Costa Cruises Reviews 100

Checklist of bad for the Costa Toscana
* Complete disorganization, cruise employees will give you different answers.
* At least 50% of the guests were coughing, after two days, so was I. I am still coughing. It's a sick ship. Even the employees cough.
* The staff works 7 days a week, 10 or more hours per day. They struggle to cope. Costa lures in people from Eastern Europe, Egypt and the Philippines.
* I liked the food. I didn't like elbowing my way to get to it. The dinner would have been good if I hadn't been rushed to eat it. You are forced to eat fast to get the next group inside to eat.
* EVERYTHING is extra. WATER is only available from the buffet at meal time. You are told not to fill your water bottles. You can't get WATER from 2AM to 7 AM. Coffee is only available at breakfast, WATER is available at lunch, you get wine or water at Dinner.
*You must buy a drink plan or else no water for you.
*The shows were good, but you can't see the performance from most of the seats.
* After seven days we felt like we were freed from a prison.
Don't do it!

Bad bad bad. If you pay the extra drinks plus package you will get a lot of "I'm sorry sir, this drink is finished". A lot. I'm currently in the cruise Costa Smeralda and really disappointed about this package. Bad bad experience with drinks. Most of the premium not available, you basically pay for nothing.
This is why they have negative reviews and should be distributed by everyone.
Don't pay and alternatively reserve with a real and better alternative cruise company.
Only one good: Starlink

If you don't look horrible food, if you don't like a totally ignorant management team, if you don't like a bad value for your money, better avoid this company. This company exploits its employees and has no respect for its clients. Never again I book with Costa.

I have been cruising for more than 15 years and this was my 90th time with Costa Diadema. Otherwise, I have about 10 with Costa cruise, and the others are with MSC, NCL and others. This cruise was 21 nights from Genoa to Santos and the worst so far that I have been on was in every way. From embarking in Genoa, which lasted about 6 hours, accommodation in old cabins with old beds and pillows. The ship has not been renovated for 10 years, the stench of the carpets on the stairs, as well as the sewage, the ship is like a passenger toilet. The food in the buffet and restaurants is terrible, the crew is uncultured and the worst I've ever seen. I traveled with my niece who got the flu ten days ago, so we went to the hospital on the ship and they gave her two infusions with spazmex and paracetamol and they charged $690 for it and they told us that the hospital is private and not from the Costa cruise company. This was mine and from many passengers on board last with Costa.

I’m a frequent cruiser, but this was my first and last Costa cruise. My father uses a CPAP that requires water. This was notified in advance, and we received an email confirmation stating that a complimentary gallon of distilled water would be brought to our room. It was never brought. We had to request it from the staff several times, but the water was never delivered. The customer service line is always endless. Be prepared to waste 2 hours waiting for them to not resolve your issue. We ended up buying two large bottles of water and were billed $20.00 plus tip. Ridiculous!

The food was ok, but if you have a 5- or 7-day cruise you will get tired because they have the same menu every day at the buffet. The coffee is terrible. The lines are endless. It seemed like the cruise was overcrowded. We had to wait for an available table because they were always full. We decided to get to the buffet right when it opens, and they never opened it on time. We had to wait 5-10 minutes because they were never ready on time. Meanwhile, many other passengers who thought the same as us were waiting. The best option is to go to the Early Bird Breakfast. The variety of food is very limited, but at least you can find empty tables and the lines are short. The buffet is not open all the time. If you want to eat something in the afternoon you have to wait for snack time until 4 pm. Same story. They were never ready on time, but they removed the food just as snack time ended. They never made up for the time. The line? Same story!
At dinner, we had the same problem. They never opened at the scheduled time. Although 5 minutes late does not seem like a big deal, the reality is that there were a lot of people in the hallway waiting for the dining room doors to open, which ended up blocking the passageway. I think the cruise ship was overcrowded and could not deal with the problem. Cruise ships are always full, but this one was overcrowded.
They do not have a lot of variety in tours, so we only bought one, and the rest of the time we were on our own. Even though I have the receipt for $118, they charged my card for $186. The same thing happened with the purchase of the photos. My receipt says $90 and they charged $134. I tried to contact Costa, but as usual, they were not helpful. It took me days to finally get hold of a customer service representative who ultimately told me there was nothing they could do, and I had to email them. I emailed several times and today, a month later, no one has responded my emails. I disputed the card charge, but Costa claims the charges are correct and they can only give a $5 discount. I am not asking for a discount. What I am asking is for them to charge the correct amount. I have receipts proving the amount they billed me and yet they will not give a breakdown of the charges or explanations. They just say they billed the correct amount without showing evidence. This shows that they are a mediocre company that not only oversells their cruises, they are not responsible with their schedules and they steal from customers. No wonder their customer service line is always long! I do not recommend Costa. Do yourself a favor and travel with a decent company!

First time cruising with Costa. I'm a seasoned cruiser and was delighted with the experience on Smeralda ship. Amazing value for money and the cleanliness was on point. Great entertainment team too.

What is lower than a 1? Costa

Let's start with the fact they recommended a Bag Service called Bag Express, which opened our bags and ended with the theft of our personal items - and Costa did nothing, did not even help to ensure the company responded back to us. Then let us add to that the fact that they harrassed us repeatedly about a credit card after we supplied them with one that was operating with no problem, but they were unable to get their act together to stop the harrassment. The food - raw chicken, in a restaurant that charged for the experience. Really just a miserable experience

We recently returned from an 8 day med cruise on Costa Smerelda.

The food, drinks, service, cabins and overall facilities were wonderful.

Overall, the staff were excellent. Jane in the Ferrari bar and Thi my Dung in the restaurant were particularly exceptional and made our experience from a 4-start to a 5-star.
Roman and Christian in the Jazz bar and Jed the cabin steward were also always happy and helpful.

Ridiculous segragation betwee european and non european...catastrophic company
No day off
More than 8 hours working shift
Rooms to be shared like sardines
Racism in speech and discminitaed acts (non europeans get their salary lower than EU citizen in 2024 ? Why ? Does EU citizen makes you having 3 balls ??
I cannot imagine I passed an interview with Erika Ruattato, almost full interview trying to convince this person that I have a resident permit in EU since years and valid to be in EU.
I CANNOT believe this is really happening in 2024.
From shop supervisor, turned down
to sales assistant just because I am not an EU citizen.

I can understand now why it is voted as the WORST COMPANY IN CRUISE WORLDWIDLY

we booked a cruise with my girlfriend from a travel agency for Costa Smeralda. Our trip was 9 days long. On the first day after arriving in Rome, we spent the night there in a hotel. The ship's departure was from Civitavecchia the next day.

After arriving on the ship, we got our cabin and the first impression was that it was absolutely fantastic compared to Finnish cruises. Our cruisers have insanely small cabins and this blew my mind. This was like a hotel room and it smelled fresh, was clean and the bed was really soft.

After exploring our cabin for a while, we decided to go to lunch. Honestly, I've never had such heavenly food in my life as on a Costa cruise. In Finland, eating on board is, first of all, outrageously expensive, and secondly, the food is absolutely tasteless compared to this. You couldn't take the food by yourself, but the waiter asked and put as much as you wanted. In my opinion, it's a really good way compared to us on Finnish ships where people mess around with the food.

Unfortunately, we came across this same phenomenon, which is also in Finland, that people take food and leave food an outrageous amount. It hurt my heart that too much food is wasted. I enjoyed myself as much as I could eat. There was so much food on board that I really didn't get to taste everything. One minus I would give about the buffet is that there were unfortunately too many people, so there were few places to sit. But that didn't discourage us, we just waited until people got up from the table. After lunch, of course, there was dinner, where fine dining food is served. There was a different menu for each day from which to choose an appetizer, first course, main course and dessert. every food I chose was mouthwatering. Except one was a disappointment, but it didn't spoil my trip. If you were still hungry late in the evening, you could order directly to your cabin or pick up hamburgers. they were absolutely heavenly good. the meat was medium, a lot of cheese and salad and mayonnaise. heavenly good.

So what about the bars? There were a lot of them. It was sad that I didn't get to see every of them there. I'm not terribly interested in alcohol and partying in general. The beers were good. the cocktails are really good. The live music was really good. There was a trivia quiz, a music quiz and a program for all ages.

Many destinations where the cruise went were really nice. I didn't really care about Cagliari because there wasn't really anything there and secondly it was a rainy day. it was a pity.

From the reviews, I have been surprised by the reviewers' complaints about the staff. I never received bad customer service on board. They were always so friendly and I even made a friend from a ship worker. In my opinion, this has only been about the attitude that you have not received perfect English in your own language. These workers come from many different countries and in these countries the English teaching is not perfect. Try to understand that not everyone can speak English properly.

I would like to give 5/5. This minus was not due to anything on the ship, but to Cagliari, the destination where the ship visited. That place was really boring.

I definitely recommend Costa Smeralda to everyone! I will go on a Costa cruise again in the future as soon as I can.

My recent Costa Pacifica cruise was a complete disappointment. Communication was terrible, leaving guests constantly confused. The rooms were cramped and outdated, and the minibar was poorly stocked and rarely refilled. Wi-Fi was practically useless even after paying extra. The food was bland, with very limited options, and far from what was advertised as ‘luxury.’ Staff were often rude or unhelpful, making every small request feel like a burden. The whole experience felt cheap and mismanaged.

Costa Cruises shows little regard for customer experience. I’d strongly recommend avoiding this cruise line—there are far better options out there. dzer mamat kunem

On June 29, 2024, my husband and I arrived at the cruise terminal to board the Costa Deliziosa, set to depart from Venice for a one-week cruise. After checking in our luggage, we were shocked to be denied boarding on the grounds that pregnant women beyond 24 weeks of gestation are not allowed to embark. However, I provided a medical certificate confirming that I was at 22 weeks and that my pregnancy was progressing normally.

Although this certificate complied with Costa Cruises' policy requirements, the check-in staff insisted that my pregnancy was nearing 24 weeks, which resulted in both of us being refused boarding. Additionally, we were treated very poorly by the boarding team, who offered no assistance or guidance, leaving us stranded in an unfamiliar country. Despite my condition, their response was entirely indifferent, which we found both inhumane and unprofessional.

With no way to contact either the agency or Costa Cruises, we were forced to find accommodation in Venice at the last minute, incurring high costs and without any support from either company.

Five months have passed, and despite multiple complaints via email, registered mail, and phone calls, the issue remains unresolved. We were informed that, since Costa Cruises justified the refusal (without additional evidence), Logitravel assumes no responsibility and refuses a refund, even though they were the ones who sold the package.

I’m a frequent cruiser. This is not my first Costa cruise, but it will be my absolute last.
The food is horrific everywhere on the ship, Fascinosa. In the dining room no beverages are included, not even ice water or tea. Plus you can not buy soda. The menu items consist of skimpy, low quality food selections. Just trash!!! It’s so bad I am exiting at an earlier port. This is a very low budget option in every way. The announcements are endless then they play constant music over the intercom so I could not rest night or day. The guests are boisterous. Never again Costa!!!

Well I have just returned from a cruise on Costa Pacifica and I'm utterly shocked to read all these bad reviews!!! We are experienced cruise goers having travelled with Royal Caribbean, Princess, Cunard, Celebrity etc and I can honestly say that this was the BEST cruise we have taken, from the food which was amazing, service the staff couldn't do enough for you, entertainment, shows, etc were second to non. No queues for embarkation or disembarkation all ran smoothly and professionally. Wonder if it's Costa Pacifica which is just extremely brilliant!!!! Enjoyed it so much I rebooked whilst on board!!!

Currently on the last day of a week cruise on Costa Smeralda… and can’t wait to get off tomorrow. It’s been absolute chaos. Meal times are crowded and you queue for ages, only to stand there with your plate unable to find a table to sit at. We didn’t realise that at each stop, people disembarked the tour and a new set of people get on. The rooms aren’t ready for hours so they are just sitting in the buffet waiting for their rooms to be ready…another reason you can’t get a seat. It’s been like an over priced ferry trip rather than a cruise. Some of the staff are really great, and others are indifferent and won’t help you at all and treat you like an idiot. One lady on reception was so rude… I wondered why she did this job as she obviously didn’t like her customers!. Language is an issue, a lot of the tours and entertainment were in Italian or Spanish, as inexperienced cruisers… we didn’t consider this small… but crucial detail. All I can say is… NEVER again! Bring on tomorrow… 🎶I feel so broke up… I wanna go home🎶

Wish I could give zero stars. Check in was enough to make me want to leave. Hours in line, and then Costa employees brought other people to check in first. The food is disgusting. It is impossible to get any healthy food. At lunch, everything is deep fat fried in the buffet line. The section with fresh fruit was glassed off and closed. The pasta was so bad, I thought I was going to be sick. There are not enough tables at lunch time, so you stand and wait while your food gets cold. If you don’t eat at your assigned restaurant or the buffet line, you pay extra. I chose not to get a beverage package and at lunch was charged 1.5 Euro for a small glass of warm water. I have a hotel charge on my account and have no idea what it is for. If you want anything to drink outside of your meals, you pay, even for warm water. Most of the staff speaks little English, so getting any directions on board is difficult. Everywhere you go, people are packed together like sardines in a can. I have another week and a half this hell hole of a ship. Glad I brought some protein bars with me. Costa Diadema is greatly overpriced and the food is terrible.

As an avid cruiser who has enjoyed many vacations at sea, I was extremely disappointed with our recent experience with the Costa Cruise Fortuna on this occasion.
Firstly, the check-in process was chaotic and disorganized. Despite arriving at the scheduled time, we spent over two hours waiting in line, with no clear communication from the staff about the delays or the expected wait time. This was not only frustrating but also set a negative tone for the start of our trip.
The buffet service was horrible. There were long lines and coffee was only available during breakfast and snack time between 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm. The food quality did not meet the expectations set by your promotional materials. Basic items such as ice cream were not included in the meal. They billed you for it. Talk about nickel and dime you for everything. What a shame!
We spent much time waiting and arguing with the Hospitality staff who were mostly rude and didn’t care for the customer. The language was another barrier. Staff communicated mostly in Spanish, Italian, and German. Few who spoke English had a heavy accent and hard to understand.
We have been on several cruises with other cruise liners. This was our second cruise with Costa and this experience was particularly disheartening. I also sent a note to Costa through their web portal but did not receive any response to date. We will never consider Costa Cruise again!

If there was an option to choose zero stars for the rating, it would be absolute 0. If I just took the other comments here seriously before the cruise...
Once they took your money, they don't care about you anymore. Costa won the title of the most terrible service I ever experienced in my life (and I experienced many).
The atmosphere on the ship is grumpy due to unhappy crew members, the queues everywhere are terrible and almost everything on the ship is in a very low quality – the food, the entertainment, etc. That explains why it is cheap.
It was important for me to take the time to write this comment to help you to avoid the mistake I did - stay away from Costa!

Utter garbage, from the ship to the food to the entertainment to the rooms I felt like I was going to vomit and it’s not because of the ocean it’s because this cruise ship and company is horrendous. Stay away, go to royal Caribbean or any other company or u will regret ever going out of ur house. Complete trash, from top to bottom the company and cruise line ships should rename ships to trash cuz that’s what u’ll be staying in, trash.

Just horrible!
It can hardly get worse.
We took the cruise from Copenhagen to the Norwegian fjords and Kiel.
Totally overcrowded everywhere.
You have problems getting on the ship, and most often we had to give up using the elevator when we had to get to the cabin, even though we lived on deck 7.
The breakfast in particular was absolutely terrible, where you had to crowd forward and use your elbows at the buffet if you wanted something to eat.
The service was lousy, and the company tried to cheat with the Costa Cruise card, so that two excursions were drawn on the same day and same time.
Only after standing in line for an hour at the reception and then being referred to the deck above, did we manage to get reimbursed the almost DKK 3000 that was involved.
Of course, our luggage had also disappeared when we reached the baggage claim in Copenhagen, and only due to skilled guards we managed to find it.
Never again Costa Cruises!