater for a lot of nationalities so you have to accept this and they were always worth watching. Because it is a small ship there was just the theatre, Harry’s Bar where they had a duo and sometimes a pianist and bingo, and the Marina Lounge which had a nice trio and also a man singing and silly competitions arranged by the Entertainment Team. We had three formal evenings but it was disappointing that such a lot of people didn’t dress formally as I enjoy seeing people in their lovely outfits. We decided to anyway but a lot of people dressed very casually. The tours are expensive and we did our own thing. If you share with someone the taxis worked out a lot cheaper to do tours and also there were open topped tour buses at a lot of the ports. The cabin and ship were kept very clean and there were designated areas for smoking which people complied with. The majority of passengers on this cruise were French with over 300, Italian over 100 and 90 British passport holders, not sure how the others were made up. On the previous cruise the majority were German. Consequently announcements had to be made in five languages and it wasn't quite the same doing a quiz with questions and answers in five languages! You could only get World News in English on the tv. We had two very choppy nights which were very unpleasant and a lot of people were ill. It was extremely good value for money.
Quality of Food

Entertainment
Dannys Mime Show was the most enjoyable.
Shore Excursions	n/a
We didn't go on the excursions but did our own thing
Staff	n/a

Children's Facilities	n/a

Onboard Activities

Cabins

Overall Rating

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Opinion: Agree Comment by elaine voucher, ambleside (03 Feb 10 15:02) about this REVIEW

we have booked costa in march joining the ship at ft lauderdale our flights are with air france,flying from manchester to paris then on to miami-other than that im expecting a great cruise.i have done all the research,i know all about the cost of drinks,bought a drinks package,know about the tipping charges-i've just added them to the cost of the cruise.non of these items are hidden by costa. im pleased you had a good cruise

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Opinion: Agree Comment by Higginson, Manchester (03 Feb 10 13:24) about this REVIEW

We have sailed with Costa twice. Overall we think they are ok. Food was ok. Drinks expensive because of Euro. My wife is a wheelchair user so for the Savona one we flew Manchester to Paris and then Paris to Gennoa and then a taxi to Savona. For the Far East one we had to fly Manchester to Heathrow and then change for a flight to Singapore. The getting there is long and tedious. December 2010 we are trying Fred Olsen form Liverpool. No flight and we live in Manchester so not far to get to.

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Comment by plows, wallsend on tyne (03 Feb 10 13:22) about this REVIEW

we have booked with costa in april and are having to travel from newcastle to manchester to fly then to amsterdam and then venice. such a palaver when there is a flight from newcastle! costa seem to look for the most difficult was to do things. there is ryanair flight and a jet2 flight from leeds directly to venice and its cheaper than the klm flight. seems they did the same to you. i too wish we had booked cruise only and will do that the next time. its compounded by the fact that we have to stay in manchester airport hotels on the night before we leave and again when we return - could have had those two nights in venice. never mind like you we have learned. the rest of your review is good so am not worried about the cruise itself, despite other negative review. thanks for that. judith

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Comment by Hayes, Preston (04 Feb 10 10:24) about a COMMENT by plows (03 Feb 10 13:22)

We met a couple at Amsterdam who had flown from Newcastle and on their return, like us, they had to wait until nearly 5.30 pm for their flight to Newcastle. I am going to contact Thomas Cook who we booked through to say they should advise people of the length of time it could take them to return home on the flights Costa are likely to book for them. Also, to look into the possibility of joining at a different cruise port as a lot of people did on our cruise if they could fly there direct. Good luck with your connections - I found it very worrying on our journey there but things worked out all right. At least we will know not to do it again!! Sailing from Liverpool sounds great as we live in Preston, only an hour away. I was hoping more cruise ships would start from there but I read that they have been stopped from doing that as they received a lot of funding to build the new terminal and it would give them unfair competition over other ports. I hope that will change and also that Fred Olsen and the new ship Ocean Countess which will be sailing from there later this year are not stopped from doing so.

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