Costa Magica Cruise Review
Page 10
Continued from page 9
ABOVE: A mâitre d'
leads a conga line at dinner on Costa Magica.
Is a Costa cruise right for you?
| A Costa cruise may be right for
you if... |
A Costa cruise may not be right
for you if... |
| You'd like to enjoy a European
ambiance on shore and on the ship. |
When the ship sails, you'd rather
leave Europe behind on the pier. |
| You put a premium on value. |
You value premium brands. |
| Your idea of a "small ship" is a
vessel with 2,000 passengers. |
Your idea of a "small ship" is a
megayacht with 200 passengers. |
| You charge costume jewelry at
Swarovski. |
You run a tab at Van Cleef & Arpels. |
| You love pasta with pesto
and cruising with multi-generation families. |
You think "pesto" is
Italian for "child." |
| You like paintings of naked ladies
in the public areas of cruise ships. |
You think paintings of naked ladies
belong in art museums and medical textbooks. |
| You prefer to drink espresso with
sugar in little ceramic cups. |
You prefer to drink espresso with
milk and hazelnut syrup in 20-ounce cardboard containers. |
| You enjoy (or can tolerate) the
occasional conga line in the dining room. |
You think people who dance in conga
lines should be banished to the Congo. |
But seriously...
 No
cruise line is right for everyone, and Costa is best suited to travelers who
welcome the chance to cruise with all age groups and different nationalities.
On a popular English-language cruise forum, we saw a complaint
by an American who was furious because Costa's restaurant didn't offer "surf and
turf" (lobster and steak, served on the same platter). Another former passenger
was unhappy because announcements over the PA system were in five or six
languages, not just in English.
 Amazingly
enough, some non-European passengers complain about not being hustled by bar
staff. (Continental bar and café customers prefer not to be nagged into buying
refills, so Costa's bartenders and bar waiters tend to be less aggressive than
their counterparts on some American and British lines.)
Still, we like to think that xenophobia and chronic
cluelessness aren't endemic among our fellow Anglophones. We met a number of
native English speakers on Costa Magica, and they all seemed happy with
the ship and the cruise.
- Our advice: If
you like Europe, don't mind families, and aren't fazed by cultural
differences, you're likely to have a good time on a Costa cruise. But if
your idea of a cruise is a gated community at sea, you might prefer a line
that caters to travelers of your own nationality and age group.
Next page:
Costa Magica Western
Mediterran cruise photos
Top photo copyright ©
Costa Cruises.
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