As a person who enjoys looking for a bargain holiday, and someone who loves cruising, when an amazing deal came up on my iPad, I pounced!
The holiday package included a week in a hotel in Majorca, and a week on Costa Fascinosa.
The cruise terminal was easy to find in Palma, but unfortunately despite arriving in good time, there wasn’t any transport to the ship, which was moored up quite a way from the entrance of the terminal. An employee of Costa walked us to the ship, but if you’d been disabled wouldn’t have been fun. The embarkation wasn’t done in the usual way either! We had to show our passports on the gangplank, then had our photos taken, then allowed on the ship to find our cabin! Being assured our cruise card would be in our cabin by the person on the gangway, it wasn’t there! This wasn’t the start to the holiday we’d planned. Everyone on board spoke Italian, so it was interesting to say the least! My husband went up to customer relations to seek help. They were very obliging. He was given our cruise card, and from then on, the experience was brilliant. The ship was very glitzy, and was easy to find your way around.
Our cabin was an inside cabin, but very spacious and comfortable. It was always cleaned well, and our stay in it was enjoyable.
We were particularly pleased with the food on offer. It was freshly cooked, and the buffet area always had healthy food rather than loads of chips. It was typically a Mediterranean diet, which we loved.
The entertainment was also really enjoyable. We especially enjoyed an Italian tenor, who ended up getting a standing evasion. The dancers were also really professional.
I must say that my initial thoughts of Costa might have been iffy, but having gone through the initial teething problems, it was one of the best cruises we’ve done. The fact that most people spoke Italian wasn’t an issue, it actually added to the holiday and made it real fun. The itinerary was great too, visiting Palermo, Naples, Savona, Valencia and Barcelona. Lots to do and see in these ports, and we took advantage of all the time we had in each place.
If anyone sees a value break with Costa, be brave like us! You could end up loving it as much as we did!
