Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Review of our Costa Concordia Cruise

As I mentioned yesterday, before Christmas we had the pleasure of taking a 10 day cruise with Costa on their flagship vessel, the Costa Concordia. I did not originally think that we were 'cruise people...' - you know what I mean - best described by a friend's comment - we are not snowbirds. ;) But... as I think you will see, it was an excellent opportunity to see a lot in a short period of time and really enjoy the destinations while relaxing inbetween.

We left on the 11th of December and flew to Rome where we got on the ship at Civitavecchia, the main port in Rome. We took the train from Leonardo Divinci Airport to Rome central, and then transferred to the port. It took about an hour and a half and cost just about 10 Euros per person, as opposed to the Costa suggested 50 Euro transfer fee (per person!)...

The ship, as you can see above, was HUGE. It had 14 floors, not including the engine room floors below deck zero, and included all kinds of cool amenities such as multiple bars, restaurants, dance clubs, a casino, a spa, and a full theater. About 80% of the travelers were Italian and most were European, but a small sample spoke English... but it wasn't really an issue as everything onboard was done in 5 languages, and the itineraries came each evening in English to our room. Speaking of which:
The rooms were small but adequate, and you are hardly in them anyway so there is really no nead for a palatial suite. The bathrooms on the other hand... tiny. But then again, unless you get sea sick (we won't talk about that, will we Val? :) you don't need to spend much time in there either!
We were on the boat for 10 days, 3 of which were completely at sea, and I must say it really was quite a relaxing way to travel - no need to figure out how to get to the airport, no transfers, no worries... nice. (Here is a map of our itinerary - full itinerary here - this is pretty much where we went, but we did not go to Izmir, Turkey)

With all that time on the ship, we had a lot of time for this...

(here I am eating strawberry soup!!!)

and this...and this...
and this...

(Bingo, bingo, bingo!!!)
and don't forget this...

and of course this...and just a tiny bit of this...
(the ship casino!)
and a daily injection of this!
More on the actual destinations starting tomorrow... see you then!

4 comments:

Amy McCown said...

We did a Costa cruise to Scandanvia last summer and really enjoyed it. Did the waiters do the "sexy dance" (kind of like the Macarena) at dinner every few nights?

Jessica said...

Um... No. No Sexy Dance. I feel like I got totally ripped off. :)

They did something with sparklers one night that was pretty sexy.

Chantal said...

Looks like a fun time. You've inspired me to try to force myself to plan a more relaxing vacation this year!

Amy McCown said...

You really were cheated by not seeing the dance. They made the whole dining room wave our napkins over our heads while they did their funny little dance. Every few lines they would yell, SEXY. They were so proud of themselves and the Italians on the ship loved it.

 

Contact me. | Advertise on Swisstory