Cruznut's Place :: View topic - Costa Magica-April 07- Bermuda, 7 days

Fllady · Hope Diamond

This was our 28th cruise. We usually cruise with Celebrity, Princess and Royal Caribbean. The best parts of the cruise that went really smoothly were embarkation and debarkation! I wish it was like that on all cruises. Although it seems that in Ft Lauderdale they have things better organized. On this cruise we wound up getting bowls of soft ice cream every night, going back to our cabin and watching TV. We really felt sorry for the help on the ship, I spoke with our cabin steward and he told me how a few years ago they started cutting back on help, and giving them more work to do. To give you and idea, our room steward was alone, taking care of 23 cabins! He was always running around from one end of the hallway to the other end. He said he used to have time to do the little nice things that guests like but now there was just no time. He kept our room presentable and even seemed to do a better job of it after we talked. The beds had 4 inch mattresses on a metal frame and so hard and uncomfortable, pillows were flat and hard, one per person, finally able to get 2 pillows. I picked up a pillow and my finger went thru the casing. The beds were only made with the sheets, no bed spreads.
The dining room, our waiter and asst. were so slow that our table mates complained to the maitre’ D, but then we found out that our waiters had 22 people/4 tables to take care of. They also had long lines to wait for the food because of the 2 different restaurants using the same kitchen at the same time. Water and iced tea was only given at beginning of meal, one night I only had 1 glass of water and nothing else. If you asked for more you would usually wait and if lucky got a refill. Food was never hot or cold, just warm for everything even the ice cream was melting. And the food, was not good, almost everyone we spoke to or over heard were saying the same things. So it just wasn't us. Or our group of friends we had made. Prime rib was a very thin slice of roast beef you would use on a sandwich. So many of the sauces, gravies and dressings were watered down, they had no flavor to them. Desserts and breads were either stale, dry, or no taste. I could go on complaining about the food but I will stop.

DH called the desk to find out when they were going to clean the glass on the balcony so we could see out of it. From the salt spray on the previous cruise, everything on the balcony was covered in salt. It did not get "cleaned" until Wednesday afternoon. The reason for asking to clean the glass because the chairs on the balcony were so low you had to look thru the glass to see anything if seated.

The cabins were cool and then warm, never stayed comfortable. Packed elevators of grouchy people, complaining about the ship and food, and just about everything else. . For 4 nights we had no water on the ship, they had to work on the plumbing, so no coffee or showers in the mornings, we wonder how the service people showered and washed their hands before preparing our food. Our toilet wouldn't flush at times, just gurgled, that was fun...No hand dispensers anywhere on the ship, only a towelette when we first boarded ....

The shows were so crowded and we never watched a complete show, our local theater has better shows than what was offered. If you have a balcony cabin these are doors not sliders, and all day and night you heard the doors slamming and would shake the room, it was terrible. Luggage delivery to the cabins was a jumbled mess, dumped in the middle of the elevator area and a lot of people didn't get their luggage until later that first night. Neighbors said they found their luggage on another floor.

The buffet was the same breakfast foods, and lunch foods, every day, nothing different. The omelet station was the only place you got a hot breakfast made fresh. DH saw a lady stick her finger into a cereal to see if it was hot or cold. They also had a pasta station for lunch, from what we heard it was leftovers from the night before. We had lunch in the dining room once, and the same problems as for dinner service.

We felt so bad for our cabin steward after speaking with him, and finding out how Costa has cut staff and now that they put the tips on automatically, the help get a smaller amount and the bosses get more tips. So we tipped our steward in an envelope and had the auto tipping removed immediately. I could go on and on but will say ship looked pretty clean, and some of the staff were nice but there is a language barrier which causes even more problems. We enjoyed Bermuda, although it is expensive to live there. Also for people with walking disabilities, it is a hard place to get around in. The best thing to do for us was take the ferries and buses to get around the towns. Our weather was perfect, couldn't have asked for better. We met some really nice people but will now stick to the cruise lines we know we enjoy. If you have any questions just ask.

Cruznut · Administrator

Not so flattering to this line. I have heard that from others. Thanks for posting.

Laura

Biker Linda · Blue

We sailed on the Fortuna Thanksgiving of 2007. The ship was beautiful and our room steward was excellent. Those are the only two nice things I can say about the cruise. That was our 47th cruise, and the most disappointing cruise we had ever taken. The food was terrible and the dining room service was even worse. I love to cruise, and I believe in being positive..........making lemonade out of lemons.........so to say, but that cruise left a bitter taste! We were traveling with some very good friends and we had a good time despite all of it!