A bit of a risk.... |
| Reviewed By: Birkett, Nailsea on 11th Jul 2008 |
| Cruise Line: Costa Cruises |
Times cruised before: 3-5 |
| Cruise Ship: Costa Magica |
Sailed:
June,
2008 |
| Destination: Mediterranean |
Age: 46-55 |
|
Why? Well, I'd organised this cruise for myself and the present wife, my brother and his wife and 2 sets of friends, 8 in total. Our cruising experience is limited to a trip last year on R.C Voyager Of The Seas with our 2 (teenage) children, the year before on the Costa Mediterranea with my brother and his wife and a few years ago a short trip off California on the R.C. Viking Serenade (now The Island Star), with our 2 (much younger) children. So, we're not experts, but we have had an opportunity to compare and perhaps unfortunately, it is almost impossible not to offer comparisons. For example, which was the better ship? Which had the best food? Which gave the better service?
We're not too worried about the places we visited, it's up to us to make the most of our time. Where we have taken excursions, they have been well organised and professional. Anyway, back to The Magica. I was conscious of the fact that we had some interesting characters in the party, with differring expectation levels,for example, of our friends, 1 couple had never cruised before, whilst the other took their first cruise on the QM2 which they thought was incredible, followed by a cruise on the Arcadia which they thought was poor, (by (the inevitable) comparison). I chose the Costa Magica for this cruise because I thought our cruise on The Mediterranea was fantastic (once we had got over the garish decorations, which took about 43 seconds) and had the edge on the Voyager for food and service.
So, how did it go? In some ways it was superb, in others disappointing so a mixed bag, here goes:
Food: Very good overall, not superb.
Cabin: Excellent
Service: Overall Excellent, let down by a few minor things.
Cleanliness: Excellent
Staff attitude: Overall Excellent, let down by a few minor things.
Ship overall: Very good, not superb.
We have to get this all into perspective at this point before the shotgun comes out and gets loaded. This is a huge ship with thousands of guests and it must be a logistical nightmare, with some inevitable hiccups. That said, my empathy doesn't mean that I have to be satisfied with the hiccups, particularly in the situation described - as the organiser of the cruise.
The "not so positive" things:
Food was very good overall, not superb
The ship layout caused confusion for all of us, accessing the correct restaurant was a challenge.
Customer service: Was poor. I had a (relatively minor) problem to get resolved relating to on board credit and I was basically fobbed off. Asking for the problem to be escalated was initially frustrating but further escalation to a Director achieved the objective but wasted an hour of my time and involved 5 Costa crew members. One of my friends had a similar problem which never got resolved despite "reassurances" from customer service. We had to refer the matter to the supplier of the cruises when we got back and they resolved it very promptly, but again, more aggravation, more time wasted, more frustration.
Restaurant service: Not as good as we've experienced before (the inevitable comparison again). our waiter was very pleasant but probably overworked. Some mistakes were made, meals were occasionally wrong, some things were simply forgotten. On the second dining night there was clearly a problem somewhere, either in the kitchen or with service delivery and there was a (long) delay between courses which was started to rankle some of the party, with (the inevitable) comparisons with other ships/cruises being brought up for discussion.
Overall, a very good cruise, albeit a little disappointing.
Ian Birkett
PS: A tip; organise your own trip to Capri at Naples, step off the ship and book a boat to the island like a bus, they print return times on the tickets so you won't miss the ship but beware, if you leave it a bit tight to pick up the boat from Capri back to Naples (like we did), it doesn't pick you up where it drops you off, there's another 300 metres to walk and Carpi is fantastic.
PPS: Be prepared for a culture shock. You can forget the very quaint English protocol of "After you", "No, after you", "Not at all, I insist, after you" Instead, take your scrum cap and Jockstrap and get stuck in , otherwise you'll be last for everything.
|
| Quality of Food |  |
| Formal and informal | | Entertainment | n/a |
| | Shore Excursions | n/a |
| | Staff |  |
| Waiter - did a good job under pressure, cabin staff were excellent, drinks waiters were excellent. ALl let down by poor customer service personnel who showed no interest in problem solving. | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | n/a |
| | Cabins |  |
| | Overall Rating | |
|
|
|
