Welcome to Judy M's review of the Costa Cruises, Costa Classica. ReviewThatCruise.com is first for Costa Classica Reviews & Costa Classica ship reviews.
Just returned from Jewels of the Emirates on Costa Classica ...Try to get to the airport in plenty of time to check in as, although we booked together, we were not seated together on the plane....because we were early we could get that remedied but not all managed to do so. I did try to check in online beforehand but because it was a group booking by Costa I was unable to do so. BA flight from Heathrow was delayed for two and a half hours ...making up time we arrived two hours late around 1.15 am. We were on board by 2.00 am after an easy embarkation and there was food in the buffet for the late arrivals.... we then had to wait two hours for luggage so a very late bedtime!! Just as well we had nothing planned for the morning as we slept until 10 am !! We were in a suite (it was my special birthday treat) which was spacious and well furnished with a good sized balcony, also well furnished with two steamer type chairs and table. Marble bathroom with twin washbasins and jacuzzi bath and separate shower cubicle with good powerful shower. We didn\'t use the bath as the jets looked a bit discoloured and grotty and the bath was fairly worn. Plenty of hot water at all times. We had breakfast in the cabin each morning and I think this was available to all cabins at no extra charge. Only one English speaking tv channel which was BBC World which was fine just to catch up on the news. Our only complaint re the suite was that they are situated under the ‘sun’ deck and we were disturbed most mornings early (5.30 - 6.00) by the sunbeds being dragged into position. Also any late night deck parties were noisy. The lounges and public areas are all well furnished but like Pam (who reviewed this cruise previously) we did not like the marble clinical looking staircases, which magnified any general noise . Pam also commented that there was limited deck space for sunbathing…it did appear very crowded at times. (Apparently next year they will be operating Costa Europa which is a larger ship and Costa Romantica, sister to Classica but on slightly different itineraries cutting out Bahrain and having a sea day…just info from a crew member so not gospel) We ate in the buffet at lunchtime and the dining room in the evening (no other choice for dinner) the food overall was OK but not brilliant. I had to return a fillet steak on one occasion which was tough but it was replaced immediately with a more tender one! the choice at dinner was good I thought...I managed to choose 4 courses on most evenings with no problem (the diet has now started!) my partner (who is a meat and two veg man) managed 3 courses every night. The waiting staff were good we had a Philipino and an Indonesian always smiling, and I had the obligatory ‘Happy Birthday‘ sung to me as only they can!!. And also an iced birthday cake with my name on from them. We also had Valentines day where each of the ladies was presented with a red rose at dinner. There were two formal dinners during the week (one preceded by the Captains cocktail party) but really dress wise anything goes. A few men in dinner suits, about fifty per cent in suits or jackets and trousers and the rest in open necked shirts and casual trousers!! I presume if there was an alternative more relaxed venue for dinner then those people would go there and not to the restaurant. The lunchtime buffet was a different matter the \'hot\' food was rarely \'hot\' unless one happened to catch the grill when they\'d just cooked something!! Free Tea and Coffee was not available 24 hours a day and was not served in the restaurant after dinner. So if like us you like a coffee after dinner you had to pay for it in the bar! There is ’compulsory’ tipping on this cruise of 6 euros per person per day but they still add 15 per cent to the bar bills.
The passengers on our cruise were made up of approximately 60 per cent German with probably 15 per cent each of French and Italian and 10 per cent British and half a dozen or so Japanese! One of the staff said it did fluctuate each week. It was a bit frustrating that the announcements (especially before the evening shows) had to be done in all four languages!! But the excursions were kept in groups of passengers speaking the same language with an appropriate guide. Our guide on our two excursions was a young lady called Asma who was excellent, very knowledgeable and a very friendly personality. We found the shows to be OK but nothing special. Just one male singer, six female dancers and three male dancers. (our minds went to the talented singers/dancers male and female who danced and sang through twelve different shows on our two weeks on Thomson Emerald!!!)
Unlike Pam’s cruise, which was of course the inaugural cruise here, we didn’t have any welcoming committees or displays except for Fujairah.
The first port of call was Muscat where we decided to take a taxi to a nearby fort and local sights…took the shuttle to the port gate and agreed with a taxi driver to take us for an hour for an agreed price of 30 euros. Unbeknown to us we chose the wrong man who took us to the Grand Mosque three quarters of an hours drive away where we couldn’t go in because I did not have enough clothing to cover myself completely!! Then when we asked to be taken back to the port he continued to drive north up a dual carriageway muttering to himself as he went when we repeatedly asked to be taken back to the ship…eventually he managed to find a slip road to come off and turn around and then proceeded to drive us back to the port around every little side road he could find! We arrived back at the port two hours later with him demanding 70 euros (saying he agreed 35 euros an hour!) I gave him 50 euros and he threw it back at me! To cut a long story short we found an English speaking taxi driver there who tried to mediate and accepted another 5 euros making 55 euros which he said he would make him accept. We walked away at that stage. So BEWARE …not all taxi drivers are honest, some obviously can’t resist the temptation to make a fast buck!! It really upset us both especially as Muscat looked a really nice place and all we saw was the back of the car in front and a Mosque we couldn’t go in!! As we sailed away from here we saw dolphins leaping not far from the ship.
Fujairah was the next port we were greeted by local girls who presented each passenger with a hand made pot and we did the East Coast tour here with the lovely Asma as our guide. Several photo stops at a couple of forts and a fruit and veg market, then the Fujairah museum all quite interesting.
Abu Dhabi we got the shuttle bus into town and did our own thing as we did in Bahrain. Then we did a tour of Dubai on the Friday afternoon after berthing, again with Asma, which included a visit to Jumeirah beach to see the famous hotel, a water taxi across the creek to a spice market and then an hour in the gold souk. Saturday morning we got the shuttle bus into town which drops you at one of the huge shopping malls.
The flight home was not until 3.00 am Sunday but we didn’t have to vacate our cabins until 6 pm (luggage out at 5 pm) then we had dinner in the restaurant at 6.30 pm and left the ship at 10 pm picking up our luggage on the way to the coach to the airport. We finally got through the various security checks and check in procedures at 11.30 and then went through to Duty Free which was wonderful!!!
My pay as you go Orange Mobile phone did not work in any part of the UAE or Oman (if I had a contract one it would have done apparently) so if you need/ want to contact home better to check with your company first. I did ring on the Satellite phone from the ship …6 euros for 40 seconds!!!! There is also an internet room but it seemed very slow and cost about 4 euros just to send a quick email!
By the way for those of you who smoke, the cheapest cigs we found were in the Duty Free Shop in the cruise terminal in Dubai. Marlboro were about £6.50 for 200 and B & H were £6.00. I think they were about the same in the airport but we had already got them by then. Our flight home was more or less on time leaving and arriving. All in all an excellent itinerary not so sure about Costa Cruises for us again because of the language situation and I am sorry to say the rudeness of some of our European colleagues! We spoke to someone who had done Costa cruising in the Caribbean and who said it was a lot better with mostly Americans and Brits so all English speaking passengers (probably less of a headache for Costa as well!)
