Costa who? That’s the reaction I received when I told friends that I was taking a Caribbean cruise aboard Costa Cruises’ Costa Mediterranea. I had never sailed Costa before and was looking forward to my seven-day Western Caribbean cruise in early January. While Costa is Europe’s biggest cruise line, it is not well known in North America. That’s about to change, however, now that Costa has positioned three of its 12 ships in Caribbean waters for the winter season.
There is no mistaking a Costa ship; they are easily identified by their signature yellow smokestacks, each sporting a giant blue “C.” Once I got in the terminal, I noticed something else different: All the announcements were made in five languages (English, Italian, French, German and Spanish). Clearly, this was going to be a cosmopolitan cruise. Unfortunately, embarkation was a mess and led to some people shouting about the delays to get on board. Several incidents led to the delay, including a late transition of the ship from Miami to Fort Lauderdale and a bomb scare involving a Royal Caribbean ship in Miami. It made for a hectic start.
