Costa vs MSC in the Eastern Med
 

We are considering an Eastern Med cruise and are thinking Costa or MSC because of the itinerarys. I have been scouring Cruise Critic and have found a majority of negative reviews and comments about both lines. I would love to hear from someone who has cruised the Eastern Med with either or both of these lines and who might be able to give me a comparison. We need a seven night cruise, so that lets a lot of the other cruise lines out. We have sailed both NCL and RCCL numerous times and were hoping to try something new this around.

I have only sailed MSC in the Med.

As a member of Cruise Critic, I, too scoured the boards for comments. My conclusion is that MOST Americans are not flexible enough to deal w/the European way-of-life; ergo
there are numerous negative comments.

If you go w/an open mind knowing that Europeans drink bottled water w/their meals, eschew coffee @ end of lunch & dinner,
etc etc you will enjoy the cruise. They also do tend to charge for everything as cabin rates are low & MSC did not offer port maps or talks so homework must be done in advance.

With the above in mind, I had a grand time. Enjoy yours whatever you decide.

Just to add to the above reply, for me half the fun of travel is the planning. Doing research on the scheduled ports before you go, gives you something to look forward to. You have the option of seeing what suits your taste and not what someone else recommends. A spirit of adventure is a big help. Local transportation is very often good, cheap and a window on the local life. I have traveled on MSC in the Western Med. We took a local tram in Lisbon to the Monestary returning to the ship in what appeared to be rush hour, an unforgetable experience. In several cities we took the on/off tour buses which are a cheaper alternative to shore excursions and are generally available right at the gates of the ports. There are many cruises more luxurious than MSC, but we found that, for the money, and with a bit of extra homework, they are a good deal.

We JUST got off the Costa Atlantica 7 day, western Caribean, yesterday. This was our 4th Costa and what a difference to our first 3. It is now known in Europe that Costa does the Caribean as well as the Med so the vast majority of passengers were from Europe and things were geared towards them. We left port at 7:30PM! I saw two bus loads arrive at 6:30 perhaps from Europe? 1st seating in the dining room was at 6PM, 2nd at 8:45. The buffet didn't open at night until 7:30! No one went to bed early so even well after midnight all the lounges were packed, even the disco til 2 or 3AM!
There were anoucements "for those speaking Itlaian, German, French" but never for those 'speaking English' or even Spanish. We felt we were in a country and didn't speak their language!
We've been on 60+ cruises but doubt we'll do Costa again unless the price goes below $200!

>>>We left port at 7:30PM! I saw two bus loads arrive at 6:30 perhaps from Europe? 1st seating in the dining room was at 6PM, 2nd at 8:45. The buffet didn't open at night until 7:30! No one went to bed early so even well after midnight all the lounges were packed, even the disco til 2 or 3AM!<<<

What's the problem with that? (Besides that everyone tries to get the 2nd seating.)

We've done a Greek Islands cruise with Costa but would never use them again. They have zero customer service and don't give a damn once they've got your money.