Travelled on the new Costa Fascinosa Venice-Bari-Santorini-Rhodes-Dubrovnik-Venice.

Let me say that based on Costa reviews, I had rather low expectations. We are seasoned cruise travellers, having taken many cruises on many different cruise lines. Decided to give Costa a try as I liked the dates and the ports.

Let me address common complaints:

Food: The food was the best on this cruise of all the cruises we have taken, and we have taken many. Lots of more expensive seafood. Fish was excellent. Buffet was very good, with a wide variety of food that varied from day to day. Some have said it only has pizza. Not true on this ship. Very tasty, well prepared, and excellent service.

Ship: Gorgeous.

Smoke: Many have complained of too much smoke in public spaces. Simply didn't encounter this anywhere on the ship.

Service: Outstanding.

Some have complained that English is not the first language on board and there are many non-English speaking guests. This is an Italian cruise line, but they speak many different languages on board. Simply not a problem. Why go to Europe on an American ship with a bunch of American tourists? But just my opinion.

Overall: Can't say enough good about our experience with Costa. They bent over backwards to please us. Excellent cruise experience!

Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise, it's good to see some positive comments on Costa.

To answer this question: I reply "because when there's a problem with the ship, I want to understand the emergency announcements".

When the Concordia went down, the initial announcements were in Italian. English speakers have reported that either there was no followup in English, or that by the time announcements were repeated in English there was so much shouting and running around those announcements were impossible to hear.

That is why I prefer ships where the primary language is one that I speak and understand.

All anouncements were made in a number of languages, including English. After all the negative publicity, perhaps Costa is really 'rolling out the red carpet'. I was surprised at many facets of the cruise, including the extraordinary service as well as the quality of the food.

I know a torts lawyer who is also anticipating an outstanding experience with Costa Cruises.

I'm certain all the announcements were made in many languages. My point was that when there was an announcement of an emergency in Italian, just a few months ago, by the time it was repeated in English it was impossible to hear and to understand, which is why I want the primary language on board to be English.

Glad to hear the food is better, most prior reviews I've read said it was mediocre.

Had no problem understanding and hearing on this ship.

Thanks for sharing these (rather surprising) perceptions. I'd love to save a ton of money by sailing on Costa, and I like their itineraries and personally I like the idea of travelling with Europeans. (That I know French and a bit of Italian probably won't hurt either.) So I appreciate the data point you have provided and will definitely keep it in mind!

Either you didn't read what I wrote (twice), or you'd prefer not to consider it.

Thank goodness there was no emergency on your cruise.

Folks who speak English, who were on the Concordia when she sank, had mega problems understanding and hearing the emergency announcements.

I was referring to my experience on Costa Facinosa; obviously I was not on board Concordia. There were absolutely NO problems hearing and understanding any announcements in English including emergency announcements.

Well, there weren't any emergency announcements on your cruise, thank goodness!

There was an emergency drill.

The point Element is trying to make is you didn't have to listen for your English emergency announcements while people were screaming and running for their lives. It was a simple and valid personal response to your question about why people don't want to cruise on a ship where English isn't the primary language.

I didn't encounter one crew member that couldn't speak or understand English, fairley well I might add. Emergency drill announcement (I assume it would be the same in an actual emergency) was made in a number of languages. English was often not the last language; of course Italian was first.

That isn't the point at all. It's not about how well the crew member speaks English. If you don't understand what the first announcement says, then you won't be able to hear the second for the panic going on by those who did understand the first. You asked the question, not sure why you seem to be so dismissive of what people have to say about it.

Costa is great cruise line.
If you need itinerary for whole year you can download in PDF format at
http://crew-center.com/itinerarys