Most *********** Staff and Company

My experience with Costa Cruises. On the 21st of December 2019 we flew out as a family from South Africa to Mauritius to embark on the 4 Star Costa Mediteranea. During the morning I checked myself and my family members online for the ship. Upon arrival to embark the ship, my father was not allowed to board. We were told by the immigration officer from the boat named “Awa” that he needed his passport to have six months validity for Madagascar and unfortunately his only had 3 months so she claimed that she was the superior on the boat and simply would not allow him to board or provide any assistance. She proceeded to say that we could go to the Madagascan Embassy and we could more than likely get authorisation from them and we could catch the boat in Seychelles on the 23/24th of December 2019. Being a Saturday (21/12) I decided that for communication and logistic issues I would stay behind with my father while my girlfriend and my mother would board the ship and we would wait until Monday (23/12) to go get the authorisation to get on the ship. We were further confirmed on 22/12 and 23/12 by Awa that there were passengers on the ship that had the same issue but managed to the authorisation from the embassy. Monday the 23rd came and we made our way to the Madagascan Embassy to get the authorisation. Upon arrival we ran into another South African that had the same problem by whose passport was 10 days short of the 6-month validity. We were then told immediately that he was not allowed and we should go to the Portuguese Consulate (Father has a Portuguese passport) to give authorisation to extend the current passport in order for the Madagascan Embassy to give authorisation. The Consulate could not help as she was honorary and we were told to go to the French Embassy as they could possibly help as they were part of the EU. In conclusion no one could help. We ended up flying to Seychelles to fetch my mother and girlfriend to then come back to Mauritius. All in the meanwhile I was spending insane amounts of unbudgeted money for taxis, accommodation and catering. Issue 1: Awa is a blatant ****. First saying she was the highest superior when in fact she did have a superior on ship. Secondly, she could have been straight up honest with us and said my father needed a new passport and not made it seem like it was a super common thing that had a simple “go to the embassy” solution. Issue 2: The ship was completely overdone, overpriced and abysmal in service. We paid for 2 balcony rooms; one had a complete ocean view whilst the other had half as the life boat was in the way. I find this completely unacceptable. I understand the need for the lifeboats but they definitely should not be the same price. Costa you have clearly showed us how ************ you guys are as a company, my mother and girlfriend had to pay for the cleaning of the 2 cabins for the 2 days they did embark up to Seychelles even though the one cabin was vacant as my father and I were not aboard. Issue 3: We have just entered 2020. How can Costa an international EU flag wielding company not have validation checks for passport expiry upon check in? Thus, I would have seen this issue and avoided this entire chaotic holiday. My father will seek EU advice to take this further.

My advice is avoid at all costs no matter how attractive the offer may be.