table 310
food cold waiter kept giving us the wrong ordered food and only a few options on the menue fish beef or pasta.
drinks very expensive so we only had a few and this really spoilt our holiday expecially with the 15% added to every drink and then having to pay the fixed surgarges outragours.
shows were not brilliant with only a few differenct acts, ok it you were kids.
the enternament team were outragouse and should have only been for the under 10 year olds.
the announcements were mainly in Italian and English was only spoken last of all if any.
NO we would not be going on another Costa Cruise and will be telling all our freind not to bother.

I enjoyed my time a lot on the Costa Serena.
It was my first cruise and I didn't know what to expect.
The food was fantastic, the people were fantastic, and although a lot was NOT in english, it was an ITALIAN SHIP, therefore, with the majority of the people on board were Italian.
The waiters were all really friendly as were the entertainment staff.
It was expensive but defiantly worth it!
My family and I met some incredible people, and learnt some Italian along the way, which was cool.
The Costa Serena is perfect for any mood your in, whether you want to stay up all night partying or relaxing over some nice music.
There is 24hour food available and there is always someone around to help you when needed!
I strongly recommend this cruise for anyone looking for a fun time and doesn't mind being around a lot of Italian's.

costa serena should be renamed Costa Lotta. Everything on board was expensive, drinks and water all expensive plus 15% service charge.

Embarkation on ship was chaotic, only one girl could speak English and she was surrounded by people trying to find out what to do.

Again getting off ship in Venice for home departure was even worse. Luggage was late getting off, we waited two hours, this was due to the labels supplied not sticking on therefore any luggage missing labels were left for the end. Labels were all over the hall.
People were getting more and more frustrated. Something should be done about these labels. The Costa staff were not helpful and two of the girls were really rude.

Entertainment poor, other cruises have given excellent entertainment. Who wants to spend an hour looking at acrobats or magicians. If it was made for the children then it should be in the childrens room.
Certainly not for adults. Drinks were being pushed all the time.

Announcments usually made in Italian first, or only Italian. English seems to be left out.

English speaking hostess, when around was only available when we were at dinner or or shore. Other staff could not be bothered to give us information.

Food in restaurant was usually served almost cold, we could have it reheated by microwave but then it was
all dried up and unfit to eat. Buffet food poor, selection poor. Fruit almost unavailable, although they seemed to like melon, melon, melon. Vegetables in both buffet and Ceres restaurant almost unattainable.
Don't go on excursions, again very expensive and you can do your own thing on public transport for a fraction.

No I will not sail on this ship again, if fact I will never use Costa again.

In November 2008 my wife & I made our own way to Venice to join the Costa Serena for a cruise visiting Bari, Katakolon [for Olympia], Izmir [for Ephesus], Istanbul & Dubrovnik.

At Marco Polo airport the Costa staff were high profile & extremely helpful even though we were not using their transport. They assisted relabeling our luggage for getting it to out cabin & told us where to catch the bus to Piazza Roma & where we would find the shuttle bus.

For a couple of euros the public bus delivered us to Piazza Roma right at the link with the Costa shuttle bus. It takes around half an hour from the airport. The shuttle bus delivered us to the port where it was a bit confusing as the signage was not particularly clear as to where to deliver the luggage. Costa staff again were helpful & once we located the spot to deliver our luggage it was effectively dealt with leaving us the rest of the day to explore Venice.

We were told it would be better to embark later as when the embarkation starts there tends to be a rush. We returned around 4pm [the ship sailed at 6pm] & embarked without any hassle. The large hall had various stands offering opportunities to purchase various packages....... wine, water, excursions, etc. We purchased a wine package on the assurance that we could swap the red wines for white as my wife is unable to drink red wine. However, we were not informed that at the table you can purchase carafes of white or red wine for around 8 euros. Still the wine & water deal was not a bad one, equating to what I would have paid at a restaurant in London. The Costa brochure, & notices displayed in the hall pointed out that no food or drink could be taken aboard but this was enforced haphazardly as the couple ahead of us went aboard with the see-through plastic carrier laden with spirits, whilst later during the cruise other passengers had their Turkish Delight impounded & returned at the end of the trip!

We were left to find our own way to our cabin which we did find after a few false starts! There were lots of staff around but nobody actually took you to your cabin as has been the case on other cruise companies. A good buffet lunch was available on embarkation day!

The cabin [inside on deck 7] was perfect. Spotlessly clean, fairly spacious and more than enough cupboard space. Our stewardess, Jannet [yes it did have two "n"s] was a gem and kept our cabin marvellously clean. Towels, sheets, etc were crisp & each night she laid out a different pattern on our bed! The only downer in regard to the cabin was the TV which had quite a few channels but really only the BBC World News in English. I'm sure that this could be improved!

The ship itself was also kept spotlessly clean but the decor, especially the huge figurines were tasteless! They must have cost a bomb but they really do the ship no service. Rip them out, please! There were enough lifts & we never had to wait long. The layout of the decks prevented you walking from end to end on all decks but using the maps provided you soon got the hang of it. The daily news letter gave full details of activities & events & was delivered to out cabin nightly. All the public areas well extremely well maintained & hosted by very friendly staff. However, the absence of Officer staff was noticeable.

Entertainment was very good........knocked spots off the previous company I had cruised with. The theatre was large and we never had to struggle for a seat. Watching the daytime activities.......dancing lessons, exercises, etc did bring a smile to one's face! The bar were attractive but the prices, especially the 15% service charge did not go down well! Whilst the prices were not different from a London restaurant-bar I'm sure that a price reduction would secure increased purchases! Likewise the minimum bets in the casino for blackjack was high [5 euro minimum] & there was nobody around to give prospective punters a learning lesson. For roulette yes but for blackjack no! Lower the minimum bet......it is more expensive than Las Vegas!

The pool areas needed some attention as the staff did not enforce rules preventing young children from using some pools & the jacuzzis. Also, the temperature really needed to be turned up for the jacuzzis as they were quite cool! There were more than enough beds & towels to go around. An added feature on the open deck were blankets that one could wrap up in to keep warm when it got chilly.

We were allocated the Ceres Restaurant & we could not fault the staff at out late dinner sitting. Costa arranged it so our table of 8 were all English speakers & we all got on very well. If you wanted an extra dessert you just had to ask & you got it! The service & food was A1.........the only thing missing was a lobster dinner which seemed to have been a tradition on other cruises. The portions were not large but they didn't need to be when you are having 6 or 7 courses! They certainly were very tasty! Instead of purchasing bottle water do ask for a jug which is equally as good and free!

The buffet on Deck 9 restaurant was also very good with themed days [Mexican, Greek, etc] & there always seemed to be pizza & pasta available at all times! Free coffee & tea was also available at the buffet restaurant & it was amusing to watch people filling up flasks to take back to their cabins! Occasionally there was a slow clear-rate of soiled crockery but it was liveable!

My gripe would be with breakfast & lunch. For both we chose the restaurant to avoid a buffet scenario. For both we were not able to choose where we wanted to sit but were directed by staff to fill up tables. Service was invariably slow & the staff not as friendly as the dedicated staff at dinner! Breakfast was a mix of waiter service & buffet & very noisy. It was disappointing as had we wanted buffet we could have used the buffet restaurant on Deck 9. All the orders were served at once so I got porridge, eggs, kippers, etc all at the same time. The waiters seemed not to want to do table service and encouraged / expected you to use the buffet! Whoever is in charge here needs to address this problem as it lets the ship down! We had people going hither & thither all around us which did not do for a relaxing breakfast! Lunch was waiter service but slow & with no choice of seating. This certainly could be improved! We tolerated the photographers who appeared at dinner with various contraptions taking pictures which were not easily located in the mass of photos displayed in the photo shop & which were not cheap!

The Captain's Reception in the theatre was bit boring but the lavish distribution of free glasses of sparkling wine or fruit juice more than made up for it!

We did not purchase any of the excursions as we did them ourselves. Bari, Dubrovnik & Istanbul are easy to do by yourself. The towns are easily accessible from the dock & unless you want a speedy guided tour skip the organised excursion. At Dubrovnik the ship docked rather than the tender as per brochure, & you need to spent the 6 euros for the bus to get into the city, it is too far to walk. At Istanbul there is a tram stop fairly close to the dock which drops you right by the Blue Mosque. In Turkey you will need Turkish currency as most shops, tourist sites, cafes, etc will not accept euros or credit cards! We used an ATM to draw out Turkish lira. For the trap the fare was very cheap & the entrance token can be purchased at the tram stop but you need lira!

For Olympia & Ephesus we disembarked as early as possible & got a taxi. At both places it cost 100 euros which equated to the excursion price but it did mean that we were able to stop off as & when we pleased, were one step ahead of the large ship parties, and could spend as much time as we wanted admiring any thing we wanted to. Had we organised it better we could have got another couple to share the taxi with us & then the cost would have halved for us. Still, it was enjoyable. A tip for disembarkation: get to the place early so you get off the ship ahead of the others. Regarding the large amount of passengers aboard the embarkation, etc processes went well.

When embarking it's advisable to pack any food or drink purchases out of sight just in case the security guy impounds it to the end of the trip! And yes, in most ports you can buy water at a fraction of the price you pay on the ship! We bought ours & stored it in the mini bar so that it was nice & cold when we wanted a drink. I am sure that you could do the same with beers, juices, etc!

Being an Italian liner the announcements were first in Italian. It was bit of a bore having to wait for the English version, which did seem much shorter, but then having cruised on another Italian line it didn't bother me too much!

On the whole it was a good trip & I would recommend it to prospective travellers. Improvements in the areas suggested would make the ship ever better! Bon voyage!

A review of our trip on Costa Serena to the Canaries, which was our second with Costa.

We flew BA from Heathrow (no sign of a Costa rep) to Milan (where we met a Costa Rep) and then had a two and a half hour coach trip to the port to join the ship…longer than the actual flight from Heathrow! There were a total of 30 English speaking people on the coach, off several flights from UK some via Amsterdam and Paris. We felt the embarkation process was fairly disorganised ….but did eventually find our way on board…there was no one to greet us or tell us whether we could go to our cabins or indeed where the cabins were. I had to find someone to ask and then she just pointed to the lift!! So we found our own way to our cabin where we met our steward Arwin who was very pleasant and informative. It took a while to find our way around this ship…there are some decks midships which don’t allow you to pass from front to back and vice versa…you have to go up a deck or two and then walk forwards or backwards….confusing at first.

The cabin was on Deck 6 aft and was spacious with a nice en suite shower room. We had a balcony big enough for sun loungers and a table with room to spare but we only had small non reclining chairs (quite badly stained) and a table, which was a slight disappointment. The front ‘wall’ of the balcony was glass which gave a good view when it wasn’t covered in salt from the spray! We could lie in the bed (huge and comfortable) and look at the sea! Plenty of storage space and a settee (which made into third bed) and table. The décor in the cabin was quite pleasant as opposed to the rest of this ship which (in my opinion) was hideous, gawdy and brash…way over the top with ten or more differing patterns/colours in each area. There was alot of vibration in our cabin when the thrusters were in action.
The cabin was kept clean by our steward who changed the towels daily and the sheets 3 or 4 times over the 11 days. The public areas were generally clean but the higher levels of the window frames (eye level) in the lido/buffet area were very dusty and the windows in that area were often smeared on the inside. Outside windows were cleaned regularly…our cabin windows were cleaned twice by hoses during the 11 days.

The only lifeboat drill was on that first day so the passengers embarking on our day 2 at Barcelona did not have a drill until the day before they left the ship…it was carried out efficiently.

The drinks prices are expensive on this ship so we didn’t have any!!! The bottled water is 2.76 euros (inc 15 percent service charge) for a 1 litre bottle. At the Duty Free shop in Barcelona we bought 6 x 1.5 litre bottles for 8 euros and then in Madeira we bought another 4 x 1.5 litre bottles for 3 euros from the shop on the pier!!! The shop prices on the ship are also very expensive…for example a Murano glass heart pendant the same as I bought in Venice for 3 euros was on sale here for 32 euros!!!.the cheapest cigarettes we saw were in Lanzarote 18.95 euros for 200 Marlboro. On board 31 euros!!!

There is no cinema on board although apparently one could buy films on the TV. There is a large screen in the lido where perhaps films could be shown as on Sea Princess. The evening shows were only OK apart from the crew show which of course highlighted the wonderful voices of some of the Phillipino crew members.

Language is quite a problem I think..apart from the tediousness of hearing all the announcements in a variety of languages…the English announcements were not always very clear….at reception although the young lady there spoke the English language she did not comprehend very well and when we had a query about whether our bill would be converted to sterling by Costa or by our credit card company she just couldn’t understand what we were saying so we gave up and will just wait and see !! We went to the meeting place to see our ‘English speaking hostess’ on two occasions when she was supposed to be there but she didn’t show up at all…in fact the first time we saw her was the day before we left the ship at the disembarkation talk.

We had continental breakfast in our cabin each morning which is not charged for…we were left a menu each evening to leave on our door before we retired…we lunched in the lido buffet each day….this was very noisy and not really satisfactory for us but there was more choice than in the restaurant. Usually long queues especially on sea days, and people pushing and shoving in front rather than wait their turn! We mostly had pizzas or pasta and a vegetable (there was only ever one choice apart from salad) and I had melon for pudding. We invariably had to clear a table of its dirty dishes before we could sit down and then go on a hunt for cutlery. There is not 24 hour tea and coffee available in the buffet (we took our own kettle and tea bags!) Dinner we had in the Ceres restaurant which was OK but only OK…Service was slow... we struggled to find three courses we liked…again there was only ever one cooked vegetable …. one night it was artichoke and I asked for an alternative and was told there wasn’t one!!! So I just had my quarter tomato garnish and small spoon of mash!!! Another night we chose steak which was nice but it came with half a small jacket potato 2 x 3inch strips of courgette and the quarter tomato garnish !!! However I did gain four pounds but it was probably all the pasta I ate to fill myself up!!! There is no free coffee after dinner inb the restaurant although you could buy from the bars or go up to the buffet to get from the machine.

Our waitress Rosa from the Dominican Republic gave excellent service and really worked hard serving 21 guests each evening with her assistant. The dining room did seem overcrowded with the tables fairly close together and we were seated around the perimeter which had a low ceiling…the centre tables had a much higher ceiling. We all had a red rose on St Valentines Night and there was an Italian evening where the dress code was red, white and green but not many people participated. On formal nights the dress was very informal and I didn’t see any men at all in evening dress….a few women in long dresses …one or two women even in jeans and t shirts and trainers eating in the main restaurant…there were three Gala/formal nights and it was the same very casual dress at all of them. There was the traditional Baked Alaska Parade on the next to last night.

There were no antiseptic hand cleansers as you enter the dining room, buffet or as you board the ship which we found most surprising. We passed Thomson Destiny on the quayside at one of our stops and they had one at the gangway with a member of the crew ensuring that it was used.

The ships photographers are forever pushing their cameras in front of you…and if you say ‘no thank you’ you get sarcastic comments…

On reading the literature left in our cabin there are rules about photos/videos not being allowed in the theatre, no children under 18 allowed in the casino, children in the swimming pools to be supervised by parents, No children in the lifts unless accompanied by an adult , etc. None of these rules are enforced…many people took flash photos during the shows..one man even filmed the whole show on his cam corder…we saw children on the machines in the casino on more than one occasion and also young children doing hand stands in the Jacuzzi….there are no pool attendants in evidence.

There appeared to be plenty of sunloungers but we missed the traditional promenade deck wrapping around the ship.
The ship always felt very crowded especially on sea days when the weather was not good…..it was also very noisy…we usually returned to our cabin for some peace and quiet.

There is a compulsory ‘service charge’ of 4.50 euros per person per day on this cruise as well as the 15 percent on bar services. We also gave our waitress Rosa and our cabin steward Arwin an extra amount as we felt they gave excellent service …

Disembarkation was done by your colour coded labels we got off at 1015 and as we left the next passengers were coming on board!! We then faced our two and a half hour trip to the airport only to be told on our arrival that our flight had been cancelled!!! Luckily for us we got on an earlier flight that had been delayed and arrived home at the same time as we would have done. But if things had gone to plan you would arrive at the airport at around 1315 and not be able to check in until 1535 for the 1735 flight so be warned!!!!

To sum up I felt that the negatives outweighed the positives and we will not be cruising Costa again… it felt as if perhaps they could not manage the amount of passengers they had to deal with.