Hectic Preparations
Being in sales, one of the incentives of our company to our yearly top producers is a week's trip abroad. Right now, we are in the middle of the preparations for the company's first ever overseas convention.
Cruising
This year they will cruise for 5 days across 5 ports - Barcelona - Palma Mallorca - Marseilles - Savona - Barcelona. I am emphasizing on they since I am not coming with them, I am only organizing the trip.
What I love about my job though, is that I get to meet the people who work behind the operations and establish good relations with them. With that, comes perks! Up to now, I still get complimentary appetizers and desserts on one of the South African chicken restaurants here every time I visit and the store manager is there. Hotels offer me free buffets or discounted room rates. This time, we are offered free day tour on board the same ship on their upcoming Mediterranean Cruise tour.
Welcome to Costa Mediterranea
Docked in Dubai
This beautiful ship is docked at the Port Rashid Cruise Terminal from March 1 to 3. Our day tour is scheduled yesterday, March 1st, from 10:00am to 2:00pm.
The security is very tight at the port. Your name has to be listed on the ship's guest list before they let you inside the terminal. The guest needs to present his ID - in our case, the Emirates ID (or residence ID card) and is registered at the port gate. Driving your own car, the plate number also needs to be recorded. The second security before entering the terminal also has these details and will let you enter accordingly.
As you enter terminal, you will be given a security pass (upper right photo) once you deposit your ID. Another ID from the cruise will be given before embarking the ship (lower right photo). This ID is scanned and a photograph of the bearer is snapped - on exit, the security scans the same ID and checks the photo on their device.
The ship, up close. Finally.
As soon as we get outside from the terminal, I can smell the salty sea breeze already! Something about the sea is really relaxing. The weather is also fantastic, cloudy with slight drizzles - something really uncommon in Dubai.
Inside Costa Mediterranea.
As soon as we enter the ship, we are greeted by our lovely host who would tour us around the main amenities of the ship. Hailing from Italy, she said she has been working with Costa for 15 years. Each time they sail, she will be away from her family for 5 months straight.
She starts to introduce the ship, which, according to her, is built in 2003. Being 15 years old already, the ship has nice interiors and lots of amenities for its guests to enjoy.
Main Services
Among the many amenities and services in the ship, we have been shown the following:
- Salon and Spa
- Gym
- Photo Shop
- Shopping Gallery
- Casino
- Theatre
The cruise, with 16 decks (12 for guests) has a maximum guest capacity of 2,680 and a total of 1,057 cabins. Our lovely tour guide showed us one of the balcony cabins - the same cabins we reserved for next month's trip.
The casino is what excited one of my colleagues most. Each time we get separated from our group, we always wind down to the casino! Even this early, it seems that the casino has activated its magnet already.
Costa Mediterranea has a total of 12 bars on board. For 5 nights aboard the ship, you need to visit at least 2/3 bars each night to be able to cover all of them. That's a lot of drinking and partying!
The theater is where the main entertainment happens. You can see on the picture below the crew doing sound/tech checks for the evening's gig.
It has 3 levels which can seat 947 people. There are even seats reserved for the disabled.
Dance all night? There is also a disco lounge for the party-goers. This area occupies 2 levels and has a capacity of 142 people.
After almost two hours of walking around the ship, we finally settled down in one of the cafes and ordered some complimentary drinks and coffee. It is time to rest the weary legs and share with each other what we think of the ship and whatever alterations we need to make on our reservations after seeing the balcony cabins especially.
The fresh fruit juices are welcome thirst-quenchers. For a few more minutes while we wait for the main restaurant to open, we enjoyed our drinks at the spot we chose next to the windows.
Lunch Time!
It is 1:00pm and it is time for lunch. We head back to the restaurant. There are a total of 3 restaurants on board. This one where we had our complimentary lunch has a seating capacity of 1,280 guests on 2 levels.
As we get seated, we are greeted by our waiter. He happens to be a Filipino. How cool is that?! I do not have to speak in English when I order my lunch (I honestly expected for a buffet. LOL.) And for goodness sake, the menu has more Italian terms I cannot understand.
He says we can order anything from the menu. An appetizer, soup, main course, dessert... I think the penne with mussels and tomato sauce sound delicious enough so I ask for one. My colleague who seats next to me then asks for strozzapreti pasta with sausage ragout.
For the main course, I am really intrigued by the stewed octopus. I wonder if it is going to be soft or chewy? I do not want to waste food if ever, so I just go for the safer option - grilled turkey breast escalope with cheese fondue served with potato wedges and zucchini. Trying to be bold, I still order for the octopus - I sure hope its yummy.
Finally, I ask for chocolate cake for dessert.
Quick food review.
Honestly, the foods are not top-class, spectacular. I expect more from Costa. Being an Italian cruise line and coming from an Italian restaurant, the pasta is a major disappointment. It is undercooked, perhaps 2 more minutes of cooking could have made it al dente. I thought I'd see more mussels, but there are only 2 pieces of mussel meat and 1 with shell. Seriously?! LOL. The sauce, not too tasty too.
The grilled turkey breast, though the best choice I made, still tastes too bland for may Asian tongue. A little dash of salt I added made a big difference though.
I am right with the octopus. It is too chewy. Like, you are chewing a gum. It is just a few pieces of octopus meat covered with tomato sauce. Honestly? I think it is the same sauce they put on the pasta.
The strozzapreti pasta with sausage ragout my colleague ordered? We can not see a single piece of sausage. The pasta is undercooked too.
The cake makes up for the failed dishes. It is perfect. A hit to each and everyone in the group.
Mission Accomplished.
It is 15 minutes past 2:00pm when we finally finished eating lunch. It is time to leave the ship. As we find the exit, we collected our ID and returned the security passes.
Personally, I enjoyed the Cruise Day Tour since it is my first time to board a ship such as Costa. However, I feel that this time is enough for me. I cannot imagine 5 days and 4 nights on board the ship, in the middle of the ocean. I am thankful for this opportunity - work with pleasure as we may say.
We have some more group pictures before leaving, and go our separate ways and call it a day.
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