COSTA DIADEMA 1st November 2014 Part 6

Part 6

Tuesday 4th November 2014
I was up early this morning for breakfast at 6.50 a.m. ready to take a ship’s excursion as soon as the vessel berthed at Corfu. Two of us chose to visit the Palace of Achilleion with an English-speaking tour guide leading our group around.


Hariklia with its Cook Islands flag, seen from the excursion coach; Grand Celebration is coming astern to berth near Costa Diadema


This was the home of the Empress of Austria (Elizabeth of Bavaria) known as Sisi, which she had built for herself in 1890, and dedicated to Achilles. There were wonderful gardens, terraces, views, statuary and the famous sculpture of ‘Dying Achilles’ as the centrepiece in the garden. The interior contained many paintings and statues, and a model of the private yacht. Elizabeth used to visit the Palace often until 1898 when she was assassinated in Geneva by an Italian anarchist. After Elizabeth's death, the German Kaiser Wilhelm II purchased Achilleion in 1907 from her heirs and used it as a summer residence. I don’t often choose to take a ship’s excursion but this was well worth it, both for the Palace and the journey around part of the island..

Palace of Achilleion, amongst many tourists

Corner of the building

Sisi statue

An embroidered vestment in a glass case

The family yacht

There were many beautiful murals and tapestries in the Palace

Achilles in the garden


The coach back gave us time in the old town of Corfu before dropping us near the ship. Then we had to join one of two enormous queues to get back on board. It seems there was only one bag-security check machine so we felt fortunate that it was not raining! Lunch was only available in the Buffet and was sparse, and dishes were not replenished.

As we left Corfu we could see the mole being extended; one of the Prom deck pagodas is just visible

White Night reminder, on my cabin door. That evening I wore the faux-diamond ring on one finger and let the chiffon drift as I walked...


That evening we decided to try what had been advertised by Costa as the Prosecco Bar, but in fact was the Bollicine Bar with Champagne prices to match. Drinks here were not included in the Drinks Package, but we wanted to try the atmosphere. In fact the atmosphere was cold, with draughts coming in from the constantly opening double doors behind us, which led on to the Promenade Deck.

It had been lovely in daylight to walk along the deck, and see the small Pagodas with their seating, but there was no Bar service for drinks or coffee whatsoever, and few entrances into the ship from the deck. Whoever planned this obviously did not think it through, as one of the entrances was only available to Samsara Deck & Restaurant passengers (not us) or through the Bollicine Bar with no porch protection whatsoever for those using the doors and those inside the Bar. We couldn’t understand why the Bollicine Bar was not located near the extra tariff Ristorante Club Diadema on the other side of the ship.

Fortunately dinner was very good and so were the evening show events at the party afterwards.

The popular Phly Boyz Quartet


Our little group of five are really enjoying our time on COSTA DIADEMA but are constantly wondering why some public rooms, Bars or Ristorantes are located where they are – often in a rather illogical position. Perhaps much of it stems from the inadequate size and seating availability in the main public Ristorante.


Ships seen: Kerkyra, Grand Celebration, Costa Diadema, Hariklia with its Cook Islands flag, Elene ferry, Nanth ferry, Agia Theodora of Kykiria Lines, Nikolaos of Ionian Line, Russian-built Vokshod fast craft.


To be continued...

COSTA DIADEMA 1st November 2014 Part 5

Part 5

Monday 3rd November 2014

Lots of new ropes

We arrived early morning in Dubrovnik and took the ship’s shuttle into the town. Under a cloudless blue sky we could walk around and enjoy this little walled city; a visit to the Maritime Museum was planned but it was closed so we sat in the sun for coffee before returning to the ship. We also took photographs of the nearby AIDA AURA and the GRAND CELEBRATION, which we understand is being bought by Costa.

Aida Aura just under the bridge

Costa Diadema stern, including our favourite Deck 5 aft

Grand Celebration

Grand Celebration

A nice sight

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the ship, until the 6 p.m. departure. As we sailed away we had an excellent view of the AIDA AURA and watched the GRAND CELEBRATION take a parallel route to us from Dubrovnik.

Grand Celebration leaving Dubrovnik

Goodbye Aida and Dubrovnik


Ships seen: Costa Diadema, Grand Celebration, Aida Aura, 2 small craft used to get to the local island, and fishing vessels.

To be continued...

COSTA DIADEMA 1st November 2014 Part 4

1st November 2014

Our little group has decided that our favourite spot is aft on Deck 5, with its comfy seating and sea views. There is no background music, few people, and no bar service yet, but it is a delightful place to sit and enjoy being at sea. We could see the preparations for leaving Trieste and noticed that the port side aft ropes were all fixed to something invisible under the water. I tried to find out how that was done – well, we knew there wasn’t going to be a diver under water – and a helpful person in Reception actually rang the Bridge to try and get an explanation. I think the language barriers proved too much of a problem, so I thanked them and retired gracefully. I still don’t understand how all those ropes were fixed and then let go, so will welcome an explanation from anyone who can tell me.

We finally sailed away from the lovely Trieste, with lots of whistles and noise from around the bay, and headed off to our first port of call in Dubrovnik, after a day at sea tomorrow. This is a ‘shake-down’ cruise so we are not sure quite what to expect but hope to enjoy everything we can.


My Costa Card

Welcome

Our Dining time was shown on our cabins cards as open seating in the Corona Blu Restaurant between 6.30 p.m. and 9.00 p.m. and so we headed there as soon as the ship had sailed away. We had to join a queue at the Restaurant Manager’s desk. We didn’t understand why we had not been allocated a dining table in one of the Restaurants, but subsequently were told by a member of staff that this was ‘because you have booked cheap tickets’. My goodness, that is no way to make passengers feel welcome and we felt very upset for the rest of the trip about this blunt remark.

We queued and were eventually shown to an empty table which could seat the five of us easily. We then had to wait for menus to be brought, and then a waiter to arrive to take our orders. So far this had all taken one hour from when we joined the queue. More time elapsed and eventually the food arrived and it was worth waiting for, but so far we are not impressed with the way things are being run.

Let’s hope that things will improve tomorrow.

Sunday 2nd November 2014
It was lovely to wake without an alarm call, and go up to Deck 10 for a Traditional Italian Breakfast, with sea air coming in through the open windows of the Lido. The Lido Magrodome roof was closed, but the light and space was good. The Bar staff in this Trattoria Lido Diana were cheerful, helpful and efficient and seemed happy to speak English.

Under the Magradome roof

The Daily Programme, also provided in English, told us that this evening was to be Formal, with a Gala Dinner, so we look forward to that.

I took more photos around the ship and began to realise how the company had economised with space on board. In the public rooms the deck height was lower than expected, and this was quite obvious when looking up in the Atrium. The actual space in the Atrium was smaller than expected although it was three decks high.

Atrium Bar

Looking down in the Atrium

Oooh, giant bubble wrap

Please, I want one of those door handles

Throughout the ship it was wonderful to see all the new items of art, furnishings and fittings; my cabin was comfortably furnished and the new bed linen was a delight but I could find only one electric socket. The television screens throughout the ship were interesting to use and locate others ships in the Costa fleet. The location of some of the rooms on board puzzled us. The Pizza parlour and cooking area was bisected by a walkway; the Champagne Bar Bollicine (and not Prosecco) was large and cold as it was situated with double doors behind it which were continuously opening and closing to allow access on to the promenade deck. There was no ‘porch’ on the outside to protect the room from the elements. It was not near the extra tariff Restaurant or the Samsara Restaurant, which seemed strange.

The Theatre looked spacious with good sight lines, and the seating upholstery had an interesting ‘cracked ice’ pattern to it. I noticed this also on much of the wallpaper throughout the ship and also on many of the light fittings.

Theatre stage

Cracked ice pattern

Cracked ice pattern on the wallpaper

Cracked ice pattern on the light fittings

Deck plan

In the Restaurants the cutlery, glass and linen were new and shown to advantage.

The sound engineer was often seen around the ship, adjusting the volume of the public entertainment rooms’ sound systems. He certainly started with a high volume as standard, until people started leaving the rooms and wincing or shouting to each other in conversation. When we once saw him coming out onto Deck 5 aft Teodora Bar and opening the sound control cupboard we had to ask him nicely to please leave it without music. The volume of the music from the Teodora Lounge inside was quite adequate for everyone sitting outside, we thought. He smiled and went away…

Deck 5 aft

Several decks below

It was a good day at sea, finishing with a Gala Dinner which was wonderful. Tomorrow we arrive in Dubrovnik.

Ships seen – none today.

To be continued....

COSTA DIADEMA Maiden Voyage 1st November 2014 Part 3

Part 3

Saturday 1st November 2014
The sun was shining next morning as I stepped out on to my balcony. I’d made sure my balcony curtains were in place before going to bed the night before, so I didn’t become part of the COSTA DIADEMA’s “View from the Bridge”. One of my friends had apparently done so the previous morning after a shower, without realising that his clothing (or lack of it) was not quite suitable for the public gaze.

Welcome to the Savoia Palace Hotel

....
Hotel and ship quay

The Hotel’s Restaurant looked out over the water so we were soon keen to enjoy breakfast and then make our way to visit the Maritime Museum with our Trieste friend. I enjoyed seeing the items on show, particularly a display of items from Henry Milward & Sons Ltd. of Redditch, England,

Henry Milward & Sons

Henry Milward & Sons - detail

and a dug-out canoe made from a whole tree.

A dugout canoe

The display of old sextants was also of interest to me, as I still have my late husband’s sextant at home, from the days when he was a Deck Officer with Union-Castle Line.

Outside the Maritime Museum

There she is again

Outside the old Maritime Station

The sunshine ship

Then it was time to collect our luggage and head for the COSTA DIADEMA’s passenger terminal at the old maritime station. It was a scene of chaos and somewhat alarming to be amongst some people who desperately wanted to be straight onto the ship the moment they arrived at the luggage drop area. We still went aboard fairly quickly, having to show passports many times as we went. Eventually I arrived at my inside cabin number 1257, which was spacious and brightly lit,

My cabin 1257

before heading to the Corona Blue buffet lunch venue. We met two other friends and then there was time to unpack, take photos and walk around the ship.

Savoia Excelsior Hotel from the ship

I enjoyed this sight

COSTA DIADEMA is a Dream-Class cruise ship that was ordered in October 2012 and was delivered to Costa Crociere on 25th October 2014. It is the largest ship flying an Italian flag and the company’s flagship. Her gross tonnage is 132,500, and the company boasts that she has the longest promenade in the fleet, at 500 metres.

The Costa Cruises website states that ”the ship has been designed for the emotional impact it will have on its guests, making them feel as if they are in a dream world”. The architect Joseph Farcus designed the ship with this concept for the project.

I had an emotional moment, I must say, when I tried to put my passport and other documents away in the cabin safe. I found it in one of the wardrobes, up on the top shelf where I could hardly reach it. I stood inside the wardrobe, on the bottom level, and was able to set the code by stretching up, but at no time during my time on board was it possible to see inside the safe itself. It must have been designed and fitted by a 6’5” male – how absurd!

The wardrobe and drawer handles were tiny, I thought, and I can imagine them being changed at some point in the future.

Ah well, my cabin seemed comfortable and well-lit and I set off to explore more of the ship with great interest.

Looking down on the Atrium

Deck 5 landing

Looking down at the Orlov Lounge

The Pizza Parlour, which only opened in the evenings

Tavola Teppanyaki

Tucked away

One of the pagodas on the Promenade Deck

On Deck 5 aft at sunset

We are due to sail at 8.00 p.m. from Trieste.

To be continued...

COSTA DIADEMA Maiden Voyage 1st November 2014

Part 2

Would I like to sail on a new Costa ship? Would I like a very low single cabin price? Would I like an itinerary that seemed to change several times after booking? Would I like an itinerary that was finally the same one offered to all of us in the proposed travelling group? Would I like to pay just a little more for an extra night on board and attend the Christening of the brand-new Costa ship? I answered YES to all of those questions as they cropped up over the months.

31st October 2014
I flew from London Gatwick to Venice in Italy, ready to sail on Costa’s Queen of the Mediterranean, the COSTA DIADEMA. As my flight prepared to land in Venice I could see the QUEEN ELIZABETH down in the cruise terminal and the lady in the seat next to me said she was joining the ship. I waited for my small suitcase at Venice Airport and was amused by the cardboard cut-out of what could only be a Costa ship above the baggage carousel.

I met one of my friends out in the terminal hall and we made our way outside to get a bus to the city’s main railway station at Mestre; there we could buy train tickets to Trieste, for our two-hour journey south-east along the Italian coast. The sky was blue, the weather hot, and the views were wonderful, especially as we started to travel alongside the sea.

A local taxi dropped us right outside the Savoia Excelsior Palace Hotel on the waterside and we could see our ship just yards across the road. That was fun. Another travelling companion was already at the hotel so we could soon check in, discover we had all been upgraded to sea-facing rooms with a balcony and enjoy the gifts that had been left for each of us, including a card showing the Hotel and a ship from another age in the port. Our delightful balcony rooms reminded me of what one of my dear friends had told me about the opening scene of Noel Coward’s “Private Lives”, which takes place on two adjoining balconies. Two people in evening dress emerge and are shocked to encounter each other – they were once married but were divorced and are now on honeymoon with their new spouses, by accident in the same hotel!

We set off with cameras to record what we could before sunset. What a delightful city this seems to be, although this is my very first visit. I’m so glad that COSTA DIADEMA’s itinerary started here, after leaving the shipyard and sea trials.

The celebrated maritime author Maurizio Eliseo met us in the hotel at 7 p.m. as arranged and that was the start of a very convivial evening. I returned home with a long-stemmed red rose and good memories of a local restaurant. There was to be a fireworks display for the newest Costa ship just before midnight, and that was a wonderful ending to my first day in Trieste.

Ships seen: Queen Elizabeth in port in Venice as I flew in, Britannia under construction in the distant shipyard as we approached Trieste, Eurocargo Istanbul, and Costa Diadema in port.

To be continued....