Costa Diadema Reviews

Summary:  This was my first ever Costa cruise so I had no idea what to expect. The check-in went smoothly on my arrival in Barcelona with my bags taken, given a boarding card and told to await for boarding on the first floor at my allotted time. I was two hours early and sat in the cafe (nice) and had some lunch. I started to join the queue for boarding and found that I was meant to have checked in (again) at the desk on the first floor and have my health declaration checked. Why do a check in twice? There were lots of people behind me and the same thing happened to them and we had to leave one queue and join another and return to the original queue. Chaos! The Diadema is a beautiful ship and looks amazing as you walk around. I was aboard for a week and think there were areas I still haven't seen. She is massive! The food really lets the ship down. The buffet at lunchtime and evening on the 10th deck is horrible with inedible food, dirty tables and not enough staff. If you have a restaurant on your card (I was Coruna Blu) then have your evening meal there. It was open dining so I could go there at any time. Best time is immediately after 7pm as many of the other passengers seem to opt for eating later in the evening. I never found more than 5 people waiting in front of me to get entrance in to the restaurant. The food was usually cold when delivered to the table but there was no point complaining as the staff were so rushed off their feet. I spent an extra 10 Euros on a beef steak on my final night and it was superb. Breakfast in the Fiorentina restaurant was nice if you just want an alternative to the buffet, but don't expect the hot food to be hot. They have an English breakfast but it was cold every morning. I had breakfast delivered to my cabin on 3 mornings and it was fine. You pay 5 Euros for the privilege but better than sitting in the dining rooms in the midst of breakfast chaos. The highlight of my trip was a meal in the Teppanyaki restaurant where the staff, food and overall atmosphere was exceptional. It was wonderful and I should have booked it every night! If you make the reservation on the Costa website, it doesn't automatically make it with the ship as I found out to my cost. I turned up to find that there was no reservation in my name. Fortunately, I got a table. The internet is expensive but very reliable. It worked out at about 120 Euros for heavy usage for 7 days. I did several excursions and they were all very good. The trip to Rome was horrible as the seats on the coach were that close together, I couldn't even sit properly in the seat. I am only 6'1" and it shouldn't be that bad. We had a 90 minute journey and it was horrible. I wasn't the only passenger to feel the issue with the seats but there was nothing that could be done to sort out the problem. It is definitely worthwhile getting the drink package from the outset as it will save you a fortune if you have a couple of glasses of wine, unlimited soft drinks/coffee/tea and the odd cocktail at night. Always a good buy is the laundry service which was on offer at 20 Euros for 24 items. It was done overnight and appeared the following day beautifully cleaned and pressed. Check your final invoice as mine had several mistakes. They were fixed by the hospitality team without any problems. I thought the entertainment was very good. The bands playing in the bar were exceptional and the couple doing acrobatics were fantastic. A great atmosphere in all the bars and very attentively looked after by bar staff.

Summary:  Security to board ship was controlled in an extremely rude manner. Our cabin which was booked as a twin room was in actual fact a double bed which had to be split leaving no space at all around the beds. A 6 inch gap proved very hazardous for my elderly father ..ridiculous 1 t.v channel out 100 that were watchable. shower was broken and needed attention. Noise from above into the early hours making it impossible to rest. 7 a.m cleaners outside cabins causing noise and disturbance Day 1 in palma my father had a fall after managing to return with him to the ship we found the doctor and as my father was leaning against the wall barely unable to stand the doctor simply dragged me away from my father to show me the price list. I was disgusted that I managed my father myself after waiting 20 minutes that is for someone to find me a wheelchair. Once in our cabin staff refused to me the wheelchair and so so my father was stranded. The food was shockingly awful in the buffet there was nothing to cater for the English pallet and far too many people . There were no seats and it was like free for all to get food absolutely disgusting. Restaurant food was no better especially with an hour and a half wait in between courses,being squeezed onto a table with strangers topped off with service from rude waiters. The English breakfast was freezing and over cooked... We were told all soft drinks were included only to find this was not the case and we had to travel up 4 decks just to get a cup of tea in the morning then after that pay extra. Laundry costs were outrageous. cost of alcohol and soft drinks were also just as outrageous . Entertainment was most certainly not aimed at the English and was quite awful . We again had specifically asked the agent to advise us so that my father and myself had shows to go to in the evenings. We felt there was always an opportunity for costa to make money and it gave the holiday a bad vibe.. This cruise for my father should have been a relaxed time especially at such a cost but it was a cruise from hell. With all the points mentioned above plus the organised chaos of boarding and disembarking along with unhelpful staff. After disembarking there was to be an eight hour wait at the airport for the flight this was ridiculous organisation by then we had just had enough and after not being able to fly home after day1 we decided to get an earlier flight at our own cost. We are shocked the agent sold us this particular cruise knowing it would not be suitable for the English and for someone of my fathers age. We tried on many occasions to contact the agent and left messages before we left to express some concerns to do with all the online booking. My father has simply wasted his savings on what should have been his last and most enjoyable holiday. We wait to hear back from you and hope you will look into all these complaints. Thankyou

Summary:  Just back from a week on the beautiful Costa Diadema. We found everything to be really top notch. We have sailed with celebrity and rcl in the past and for the difference in money were surprised how good it was. Most of the music and entertainment was in english so no problems there. This is a very family friendly lively ship so if you are after a sedate med trip then its probably not for you. The white night deck party was like something from an Ibiza nightclub. Great fun if you like that kinda thing. There was however something for everyone on board. Just be prepared to have fun. We found the food to be good, but very Italian as you would expect. After all it is an Italian ship. A selection of cooked breakfasts are available every day in main dining room or continental breakfast on the lido deck. We had a premium cabin which had a nice room-service menu for a nominal service charge. Cabins were spacious and well appointed, the bathroom a bit small but more than adequate. The ship is really lovely and all the public areas are as nice as any other ship we have been on. We took advantage if the piu gusto drinks package which covered us for all and non alcoholic and alcoholic drinks and cocktails. It was worth the money! All in all I would go with Costa again and look forward to trying some of their other ships

Summary:  Just returned from a 1 week cruise on Costa Diadema, we had read reviews from others before we went so had an idea of what to expect. The ship itself was very nice although decor very gaudy. As expected the ship was full of Italian passengers. The evening meal was a disappointment for me personally, food cold, not very tasty and very Italian. If you dont like Italian food your out of luck. There were a choice of breakfasts, a sit down waiter service breakfast with an International flavour and a buffett service geared again for the Italian passengers. Lunch however was lovely, self service and excellent choice. This was the highlight of the day. The entertainment in the theatre was very good, better than expected, however the theatre does get very full so we used to get a seat at least 20 mins before the start of a show to ensure a decent view. Compared to other cruise lines, including Celebrity, RCI, & Norwegian, Costa lacks in quite a few areas, tea and coffee, soft drinks etc not available once breakfast was over, you had to pay for them, water in room and at dinner, again you had to pay which I think is disgraceful. No ice cream or pizzas on the menu, again you had to pay extra for these. On other cruises these are all free. Overall, we had a good holiday but would not cruise with Costa again, much better cruises for same money and less rude people to avoid.

Summary:  I had a fabulous holiday onboard this beautiful ship. I suggest all guests who book to go all inclusive as some drinks can be quite expensive with no tea or coffee in cabin. Guests onboard are from a mix of European nations. The Spa was wonderful and i highly recommend the thermal sweet. Entertainment some shows where excellent and others not quite to standards one expects. There was a lot to do on board in the evenings and i highly recommend the Rock Bar. The excursions and ports where nice. The breakfast menu was a little disapointing, as the cruise ship catered for all guests from different cultures.The Full English Breakfast was only available in the restaurant and was ok. The Staff where lovely and very helpful, I will try another cruise line again.

Summary:  Excursions and spa treatments costly. Food and waiter service excellent. Cabin and balcony very good. Beautiful ship

Summary:  Lovely ship with the Deck 5 outside walkway all round the ship an excellent feature. Well designed cabins. Entertainment to suit all tastes. Younger ones can enjoy loud music up in Deck 10 and the Disco, while older ones can enjoy the quieter bars, music, dancing available on Deck 4 and 5. Theatre shows were excellent but you have to get in 30 minutes before to get a decent seat. Not a problem as you can sit and have a cocktail. Food was good with reasonable choice in the main restaurant. The food in the buffet was also good but often struggled to find a table. No hot breakfast in the buffet but great choice with waiter service in the main restaurant. Staff on board were all very efficient and friendly. The all inclusive drinks package was excellent with big choice of cocktails, branded spirits and liqueurs, wine by the glass with limited choice but OK. Avoid the ship during school holidays if you are an older couple. Even in March, the pools were monopolised by families with kids. A couple of downsides which could be improved by Costa would be, (a) Port disembarkation manned by 1 member of staff to barcode read your Costa on board card ! Caused havoc when trying to get off the ship. (b) No encouragement from Costa for passengers to use hand washes.

Summary:  Costa ships are all italian run and the Diadema was my second time cruising with them. I was unable to book excursions in English on both times which i felt was very unfair. The ship was lovely and the food was to my taste, also i got a great deal for a single person. Entertainment was really excellent.

Summary:  A very large and new ship very glitzy. There was not very many English speaking holiday makers. It was for Italian tastes. An annoying aspect was that apart from tea coffee for breakfast, you then had to wait between 4-5 with cakes for Italian tea!. After this time you could not get any food in the self-service restaurant, so you had to have a formal meal at 6.45 or 9.30pm or nothing. Water at evening meal was expensive. International formal breakfast was only until 8.45 some days it was 9.15 on others very confusing- it meant an early start to the day if you wanted any cooked food. Staff were excellent and service was good some of the entertainment was just in Italian. There was lots of children and school parties, the ship basically acted as a ferry picking up and dropping off holiday makers from different ports. Not happy with having the additional charge for tips no opt out facility we prefer to give our own tips so that we know they get them, and don't fly in from Nice as the transfers couch was late coming to get you and early taking you back to the airport 7 hours in the airport lounge on way home!

Summary:  Excellent accommodation & food. All staff were extremely helpful & friendly. We were very impressed with the Gluten Free menu choices & the care the staff took to ensure that all our dietary needs were catered for. Overall a very enjoyable holiday.