8-Day Caribbean Cruise aboard COSTA FAVOLOSA

1. The crew went on a sort of strike during the first 6 days of the cruise: they did not respond to greetings ("Good morning") or thanks ("Thank you"), behaving in a deeply rude and even brazen manner. Only on the seventh day did they begin to be partially cordial again. It is unbelievable; I have never seen anything like this in the more than 40 cruises I have taken previously.

2. The waiter at the evening dinner table was rude, lacked manners, was distant, and even insolent. He did not follow Costa's service protocol—for example, he refused to change the cutlery after each course and did not want to speak in English. I have NEVER encountered such a situation on a cruise before. I reached out to the Maître d' to remedy this, but nothing was resolved.

3. The food at the buffet has become barely acceptable, if not downright poor. It is below the standard of a fast-food restaurant on land. It is the worst food I have ever eaten on a cruise.

4. A large portion of the buffet staff was essentially not working; they pretended to be busy but merely walked back and forth across the area.

5. There is a general feeling of disorganization and chaos throughout the entire ship; it literally feels as though the Costa brand is on the verge of shutting down operations.

This was my third cruise. I have cruised to Alaska with Princess, the southern Caribbean with Celebrity and now Costa to Norway.

I'll start with the good:

- We had a standard balcony cabin. No real complaints. The bed was comfortable, cabin as spacious as you can expect, bathroom was fine.

- Housekeeping staff who clean the cabins were among the nicest crew we encountered. Always helpful and friendly

The less good, especially comparing to our experience on Princess and Celebrity

- It always felt crowded and loud. There just aren't enough places to just chill or have a quiet drink and talk.

- The multiple languages were very annoying. Every announcement was made in four languages

- Could be related to the language problem but the main evening shows in the theatre were sub-par by a lot compared to our other cruises. It seemed like they felt they couldn't do anything with dialogue. They were also only a half hour though I don't think i would have sat for longer. Nothing entertaining

- Not sure what current rules are but princess did not force my wife and i to have the same drink package which was important because i drink alcohol and she doesn't. Costa does not allow it

- The ship photographers were intrusive and annoying

- Ship navigation was very annoying as there are restaurants blocking decks 3 and 4 mid-ship so you have to go to a different deck to get across.

- We were assigned to a diningroom with no windows! What's the point of being on a cruise?

- Embarkation and disembarkation were OK but we were part of a group so got priority treatment. General lines looked quite long

our 15th cruise in 24 years, 7th with Costa and the 2nd on the Favolosa.

This time it was a 9-night cruise among the captivating Fjords of Norway, round trip from Hamburg.

we booked direct from online in February, and tbh, the process was a bit of a hit-and-miss thingy, with confusion upon the actual cabin number assigned to us. All eventually solved and the correct cabin confirmed. YEAY !!!

Online forms to fill in arrived in good time, simple affairs, no biggie to complete and remail back online.

closely following them were the boarding documents, along with luggage tags for printing.

Costa App duly downloaded and run, no fuss, no muss. Was kinda dormant until boarded (pretty normal), but once upon the ship, provided whatever you needed with very little effort. Went practically dead once we were beeped out of the ship for the final time (again pretty normal).

Checking in was a breeze. Our allocated check-in time was 12:30, so arriving a bit early, we found a quiet corner in the terminal, and casually did some people-watching to pass the time. Most of the coach-loads of bulk pax had mostly been boarded by our allocated time, so after about 10 minutes doing the usual cattle-hustle round and round the inevitable barriers, we presented at the check-in desk. Papers, passports checked, photos (both security AND souvenir) taken, and off to the ship's ramp we went.

Which is where a curious situation evolved. We noticed that a percentage of cleared pax were being refused boarding, and much to our consternation, we ended up with the unlucky ones !!!! DARN !!!

Eventually, it transpired that the ship security system decided to go for a holiday, with the result that we had to pose again for our mugshots. No biggie, and up into the ship we go.

Once inside, we were effortlessly directed to one of the restaurants, where we were served a delightful lunch until our cabin was cleared. We eventually made it there, to find a very clean and organized cabin, with practically nothing to grumble about, except, perhaps, the bathroom colour. I just have to say here that the sink counter reminded me of salami meat, but hey.

Costa obliges everyone to decide upon the method of on-board credit between either through direct cash deposits, or more conveniently, via credit card within 24 hours of boarding. Failing to do so results in your costa card being rendered useless and you become an unperson to the system until you comply. Both methods are well catered for, with terminals available along the reception area, with which one can carry out the process. Thing is that most everyone goes for the terminal just across the reception desk, and totally ignore the second one a few meters to the side. Since we are aware of this second terminal, we gleefully skipped everyone, and finished the process in no time at all

We are the kind of people that look for peace and quiet, and I must say that our deck 9 forward balcony cabin lived up to our expectations to a T. UP front, away from the maddening crowd, with the only corridor traffic being of those who had cabins next to us.....Nirvana !!!!

Same level as the buffet, a veritable bonus, that, with the theatre below us on decks 3 and 4, just a trip on the forward lift cluster. The only thing on the other side of the ship was the dinner restaurant, necessitating us to hoof it the whole length of the ship to get there, but it helps working up an appetite, especially when trying to avoid the persistent picture-takers one encounters along the way. :)

Food. What can I say? We love Italian cooking, and we never were disappointed. Truth to tell, it was a bit samey at the buffet, but always good. I did say samey, but there was enough choice to pick from differently as the days rolled by while giving one the opportunity of finding some favorite item more then once during the duration of the cruise. Dinner was something different every day, portions decent, flavourful and well thought-out. Menu's were available off the app, but paper ones were readily available for those thus inclined.

The ship usually docked at about 07:00 every day with first shore access happening at about 08:00, with last pax onboard happening mostly at 17:30 - ish. This provides a decent shore time to explore the current port of call, something which we gleefully did. We usually take the local Hop on-Hop off bus to range a bit away from the ship, and mostly visit the nearby museums and sample some local cuisine and engage in conversation with the locals, which is one of the main reasons that we chose cruising as our go-to vacation mode. There WAS one case in which two persons were repeatedly called over the audio system to present themselves to Reception before the ship sailed, which usually meant a system hiccup, or, kinda worse, still ashore, but apart from that, nothing else dramatic happened.

The staff we encountered were always courteous, patient and understanding. Except perhaps, for the picture-takers who made their unwanted presence continuously felt. How many times do you have to say no to the same bunch of people day in, day out, until it finally sinks in that you really, really, but REALLY, do not want to have any pictures taken?

Our Cabin Hostess was Girlie, a most delightful, attentive, polite, patient person whose efforts played no small part in making our experience on-board an excellent one.

One major niggle is the Dinner service. I mean, ok, we are not the kind to fuss and muss about the strict correctness of utensils and other dining protocols, and tbh, the service was mostly good and from the right side of the diner, however we draw the line at having the table cleaned out while we were still having dessert, having a plate taken from us while we were still not finished (happened twice), and being told to start eating the current course by the waiter. Butter was by request, and really took its time to arrive at our table. The overall feeling was of being rushed through the whole process to leave the table so that they can ready it for breakfast. Pity.

Costa being a European style cruise line, theatre is totally different from the Broadway-style presentations common on American style cruises. Having said that, the shows were constantly of a very decent level, with genuine Flamenco dancers, aerial acrobats, group dancing, colourful costumes and interesting presentations. There was also single-person performances, all mostly good, so yeah.

Disembarkation was a very simple and efficient process. Either wait to be called up with your colour group, or, if, like us, one is independent and with just hand luggage, just leave at your most convenient time. In our case, we had a sleep-over at the last port, so we just lounged in the pool area till about 10:30, after which we left the ship for the last time.

One final word is regarding the particular cruise terminal. Hamburg has more then one, and they are far apart, so it is of the utmost importance that one discovers the correct terminal to turn up at for embarkation !!!!

In our case, it was the one at Altona, convenient, with only a 10 minute taxi drive from our hotel. The same cannot be said, however, for the terminal we disembarked at, which was the one at Steinwerder. Access to this particular one involves a 30-minute drive to the same hotel, mostly on highways and a couple of bridges, which makes it subject to the current traffic situation, so if your embarkation terminal in Hamburg is at Steinwerder, be warned !!!!!!

We have sailed with different companies, and can say that Costa is not exactly top dog, but it all depends upon one's expectations, really, and in our case, we really have very little negative to say about our holiday, except for our treatment during dining.

Will we be cruising with Costa again?

Most definitely......... YES !!!!!!!