Hi Gibby W,

I hae just booked on this cruise but eaving 7th April. Believe that the first cruises on this itinery start Dec 06 and the area has not been cruised by international ships before. I have cruised (Oct 05) with my wife and son on the Costa Classica we enjoyed it very much. Not many English speaking guests maybe 50 out of 1100 on board but then we did cruise from Italy. Had the feel of a good quality resort hotel rather than the elegance of the QE2 or the Oriana but of course much cheaper!

Hi

We are booked on this cruise in February to include St Valentines Day which is our 20 wedding anniversary. We have never cruised with Costa before, so it will be interesting to see how the ship operates for English speaking guests. We have booked two further days in Dubai and were shocked at the cost of the hotel room!!!

Have fun.

Trish

Hi - We are going on this cruise on Dec 23rd returning New years Eve - if you want to know anything about the cruise when I return I will endeavour to answer.

JK

Thanks for the replys hope you njoy the cruise and let me know how you get on

Still have nott booked it yet as I may have to change dates to late Feb or early April

This message is for Burrs. Hope you enjoyed your cruise. I am booked on this cruise on 20th Jan? Were the excursions worth doing? What was the weather like? What sort of dress code is required for the evening. Any other useful tips you could give?

Thanks

wasnt there a cruise cancelled last week !!

check gulfnews.com

i think it was a fault on some boat,not sure if it was the costa cruise btu have a look anyway

Message for Clare-si

Hi - Good cruise,we enjoyed it I am sure you will.Weather a little disapppointing set off quite good but the last couple of days it was overcast and a cold wind - but afterall it is their winter.The day starts starts to drop off around 3-00pm and by 6-30pm its dark.Dress code - two formal evenings (dinnersuit or lounge suits for gents) - most people complying with dress code. Other nights casual attire but no shorts. Trips are expensive and you can soon rack up a large credit card bill if you intend to do one each day - if you visit the Costa Web site and look under the excursions finder you will find the full excursion list and costs.The itineraries offered at each port of call are much of a like - a dune drive and heritage/culture/mosque tour - just pick one and do your own thing in the other ports of call a shuttle bus is laid on FOC to either to the port gate or to a shopping mall in the town.For the Port of Bahrain the ship lays on a shuttle and they charge you 5 euros return to the town centre. Taxis are very cheap - but if its not metered agree the price before you set off.

Remember for all costs that you incur on ship they will charge you 15% service charge this is on top of the 6 euros per day per person standing charge.Bar prices are quite high but the spirits are branded, the wine decent Italian and the draught is Carlsberg.If you like a bottle of wine with your meal buy a wine pack deal which gives you a discount on 6 bottles of wine plus 10 bottles of water. You won`t be able to charge to your cabin after 1-00am on the last night of the trip and as you will have the best part of a full day of your trip left take some euros -this is the only period they accept cash.

There is a currency exchange on ship but a better option is the one at immigration (3 min walk from ship) at Dubai Port .You can get your currency for Oman and Baharin and The UAE there before you sail and change back any you have left before you leave.They won`t exchange local currency on the ship.

Overall a good relaxing trip on a comfortable ship with excellent service from the

Philippino and Easter European staff and a good choice of food of reasonable quality.

Hope this helps.

JK

Burrs,

Thanks for sharing information on your cruise. My wife and I are taking the Classica Gulf cruise departing February 10.

Hope you can help answer a few questions.

My cruise documents indicate boarding for the cruise will not start till 10 pm on Saturday, Feb 10. Is it possible to board earlier or is there a way to store luggage at the cruise terminal earlier in the day?

What is the latest time you can disembark in Dubai at the end of the cruise? Our flight back to the States doesnt depart till late on Feb 17.

Unfortunately the Costa cruise agents in the US have not been helpful answering these questions. Everytime I call, I get different answers. I think they are just guessing the answers.

Bill

Message for Computatravel

Bill,

I assume you have arranged your own transfers and are not being transfered by Costa ?

The schedule for disembarkation is as follows -on the Saturday morning you are asked to leave your cases outside your cabin between 8-00am and 12-00 pm , your bags are collected and taken to a luggage collection point on the quayside.You are asked to vacate your cabin no later than 4-00pm.You can keep a change of clothes etc in your cabin and then pack them in your hand luggage and transfer them later to your cases when you reclaim your bags prior to passing through immigration . After you vacate your cabin you can store your hand luggage in the secure lounge that the ship reserves for that purpose,Dinner is served slightly earlier on Saturday at 6-30 pm and 8-30 pm.

We flew at 2-30am on the Sunday morning from Abu Dhabi and left the ship at 9-00pm Saturday Night.I don`t forsee any problem staying on the ship as long as you vacate your cabin by 4-00pm.

On the subject of boarding early we did notice several groups of people arriving early on the Saturday morning who clearly had been allowed to board, I assume they either left their luggage on the quayside or in the lounge with the hand luggage.The problem you will have you will of course is your cabin will not be ready.

Enjoy your cruise - if I can help you with anything else I`ll try !

John

John, thank you for explaining the logistics of boarding and disembarkation. Very helpful since we are arranging our own flights and transfers.

A couple of additional questions....

1. Were english speaking passengers seated together for dinner?

2. Do you have suggestions about shore excursion tours, especially in Fujairah?

Bill