Mediterranea questions...

[danacline]

We are considering a cruise next March on the Mediterranea, visiting San Juan, St. Thomas, Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk. I have questions about this ship and this line. We've cruised on Princess, HAL, Carnival, and my wife on Disney. We like Princess best so far.

Are there art auctions? Any comments about price and selection? I'm interested in buying a Wyland dolphin lucite sculpture, or some of his paintings.

Do they have the standard fare? 24-hr buffet? Towel animals? Coke cards? Not So Newlywed game show? Trivia contests? Good selections on dinner entrees? Ballroom dancing?

How are the shore excursions on Costa? We'd like to do the kayak in the bioluminescent lagoon in Puerto Rico, which will work as we're there until midnight.

Does this ship have inside cabins with 2 bunk beds? It'll be me, wife, and daughters age 17 and 11. How are the teen and kid programs?

Thanks!
Dana

[Kristina99]

I was on the Costa Magica recently...so i imagine its the same for the Mediterranea...

Originally Posted by danacline

Are there art auctions? Any comments about price and selection? I'm interested in buying a Wyland dolphin lucite sculpture, or some of his paintings.

There are art auctions. I did not notice the price, but many pieces were displayed thoughout the ship, and in the gallery (it is small).

Originally Posted by danacline

Do they have the standard fare? 24-hr buffet? Towel animals? Coke cards? Not So Newlywed game show? Trivia contests? Good selections on dinner entrees? Ballroom dancing?

The food was great, always pasta and pizza (the best Ive had on any cruise). Not too much of a dessert selection, but thats better for my hips! (but the ice cream was great). There is not a 24hr buffet. There was a breakfast buffet from 7.30-11am, lunch from 12-2.30pm (grill from 11am-6pm), and dinner from 7.30-9.30pm, and a midnight buffet. There is also pizza-to-order in the buffet area from 9.30pm-1.30am (i highly reccommend checking this out one night...it is sooooo good!)
We did not find any towel animals in our room, and only got chocolates on formal nights.
For drink cards...there is a "Boys & Girls" card, where for about $60 you can get 20 nonalcoholic drinks. There is also an X1 package (you need to call your travel agent and order it at least a week prior to your sailing), where for about $80, you receive unlimited beer, wine, bottled water, and soda from 12-2.30 and 5-8.30pm.
There are multiple trivia activities daily.
The selection for dinner entrees is normal cruise fare. But, instead of lobster on a formal night we had king crab legs (to die for!)
There were not any ballroom dancing classes, but there were several dancing classes held by the mid-ship pool, ranging from salsa to merengue to YMCA). There was ballroom dancing in the lounges nightly, but i dont think it was scheduled; people would just go up and dance. The floor in the Capri Lounge was great.

Originally Posted by danacline

How are the shore excursions on Costa? We'd like to do the kayak in the bioluminescent lagoon in Puerto Rico, which will work as we're there until midnight.

We did not book any shore excursions, we explored our ports on our own.

Originally Posted by danacline

Does this ship have inside cabins with 2 bunk beds? It'll be me, wife, and daughters age 17 and 11. How are the teen and kid programs?

There are inside cabins that can occupy 4 people. We only had 2 in ours (it was me and my mom) and there was enough space for all our stuff (and 2 women bring a lot of stuff!!).
The teen program was fabulous. There were several activities planned daily, and i highly reccommend for your 17 year old to participate!! It is near impossible to meet anybody without that program since most of the passangers did not speak English! The teen directors were fabulous..and really cool!!
I cant really tell you about the program for your younger child, but I did see kids having theme dinners together, which looked fun!! There is also a childrens room..and its really cool!!

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

[danacline]

Kris,

Thanks for all the feedback! So far it sounds pretty good, but you mentioned that most passengers were not American...did they have announcements in multiple languages? Did the stewards and waiters and bartenders speak much English? I can speak and understand some German and Spanish, but no Italian.

Still it sounds interesting, and they have the most interesting itinerary for next spring break.

Nice picture - taken in your cabin aboard a ship?

Dana

[Kristina99]

The announcements were made in English, Italian, French, Spanish, and German (maybe?). All of the crew members that would ever come into contact with a passenger are required to speak English.

My picture was taken aboard the Costa Magica this February, in our cabin (an inside).

What itinerary are you taking?

[danacline]

Kris,

The itinerary on that one is San Juan, St. Thomas, Casa de Campo D.R., and Grand Turk. 2 I've been to, 2 I haven't.

We're also looking at other spring break cruises, as my daughters actually have a week plus 2 days for that break.

Dana

[Kristina99]

That is a nice itinerary. What 2 places have you not been to?


Lately I have been looking at the Costa Fortuna for December...thinking about back to back (since it is doing 2 different Eastern Caribbean itineraries).

[danacline]

I've not been to the Dominican Republic, nor Grand Turk. I'd like to see them both.

We're also looking at others that week - some have even more interesting itineraries...

Dana

[Kristina99]

Grand Turk is one of my favorites. It is stunning. You should definetly take a taxi to Cockburn Town..its $5 per person. The beaches are basically empty..and the locals are the nicest out of any island!! Theres also a mini outside market, selling typical island goods.

I have not been to the Dominican Republic either.

What other cruises are you considering?

[danacline]

Basically I'm considering anything Caribbean, week of March 15. There's two Costa, two RCCL, two Carnival, one NCL, one Celebrity, one Princess. So far the top runners are the Carnival Triumph and the NCL Jewel, both because of the itineraries.

Still getting quotes - the Triumph is cheaper, but the Jewel goes to 5 islands we've never been to - Samana D.R, Tortola, Antigua, Barbados, and St. Lucia. The Meditteranea is about the same price as the Triumph, but I'm not so sure we'd like being in the English-only minority. Still discussing that...

[Kristina99]

For what ive seen of Costa cruises...their price goes wayyy down the closer you get to the sailing date. We booked 18 days in advance and paid about $375 total each for an inside.

The Triumph is a nice ship..I was on it a couple of years ago. The CCL Victory and Triumph seem to have really good prices lately.

I am sure you will have an amazing time no matter which cruise you pick.

[danacline]

Kris,

Well, it looks like, _if_ we go, we'll go on the Triumph. The wife picked "cheap and known" to "expensive and unknown". OK, I guess I can live with that, this time...

Next we want to book a transatlantic jaunt...

Dana