Costa Cruises

by **HW Chris** on Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:34 am

lol flash git. Posting from his penthouse cabin no doubt.

by **HW tenpin** on Thu Oct 06, 2005 15:39 pm

"lol flash git. Posting from his penthouse cabin no doubt." --- HW_The_Dog

Let you know this is costing me 25p a minute

by **nanabo** on Thu Nov 15, 2007 19:07 pm

Hi all cruisers

Just been to book a cruise on the Costa Europa to Dubi for New Year and was told that it is compulsery for Costa to ask you to pay your tips up front, well as I have said before on this topic, no way will we do that, so they have lost a customer. I went to book at Hays travel and the travel agent agreed and said she had not known this to happen before. She was speaking to the advisor on the phone while I was there who said if I was not happy with this then see the manager when we are on the ship, but it would have been to late by then cos they have you by the short & curlies, so I declined and said I would book another ship. As I have said before I dont mind tipping but I will tip who and when as its my money, and Hays agreed with me. I cruise 2 /3 times a year and have never known it. So be warned, have others heard of this??

Bo

by **HW tenpin** on Fri Nov 16, 2007 10:39 am

Hello Bo,

As you know I also hate this compulsory tipping, however more and more cruise lines are adopting it, & it does appear to be the latest thing for extracting more money from us. On our latest cruise we, against our better judgement paid this up front, but on our last day aboard, guess what envelopes appeared in the cabins the last day, saying some passengers like to reward staff a little more.
So I can see the days coming where not only are fixed tips in place but also they will expect more as well.

As for Costa, up to two years ago you could e-mail customer services before travelling and have the tips removed, then reward in the old fashioned way. In their defence (Costa) even though I had requested removal of the gratuities they had been added to our account, but a e-mail on our return they were swiftly refunded to us. you may also adjust or remove these once you have boarded. Up to two years ago.

I really cannot fault Costa customer service, and wholly recommend Costa to all, for at least one cruise.

by **nanabo** on Fri Nov 16, 2007 13:35 pm

Thanks for that Tenpin but we withdwer on prinipal especially as we were paying over the odds over New Year as well, so I think its going to be Algarve for us.

Bo

by **HW John** on Fri Nov 16, 2007 15:21 pm

We did the Europa twice and my family is due to go on the concordia in jan. Pretty decent line, however �4.50 a pint was a little expensive for us. For the price, they provided excellent service. Apart from when our luggage didnt turn up for 3 days at christmas and they refused to find out any information for us. Instead they provided us with an emergency pack containing a bar of soap, a tiny packet of shampoo and a razor that pulled the hairs out rather than shaving them.
They are recommended in my book, however Fred Olsen takes my first place anyday.

by **HW tenpin** on Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:37 pm

Expert Cruiser,

�4.50 a pint you sure that was not a quart, Costa was selling pints at 3.90 Euros when we sailed with them, hardly a rip off.

As for Fred Olsen against Costa you must be joking, those ships are really old, I'm supprised they are not using sails.

Just joking mate they ain' that bad.

by **nanabo** on Sun Nov 18, 2007 13:18 pm

If Costa charge �4.50 a pint then its a cat in hells chance I get my hubby on their ships, 3.50 Euro is about right for most ships that works out at �2.50 pr pint he can go with that.

bo

by **HW John** on Sun Nov 18, 2007 14:43 pm

Sails? how very dare you! We have to stay in steerage rowing the bloody thing!! we have to choose price over 'new' ships, as we dont have a lot of cash. Sure id love to go on the voyager of the seas and some of the biggest but when moneys tight, you do what you can. Sure FO's ships may be old and a bit rickety, but they feel homely. Plus my nan can never find the cabin anyway regardless of what ship we go on at least for the first 4-5 days.

I know it was some of the most expensive prices we have seen on the lines we have been on and im sure it was either 4 euros or �4, we are talking about 3-4 years ago now though so the memory is getting a little bit stretched.

I dont mind costa, i just dont like all the foreigners and having to listen to lifeboat drill and all the announcements in like 4 different languages. But if we pay a cheap price, i dont complain