Celebrity Century vs. Costa Magica for Med Cruise?
 

Hola, Fodorites!

I'm looking at these two ships for a Med cruise in October 2008. There's a significant price difference, though the Century sails for 3 days longer and to more ports.

Anyone cruised on either recently that can offer insight as to the good, bad & ugly?

Thanks in advance.

I have never sailed with Costa but I can say that anyone I know who has was not happy. On cruises on HAL, Celebrity etc I have heard reports from fellow passengers that they would not sail with Costa again. As I said I cannot speak personally but when you get the same report from several people you have to give it some credibility. I have sailed on the Century and thoroughly enjoyed the service and cleanliness. Hopefully someone who has done both will reply.

I can tell you about Century as a ship, but not specific to destination. We sailed on Western Caribbean cruise a year ago.

No complaints about ship - everything worked, upkeep was great, staff efficient and pleasant. Food was good - better than NCL or RCCL. They seemed to make an effort to have compatibility among table-mates at dinner. We had a Conceirge Class balcony cabin for 2 adults, one teen and there was actually enough space for all of us. Only thing Concierge Class got us was priority boarding, a slightly better table at dinner, and a bottle of cheap champagne and some nasty appetizers each day. We booked that category since it was only way to get balcony at time we booked.

I have not sailed on Celebrity to the Med, but have sailed on Costa Fortuna a few years ago in the Med.

On Costa, the kids run amuk on board, so if you have kids, this might be a good thing (there are also water slides). The on board announcements are made in 5 languages (Italian, French, Spanish, English, German), which is good for brushing up on your languages. Costa caters to an Italian clientele. I found the food to be a bit better on Costa. I am leaving my other personal opinions out of this as it was colored by my family's lost luggages, which dampened our spirits, and quite frankly, it's just not fair to Costa.

However, if Costa had an itinerary that piqued our interest, at a price that was right, you'd find me on board Costa again, to get a second opinion. In the interest of full disclosure though, I am a fan of Celebrity, and have 2 cruises booked for next year.

Easy. Celebrity all the way. There is a good reason why it is more. You get what you pay for.