Costa Cruise from Rome a disappointing time.

[jlandrews]

My partner and I just came back from a trip to Italy and a cruise on the Mediteranean. A dream of mine for a long time. I have been on previous cruises before, but on this side of the Atlantic. I was very disappointed as this particular cruise had a large portion of children passengers on it. We were advised that due to a short school week, most parent were taking their kids on a holiday. The trouble was we were not advised by anyone that this was going to be a family oriented cruise, and being from North American I was not prepared to be required to step over a 2 year old sleeping in the middle of the walkway in a bar at midnight, or having a herd of 10 year olds climbing over our table in the Disco to get at balloons at the same time of the evening, having a woman race me to a bar stool to put her toddler on the stool while she has a belini at 8PM. While I understand that in Europe it is not unusual to have children in bars, and we were advise that we had to account for the cultural differences yet no one appreciated my cultural difference, I would have appreciated being told that a majority of the passengers were under the age of 10. It would also have been nice to have certain areas for adults only, or adhere to the no one under 16 being allowed in the spa. In the literature it clearly stated that no one under the age of 16 was allowed to be in the spa or gym, when we went to take a dip the place was full of children. There was no where to escape except to our cabin. Another concern was the passageways, during the day when the hotel staff were cleaning rooms, people left their baby buggys in the hallway, making it difficult to walk to your cabin, this I consider a safety hazard and the parents should have been required to put the buggy in thier room or left in an area that did not clutter the passageways.
Off the children topic, Costa Cruises charges each person a surcharge of approx E40, this is suppose to be for tipping, so you don't have to. While I like this, I was appalled to hear that unless I as a passenger completes my survey out with an excellent, the people who look after you will not get a piece of this tip. I have a very hard time giving excellent on a survey at the best of times due to my previous employer. I believe that there is always room for improvement. Who gets my money, if I am truthful on my survey. The people who did look after us were great,so we went around the ship the last night of the cruise and gave a cash tip to them.
So my advise to anyone from North America looking at taking a Costa Cruise, find out before you put any money down if it is going to be overrun with kids. And regardless of your true experience on the ship make sure you mark it as an excellent as the Cruise Line is going to take your "Surcharge" whether you like it or not.

[jacquelinec]

I am going to ask a really stupid question......WHY IS THIS POSTED ON A DISNEY CRUISE SITE??????????

[ChucksOK]

Originally posted by jacquelinec:
I am going to ask a really stupid question......WHY IS THIS POSTED ON A DISNEY CRUISE SITE??????????

?????????????? When did "ALL OTHER CRUISE LINES" become a "DISNEY CRUISE SITE" ????????? Or am I missing something?

[LisaP]

Originally posted by ChucksOK:
?????????????? When did "ALL OTHER CRUISE LINES" become a "DISNEY CRUISE SITE" ????????? Or am I missing something?

Chuck is absolutely correct.

Jacqueline, this is indeed a board for "All Other Cruise Lines." If you go to our forum listing, you will see that itt is for all lines except Carnival, Royal Caribbean, P&O Princess (Princess, P&O, P&O Australia, Ocean Village Cunard), NCL Corp. (NCL, NCLA, Orient, Star), HAL, and Celebrity/Azamara. As Costa is one of many lines that is not on this list, jlandrews' post is in the right place.

Now, let's put this subject to rest, and continue with any questions regarding jlandrews' cruise.

[LisaP]

And, on that note, I'll begin...

I was appalled to hear that unless I as a passenger completes my survey out with an excellent, the people who look after you will not get a piece of this tip.

jlandrews, I'm curious as to who gave you this information. Over the years, I've heard many stories from crew--including one cruise director--about negative ramifications should we rate any aspect of the cruise less than "excellent." I agree with you in that I think a truthful assessment is the only way to go, so I am really turned off by these "comment card pitches."

[jlandrews]

This information was relayed to us by our ships host and we asked the crew members that we had direct contact with. This is the reason we decided to give the people who did give us good service a cash tip, to ensure that they received our gratification

[fneumeier]

LisaP,

I read this quite often on the German part of this board. The German host also is telling the passengers that they have to rate "excellent".

Carmen

[Jim C.]

Carnival is notorious for having the CD make a pitch about rating everything "excellent" I don't follow those rules as that would be useless. I give honest ratings otherwise how do the superivisors know what needs to be improved on. I have no issue with a speach on filling out the comment cards as I feel that is important to help a crew improve, but I disagree with being told to rate them as excellent.

[queenofcruzin]

I agree with all of you on comment cards, but unfortunately, what the crew tells you is true. I work in an industry that also has "comment cards." We are instructed to let customers know that anything but an "excellent" score is a fail. Last month I got two "good" scores from customers who loved me, but agree with all of us;Everyone can use improvement. My pay was docked for "good" scores. Companies have "benchmarks" cruise lines included, that are not realistic. Therefore on a cruise I give them excellent scores, and address any problems with the supervisor.

[Rhein]

Hi,


as a (still) young person, I ask a very provocating question - what is wrong about children on a cruise??? Should in future every cruise line post a warning in its brochures "ATTENTION - CHILDREN ON BOARD!!!"???
Honestly, I can't believe what I've read!!

Anyway, anybody knows Italians love their family (and that surely includes children). Any time I was in the US, I admired this society, because it is much more friendly with children than the Europeans, so what's wrong with this cruise???