COSTA SERENA Reviews

**Costa Serena – Excellent itinerary, extremely disappointing food and service**

We have just finished our cruise aboard Costa Serena. Overall, the trip was worth it because of the destinations, the excellent weather in Japan in early October and the places we visited. Unfortunately, the experience on board was a different story.

I have travelled on several MSC cruises before the pandemic, and I realise that standards may have changed since then. Nevertheless, I have never experienced food as poorly prepared as on Costa Serena.

**Food: 1 out of 5.** Both the buffet and the main restaurant were extremely disappointing. The quality of the cooking was particularly poor, and the variety did little to compensate for it. In my opinion, the food simply does not deserve a passing grade.

The staff were generally friendly, but the standard of service was surprisingly low. In the buffet restaurant, particularly in the evening, used trays and plates were left on tables while employees stood talking to each other. Staff frequently walked past tables that needed clearing without paying attention. I saw supervisors walking around, but little effective supervision.

In the main restaurant, our waiter seemed experienced and was generally polite, but we also encountered an unpleasant personal hygiene issue involving strong body odour. Basic hygiene standards should be respected, especially when serving food.

One important exception deserves recognition: our cabin attendant was absolutely impeccable. Naturally kind, attentive, helpful and genuinely willing to assist us, he was one of the best cabin attendants I have encountered. The cabin was also consistently clean and well maintained.

Organisation was another serious problem.

On our final morning, tugboats woke many passengers around 5 a.m. I wanted to buy a coffee, but the paid coffee machines were malfunctioning. One employee spent approximately ten minutes trying to help me purchase one. Meanwhile, other coffee machines were already prepared, but passengers were not allowed to use them until 6:30 a.m. Why refuse coffee to passengers who are already awake, especially when the alternative machines do not work?

Breakfast arrangements were equally difficult to understand. On disembarkation day, when passengers were instructed to leave the ship from around 8 a.m., one of the three buffet sections was not due to open until 9 a.m. Similar issues occurred on days with early excursions. Why not open all breakfast sections when so many passengers need to eat and leave early?

My most frightening experience was during our first disembarkation. The corridors were packed with passengers, including elderly people, moving together in an extremely dense crowd. I felt close to fainting. I could not stop thinking about what might happen if an emergency occurred in those conditions. I cannot judge the ship's emergency preparedness, but the crowd management I witnessed was deeply concerning.

The shops on board were another disappointment. The merchandise looked dated, inexpensive and uninteresting. Unlike on previous cruises, I could not find anything I wanted to buy.

There were positives. The show on the final evening was genuinely good, and I wish the entertainment throughout the cruise had been of that standard. The itinerary was excellent for us, the weather was perfect, the cabin was clean and several employees were genuinely kind.

I also tried to submit my feedback through Costa's app, but it repeatedly failed to work properly.

What disappoints me most is the difference between the pleasant attitude of many employees and the poor quality of the service they actually provide. In my experience, Costa Serena has serious problems with food quality, staff training, supervision and organisation.

**Would I choose Costa Serena again?** If my budget left me with no other option, perhaps. But if I could choose another cruise at the same price, absolutely not.

The cruise was worth taking for the destinations. The experience on board is not one I would willingly repeat.

Just back from the Costa Serena from Hong Kong toTokyo cruise, and unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment.

– Despite being a Silver Card member, our inside cabin was not upgraded, while our first-time cruisers friends (booked on my recommendation) got an upgrade.

– Cabin was constantly noisy due to the “crew only” area next door. We barely slept the whole trip.

– Guest Services (Hannah) called back, but she hadn’t received all the details, so I had to explain everything again. They sent a small gift box with Costa items like a luggage scale—but not a single room change was offered!

– Internet package line took over 2 hours.

– Friends’ cabin card kept failing, requiring repeated trips to reception.

– Ceres restaurant was very slow, especially for drinks, and food quality varied daily.

– Buffet still has old COVID-era glass shields, making it hard to reach food.

– The ship is from 2007, showing its age, and pools/jacuzzis were overcrowded.

– Despite reporting issues, almost nothing was resolved.

After an amazing experience on Costa Diadema in the Norwegian fjords last year, this was extremely disappointing.

Costa Serena? Never again.

We traveled on Costa Serena in Asia after the refurbishment. The ship looks more appealing, but even after the renovation it still feels “old.” Honestly, the refurbishment seemed more like a cosmetic update than a complete modernization.

We stayed in a Suite cabin, which was large and spacious, but clearly dated. Most of the “renovation” was done by wrapping the existing woodwork with a film (plastic/adhesive) that imitates wood, and the carpets were replaced—visible improvements, but they don’t really change the overall impression.

The food in the Club restaurant also didn’t impress us. It was just okay and, for us, it wasn’t worth the extra cost or the expectations.

The most disappointing part was the crew’s attitude. During embarkation, we were poorly guided, with limited assistance and confusing communication. Disembarkation felt similar—there was no warm farewell, almost as if they were doing us a favor by letting us leave.

Overall: a comfortable cabin due to the space, a decent ship after the refurbishment, but the experience didn’t feel as high-end as we expected.

As a Silver member of the Costa Club loyalty program, I was supposed to receive a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine. However, the butler (one of the Suite perks) told me they didn’t have any available when I left. I didn’t understand that at all—it made no sense.

As the title suggests, it is good for first-timers.

Onboarding and offboarding in Manila take time, but I guess that's the Philippines for you haha

Food was just okay at the buffet, but I am not a fan of buffet line service, (like in cafeterias in schools) as it takes time to line up. The fine dining place (only tried Ceres) was truly great, and you always have a designated schedule. My parents already experienced Royal Caribbean, yet they enjoyed this fine dining place primarily because of the assured schedule every night. The food was awesome in Ceres. Great selections; I ended up ordering two servings of at least a course every night. My schedule in Ceres would always be the highlight of my day!

Personally, I enjoyed it primarily because of the service.

Shout out to Carlos of Ceres Restaurant and Mohammad, as our cabin steward! Truly superb service!

This is about our cruise last March 11-20, 2026 from Manila to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Waiting time for embarkation takes long more so the disembarkation. This is not our first time to cruise but this is the worst cruise ever! All the passengers should be out of our cabins from 10am because they said they still need to prepare for the next scheduled embarkation of the next leg of passengers and we were just able to get off the ship by 6.30PM! Very inconvenient especially for the seniors. The interiors of the ship is old. Their buffet style is like a cafeteria. Food not delicious. Always repetitive. Uncomparable with Royal Caribbean. You still have to pay for your softdrinks and their fine dining is only during dinners. The only consolation are the staff in charge to clean our cabin and the waitress and waiter during our fine dining. Never again. Very disappointed!

Costa Serena — never again. And this is not just an emotional reaction; it is the result of the entire cruise.

To be honest, I very rarely write reviews this negative, but after my experience on Costa Serena, I simply cannot stay silent. For the amount of money I paid, I expected at least decent organization, clear communication, and basic respect for passengers. Instead, I got an enormous amount of frustration, chaos, and the feeling that passengers are the last thing anyone actually cares about.

Let me start with the organization. This is a whole separate story. There is constantly conflicting information. Different employees tell you completely different things. Today you are told one thing, and the next day another employee confidently tells you the exact opposite. At the reception desk, instead of getting help, you often end up with even more questions and confusion. At times, it genuinely felt like the staff themselves did not know what was happening on the ship or what the actual rules were.

The assistance at the reception desk was practically nonexistent. And this is especially frustrating when you are in another country and expect the cruise staff to help you resolve problems. Instead of actually solving an issue, you have to explain the same thing several times to different employees and eventually find the information yourself.

And this is not about one employee making one mistake. It is a systemic problem. Conflicting, contradictory, and often simply incorrect information is given constantly.

I also want to address the issue of language and communication.

I have absolutely no problem receiving information in a language other than my native language. I do not even need Russian — English is perfectly fine for me. But when an international cruise company constantly sends important information only in Chinese, this is extremely strange and inconvenient.

What makes it even more ridiculous is what happened when I needed to top up my onboard card.

Suddenly, the company was perfectly capable of sending the instructions in Kazakh.

So let me ask a simple question: if you are capable of providing information to passengers in Kazakh, why is all the other important information constantly sent in Chinese?

When the company needs to make sure I know how to add money to my account, suddenly Kazakh is available. But when passengers need important information about the cruise, schedules, procedures, or other organizational matters, apparently the language suddenly does not matter.

Very convenient policy.

I am not demanding that everything be provided in Russian. I am not even demanding Kazakh. English would be perfectly sufficient. I simply expect an international cruise company to provide important information in a language that its international passengers can actually understand.

Now, the food.

It was practically the same every single day. For a cruise where passengers spend several days onboard and depend on the ship for their meals, this is simply unacceptable. I understand that you cannot serve Michelin-star-level food every day, but there should at least be some variety.

After a few days, you already know exactly what you are going to see at dinner. That seriously takes away from the experience of being on vacation.

And all of this could have been tolerated if the service and organization had made up for the shortcomings. But they did not.

In fact, the lack of proper organization made everything else even more frustrating.

The worst part of Costa Serena was not one particular problem. It was the constant feeling of chaos and complete indifference toward passengers.

You constantly have to find information yourself, double-check whether what you were told is actually true, search for the right employee, and essentially solve problems that should have been handled by the cruise company in the first place.

I came on vacation, not to work as the manager of my own cruise.

And that is what makes this experience so disappointing.

After this experience, I can say only one thing:

I will never sail with this cruise line again.

And I certainly will not recommend Costa Serena to my friends or anyone I know.

A cruise should leave you with memories of relaxation, travel, and great experiences — not memories of constantly trying to figure out basic things and searching for an employee who can finally give you the correct information.