It started off ok good flight and service from virgin Atlantic .we choose to use local taxis due to your high price on transfers, £98 for 3 transfer local taxis price. £50 hotel was four points downtown not a great hotel we were charged about. 20 for two breakfast (not good) we had a good breakfast in St. Helen's before we set off on this holiday cost £8.

We were informed we had to pay service charge direct to the hotel which we paid about 16 so we thought that's the hotel sorted oh no at the end of the cruise we got a shock a bill for the hotel service charge 140 euros which is higher then what I could have booked the hotel myself ,you told us this a free hotel.

The cruise was poor, food poor. Informal dining poor, entertainment good for one hour then nothing, excursions were expensive, the only good thing about Costa Cruises is the the staff that look after cabins and bar service, also what we were informed by Cruise Nation can't trust them 100%.

Ship was very clean, however the food was not what you expect on a cruise. The food in the dining room and the self service was pretty much the same although in the dining room you were served. We have cruised with other cruise lines, Thomsons, Royal Carribbean, Carnival and Airtours. All were far better and the entertainment was much better with the other companies. The staff were ok but as the service charges are paid up front by way of a service charge on your on board account staff dont go out of their way, especially cleaning up the tables in the self service. We had to clear tables ourselves on more than one occassion. We wont go back with this company.

This was our 5th cruise, 4 with Thomson, so naturally the first with Costa. Ship was transfering from Baltic to Med, and we joined at Dover. Regards the ship itself, then what you read in the brochure is just what you get in the way of facilities etc., so won't bother withat side. Instead, did it work?

For openers the Ships cleanliness. It was washed, shined, polished, painted, cleaned, etc., etc,. 24/7 so no problems there.

The food? By comparison to Thomson, this was different. Always got the feeling that on a Thomson boat how you decided to dress dictated where you ate. Dress up. In restaurant. Casual. In self service. The food was pretty similar in both, it was just served a bit posher in the restaurant. Here you dined where you wanted to eat! If you wanted the full works, you dined in a the restaurant. A pizza, and it was the pizza place or you could try a speciality self serf counter. The standard of food. Nothing wrong with it. Maybe a little disappointing knowing the Italians love of food, but certainly a big enough range to suit all tastes.

Ships Staff. Here we have a bonus, as the vast majority of the crew are Phillipino and therefore their second language was english! So no trouble talking to the waiters, bar staff, cabin crews, etc., and as we all know that none friendlier than the Philipinos' Admin staff and the like usually Italian so communication ok but nothing fantastic.

On board entertainment. Sadly this simply a none starter by Brit standards, but it was brill as far as we could see for the Italians and Spanish aboard! On a Brit boat we would have expected a for higher standard of entertainer/musician, better presentation, more variation, but here they provided what the majority of passengers wanted. Sadly it wasn't very good by our standards.

Many on the cruise commented about the cost of drinks, which are quite expensive, but then the continentals don't drink the way we do! If you ordered a drink at the bar there was a 15% service charge, but not if you ordered it in the restaurant. So if you wanted a beer with your meal, order it in the restaurant and another before you leave!!! Incidentally, you are told that ou are not allowed to take drink aboard, but as long as you are not stupid and start shipping crates aboard, we found no trouble.

Said we would sail on her again, and we would if that was the itinery we wanted to do, and there was no other ship doing the same itinery

embarked from fort lauderdale 26th december, 2005 on costa magica. Embarkation was a disaster ship late sailing. 3 out of the 5 ports of call a complete waste of time as 2 were at night and everything closed and 1 was on a public holiday so again everything closed. Food terrible, service not so good. Kids everywhere, was like a Butlins on water. travelled with costa for the second Xmas in succession and it couldnot be compared to previous cruise which was onboard costa mediteranea