If I had to put it all in a few words I would have to say that the "Italian Style" atmosphere made for one of the most relaxed cruises that I have ever experienced. There was a calm feeling everywhere on the ship, and the staff and crew were very friendly and pleasant to be around. Announcements were almost non-existent.

Food: Everybody always asks "How Was The Food?" I am happy to report that the "Italian Style" cuisine was great! Please understand that "Italian Style" does not mean spaghetti and pizza at every meal. At every meal there was a special menu item called "Best of Italy". This was usually some sort of unusual pasta dish. The other traditional menu items were prepared wonderfully, often with an Italian flair! There were plenty of choices at each meal, and every-one that we spoke to was very pleased.

Cabin Facilities: Our cabin was a Cat.9 with a private balcony, located on the "I Clowns" deck (deck 5). Because of the shape of the ship just forward of the life boats, our balcony was larger than most others on the ship. (ask us about one of these when booking your Costa cruise). The cabin was very comfortable, and well laid out. There was ample closet space, a safe, and a small refrigerator, too! I believe the cabin was supposed to be around 200 sq. ft. The TV carried the usual fare of on-board information, as well as ABC, CBS & NBC programming. Movies were provided in five languages! (honest!)

Itinerary: This sailing was an Eastern Caribbean cruise. We sailed from Ft. Lauderdale and visited San Juan, St. Thomas, Catalina Island (located at Casa de Campo; Dominician Republic), and Nassau. Catalina Island is a private island experience operated by Costa Cruise Line. The beach was very clean, and the Bar-B-Q lunch was better than on most other private islands. The ship was close by, so tender service was very quick. Costa Cruise Line has built a new pier and terminal facility at Casa de Campo for it's ships.

Entertainment: The Caruso Theater aboard the Costa Atlantica will knock your socks off! It is a beautiful three - story high masterpiece of cruise ship design. The balcony is huge, and the seating is actually more comfortable than the seats on the main floor. The shows were a combination of the usual musical routines, but with a definite European flavor. There were none of the 50's & 60's oldies shows that you get on most ships. Instead the variety spanned several types of entertainment; including balancing acts, Broadway style musicals, and even a tribute to Italian movies (which is the theme of the decor of the ship, by the way). The final night's "Talent Night" was a real hoot! Each volunteer contestant had to subject himself to the approval or disapproval of the audience and Caesar himself! I have never seen such a production before for a talent show. Don't miss it!

Embarkation
The porters were very efficient and although it was hectic at the pier our luggage was taken within 2 minutes. We arrived somewhere close to 12pm and took our place in what was quite a large line. The counters opened within 5 minutes of us entering the line, however we obviously arrived at a peak time since the crowd arriving pre-embarkation was quite large. Even though the lines were very long, they moved along and we were on the ship in about an hour.

When we arrived on board they were directly everyone to Deck 9 for an embarkation buffet stating the cabins weren?t quite ready. Having no interest in food at that time we went ahead and found our cabin, which was basically ready. Our ship cards/keys were on the bed so we were all set. We did NOT have a ?Today? flyer however our cabin steward had already stated he would need to get us one but it never came. The same is true for the televisions remote. I called customer service and they said they would send one up?but it never came. I went to get one but they didn?t have any English versions. We did get a remote for the TV late in the evening. These are minor issues but it set the stage for the type of service we would experience throughout the cruise.

Cabins
We had an outside (non-balcony) cabin and it was one of the largest standard outside cabins I have had . Due to the slanting of the windows at an angle, it appeared our cabin was an extra 3+ feet long. It created a sort of sunroom under the slanted windows with a curtain that separated this area from the rest of the cabin. There was a table and 2 chairs in this area.

The bathroom was also a nice size with the shower being a bit larger than other standard cabins I?ve had. There was adequate storage space. There were additional pay-per-view movies available on the in-room TV for $8.95.

Ship Layout/Décor
The ship décor was lovely for the most part. The ceilings in the Costa Smeralda were somewhat low. There were the typical 3 sets of elevators (forward, mid, and aft). It was not possible to walk from forward to aft on several levels, including Deck 4 where are dining room was located. Deck 5 was the level where most activities were and also the level where passengers in the forward cabins had to transfer to from other decks in order to get to the aft of the ship (then take the elevator/stairs back down to Deck 3 or 4 for dining). Other than this odd maneuvering, the ship layout was quite functional. Deck 5 did tend to get a bit crowded on the nights the shops put tables out into the walkway. Just about everything (casino, two large lounges & a couple smaller lounges, upper level theater entrance, video arcade and the shops).

Public Areas/Pool/Casino/Spa
Lounges ? Most of the lounges were either aft or mid ship. The atrium lounge on Deck 3 and the lounges on Deck 5 seemed to be the most popular. Events such as bingo, dancing lessons, napkin folding lessons, trivia, karaoke, and other games were in one of these lounges. There was also a cigar bar and piano bar.

Casino - The casino was fairly large for a ship. Lower denomination (penny and nickel) slots were available as well as a variety of table games. I only played in the casino a little bit but my mother gave it very good reviews.

Pool area ? There were 3 swimming pools and a small pool in the kids? club area. One of the pools (and 2 hot tubs) was right next to the grill (buffet) area and people were always weaving around the chairs to get to it. The 2nd pool was in the rear of the buffet (odd location in my opinion). This was the adults-only pool and was under a glass roof. There were 2 hot tubs here as well. The 3rd pool was on Deck 10 but everything was open to Deck 9. There was one large hot tub here. None of the hot tubs were very hot. Dance lessons and a variety of games occurred on the pool deck every day. There seemed to be an adequate number of deck chairs, even on days at sea. Towels were always available.

Spa/Fitness ? I toured the spa/fitness area but did not have any spa services. The fitness center size seemed appropriate for the ship size. There were exercise classes on the pool deck as well. There was the typical sauna and steam room as well as a hot tub.

Internet Café ? Flat rate of .50 per minute.

Entertainment/Activities
I found the main shows in the theater that I attended to be OK. In my opinion the best show was an acrobat trio. Even though it wasn?t my style of music, I also thought the singer from the Platters was pretty good. Other shows included the Costa Singers and Dancers and there was also an Italian singer (fair ? again not my style).

There were many activities going on all over the ship including several craft projects, Italian lessons, exercise classes, and games.

Food/Dining
Main dining room ? There were 2 main dining rooms. Ours was the Smeralda at the aft of the ship. It was 2 stories and we were on the 2nd story at a round table. The dining room had a nice décor but the dining room was incredibly loud. It may be because there were several large tables near the back and the ceilings were low. I have more to say on service, but there wasn?t the traditional ?introduction? of the waiter and assistant waiter and it seem the typical attentiveness of the wait staff I?ve experienced on other cruises was missing. At dinner the servers did their jobs?I cannot say they were bad, just nothing outstanding. At lunch, however, there were a couple of waiters I found to be totally rude. There was a change in staff in the Dominican Republic and the new crew seemed to be a bit more lively and friendly. I found the food to lack seasoning and the items presented many times were not as described on the menu (an example is a broth that when asked what was in it I was told it had seafood but it really had beef in it). I would rate the food as follows: a couple dishes during the course of the cruise were ?very good?, a couple were ?good?, the majority were ?fair? to ?poor?.

Buffet ? I don?t have much to say about the buffet except that it was horrible in every aspect from food quality, food variety, and layout. I?m not a big buffet fan but this was the worst I have ever experienced and I avoided it except on the port days when time didn?t permit dining the dining room.

Other food options ? Room service was available but we did not take advantage of this service. There were typically midnight buffet options, but again we did not attend any of these because we typically finished dinner 10:30pm or later. Pizza service near the buffet and grill/sandwiches were available for extended hours. There was an alternative restaurant available (fee based), however I did not get the opportunity to dine there.

Ports of Call/Shore Excursion
The ports of call were La Romana, Dominican Republic; Grand Turk, St. Thomas, and San Juan, PR. I had not been to the Dominican Republic or Grand Turks. We did a shore excursion in Dominican Republic. It was a simple one?a day at the beach at a Sunscapes Resort. The resort was wonderful and the only negative was Costa. I hope that doesn?t sound too harsh but it was the most disorganized excursion I have ever been on. The busses dropped off at the resort but no Costa staff ever addressed the people on the bus before they got off or when they were standing in the group wondering which direction to go (the bus dropped off a ways from the main entrance). I asked the guide who was on the bus what time we were supposed to meet and he said ?about 1pm?. Most people from the 1st bus heard this and went on. I don?t know if the guide was a Costa employee or with tour company, but he was the only one in sight at that time. We had no clue exactly ?where? to meet but figured the big busses would be easy enough to spot. We were served fruit punch and a cookie when we got off the bus. We were then led by the resort staff (young teens) to the beach area. The beach was very nice as were all the resort staff. I was in the water when I noticed on of the orange-shirt Costa staff walking across the beach. Because I was still concerned with the meeting time issue, I ran out to catch up with one of the staff. She told me the meeting time was 12:15 by the pool. Hmmm ? I wonder if everyone knew that (later I found out that was a ?no?). Then she said about 12:30pm. I asked her about what refreshments and resort facilities we had access to with our day pass because it was described as full access to the facility and refreshments. She was so annoyed that I asked about the refreshments and she said ?you HAD your refreshment already?. Oh, OK. Sorry I asked but the way the description read I thought we had access to the bar (all inclusive resort ? they didn?t even have any bar prices). She basically dismissed me. Later I noticed the guide that was on our bus (with the tour/bus company?) was walking down the beach stopping at some of the folks from our excursion. Some really nice ladies from Canada who were staying at the resort at overheard my conversation with lady from Costa regarding the meeting time and refreshments. They came in the water and said they couldn?t believe how she spoke to me. It?s too bad for Costa that so many people observed this behavior?it won?t help their reputation any. In any event the ladies from Canada later came back in the water to tell me that all the Costa folks with the day passes were allowed drinks from the bar. She overhead and observed them ordering drinks and came to tell me. Thanks to this non-Costa resort patron we were able to get something to drink after being in the sun. I can only assume that was what the guy from the bus was trying to tell everyone. Just like the meeting time, I can imagine how difficult it was to go find 80 people individually on the beach, at the pool, and in the ocean (did I mention how large this place was) to tell them this information. At 12:30pm there were about 20-30 people out of the group of around 70-80 present at the pool. As I suspected some people were looking for the bus around 1pm. We sat on the bus for 30 minutes waiting. It wasn?t their fault ? 1pm WAS mentioned as the meeting time and was the only info available when we got off.

Disembarkation
It seemed to go very smoothly. We were in the last group and were supposed to meet in the theater but they called our color before we made it there. There wasn?t a long line to get off but the customs line was a little longer than I?ve experienced in the past. The luggage was grouped and easy to locate.

Overall service and summary
Based on my experience I would not recommend Costa at this time. Overall it was an enjoyable cruise and my lack of recommendation isn?t because of anything in particular, but I just can?t think of a good reason TO recommend it over other cruise lines in the price range. The ship was nice and the ports of call were very good. The pool deck and casino were fun and popular. However, the food and service were the worst I have experienced.