We are a young family with three children [at the time of the cruise 5.5y, 3.5y, 1.5y] living in the Geneva area [Franco-Swiss border]. In 1996 my wife and I had been on a 3-day cruise out of Miami to Nassau and Key West and we had liked it so much that we thought it might be a good idea to take the children along in the Mediterranean , especially now that they are still free of compulsory school.

So I had checked the different cruise lines out of some European port and Costa Cruises had good rates for families, especially for this cruise because it was not too long [5 nights; 4 ports of call] and we it was an easy 4 hour drive from our house to Genoa [Italy].

Arriving at the pier around 2 PM there was already a lady from Costa welcoming us. Right in front of the pier a valet parking company was taking care of the car while some other guys took care of our luggage. We went inside to register and get our dining service reservation and that was it. We were allowed on board around 3.30 PM and had all our luggage upon arrival in our cabin. It was an outside cabin on deck 5, just the one that I had made the reservation for. I had asked specifically this one since it was close to the central elevators, on the same deck as the restaurant, just one deck lower than the theater, one deck higher than the information desk and the elevator took us three decks higher to the children’s room and pool area. Very convenient!

We had a baby bed ready in the cabin for the smallest of our 3 children. Although the cabin had lots of cupboards and wardrobes, we just managed to store everything [imagine stuff for five people !].

We hurried up to deck 7 for tea and cake, after which we went outside to watch the ship leave the Genoa port. It was chilly and cloudy but the weather forecast was giving us good hopes. Around 6.30 PM we went to the children’s room to meet the 2 girls in charge. Since our children are at French speaking schools they could perfectly communicate with the French and Italian speaking girls. On board of the Costa Allegra the main languages are Italian and French [some German and English also]. The ship was fully booked and it showed throughout the whole cruise. There were maybe ten or twenty other families aboard but the vast majority were people in their fifties and sixties [except for the participants of a conference of a French wool company]. The age of the other passengers really doesn’t matter to me.

Our dinner started at 7 PM [first service] and we got a table for 5 which was OK. There was a funny smell of gas hanging in that part of the restaurant. Our waiter, Aldo [from Honduras] was assuring us that it was only the first night that one could smell that. Indeed the other evenings we were no longer bothered by this smell, maybe we had gotten used to it. Although the waiter and his assistant [Wilson from Columbia] were doing their best and the orders did not get mixed up, we all got our courses on different moments in time. At first we were very annoyed but we quickly found out that this was convenient for us because we could help the children finish their food without ours letting go cold. The quality of the food was outstanding!

We could either have the meals in the restaurant or in the buffet lounge. We tried the latter once for breakfast and once for lunch but decided to stick to the restaurant service because the quality was better, we did not have to get up from table to serve the children, get our own portions, etc.. In other words it was more relaxing to be served then to help oneself.

The first night we put the children to bed around 9 PM and went to the “Flamenco welcome show”. It was so average and after the show we went to the ballroom dance floor where we practiced our favorite hobby, ballroom dancing. The place was crowded since the Italians [75 % of the passengers] really like to dance. Of course we went to check on the children every 20 minutes but they were so tired that none of them woke up until 7 am the next morning.

Our first port of call was Ajaccio on Corsica (French territory) from 8 am till 1 PM. Since I had documented myself quite well and the port is right in town, we did a walking tour by ourselves and found some nice spots to enjoy. The town is not too big, so we got back on board around noon. Lunch was very good. In the afternoon we tried the pool [freezing at that time of the year] and ended up in the hot tub. The children joined the mini-club from 3 to 6 and I did some work out in the gym. This was actually the first time I had Set foot in a fitness room and found it a good opportunity to have the Canadian female instructor explain me the functioning of the equipment. At 4 PM we had the rescue exercise and after that we returned to the pool area for another hot tub session. The weather had gone nice by then so all the people were at the sun deck for the rest of the day. Gala dinner [of the captain] at 7 PM; very good food again.

After dinner we put the smallest of the children to bed and the other two joined us to the Variety Show; very good with nice dancing and singing. After the show we all went to sleep because our previous night [first night aboard] hadn’t been to good [one has to get used to moving slightly while sleeping] and we had a whole day excursion the next day.

So, our second port of call was Tunis, for which we had booked a whole day excursion with lunch on board. In the morning we went to a mosaic-museum in town [very good] and were then guided in to the small streets of old Tunis where we ended up being “caught” in a carpet factory. In the afternoon we went to see the ancient amphitheater of Carthago and visited some other historic sites.

At the end of the day the children were worn out [and so were we]. Everyone in the group congratulated us for the good behavior of our family and for our courage to take them on a whole day tour. We had dinner as usual and then put the children to bed. We watched the “Pavarotti in concert “ for a little while but as we do not like this man too much we decided to turn in early.

The next day the ship was in Malta from 8 am to 2 PM. The two eldest children stayed on board in the mini-club while we did a walking tour [self organized and documented] of the capital, La Valetta; Very nice place and we quickly decided that one day we would be back there for a week or so to see more of the island. By noon we got back to the ship, had lunch in the restaurant and then split up; my wife and daughter watched “Mr. Bean”, an English series , the two boys took a nap and went to the pool area for some reading. We met again for the afternoon tea after which the children joined the mini club and we went into the hot tub. Dinner at 7 PM [preceded by a cocktail and photo session organized by ourselves]. The two boys were tired, so it was just my wife, daughter and myself who went to the “Bubble Blowing Show”. I never saw something similar but was impressed by the act the guys was doing on stage with just water, soap and smoke. Very good show! After the show we put our daughter to bed and went for some dancing until 11 PM.

Our last port of call was Capri , an island off the Italian coast. The ship didn’t dock but we had to get to shore by tenders. We did not sign up for the excursion since it was easy to organize a walking tour ourselves. Again, the two eldest children stayed on board in the mini club The sky was blue, the isle of Capri is beautiful , both seen from the sea as walking on it. It has very narrow streets and nice little spots, very high cliffs and impressive views. Around noon my wife went back to the ship [by tender] to get the children for a ride on the tenders. They really liked it and were happy to have had that “tender” experience.

As the ship left the Capri isle we were having our lunch in the restaurant.

We spent the afternoon sitting in the hot tub, on deck, doing some fitness, the children in the mini club. At the end of the afternoon we started to pack our luggage because we had to put it outside the cabin before 2 am .

Farewell gala dinner at 7 PM with a kind of baked Alaska at the end of the meal.

After dinner we put our smallest one to bed and enjoyed the “Allegra Show”, again very good with nice dancing and singing. After the show, the two other children to bed and we got for the last time to the ballroom dancing place.

The next morning we looked out of our porthole and saw the rain pouring down. Time to go home! After breakfast and tipping the waiters and cabin steward we waited a while until we were allowed to go ashore. Our luggage was waiting for us in the terminal, and just outside of the terminal our car was ready to take us back home.

A comment I have put on the evaluation form is that the pool was too cold; no one ever went into it. Another comment was that the food at the buffet was not as good and tasty as in the restaurant.

A comment to other cruise passengers concerning Costa:

1/ if you have children with you, Costa is the ideal cruise company
2/ the food was outstanding and the ship is so nice and comfortable.
3/ on our first cruise in 1996 we had an inside cabin. We did not feel the ship move; on the Costa Allegra we had an outside cabin on deck 5 almost halfway the ship and we felt the movements of the ship [mainly sideways] much more; on a next cruise we will take an inside cabin again because we think that, as they are more centrally located, you feel the movements less than in the outside cabins [and also the I/S are less expensive than the O/S]