Costa is Carnival’s European counterpart. Costa is mass-market cruising. They pride themselves on being Italian. In terms of atmosphere, they are less of a party than Carnival, being reputationally more similar to MSC. Here is what makes Costa a good cruise option:
- You like Carnival, but want to go to Europe.
- Carnival offers few European cruises, preferring to leave those for Costa.
Here is why you might not want to sail with Costa:
- You want luxury.
- Our homegrown measure of luxury, weight to passengers, shows Costa as having a low average. This means there is less ship per passenger. We theorize that this is a proxy for luxury.
| Ship | Passengers | Tonnage | Weight to Passenger Ratio |
| Costa Toscana | 4947 | 182700 | 37 |
| Costa Deliziosa | 2826 | 92600 | 33 |
| Costa Serena | 3780 | 112000 | 30 |
| Costa Pacifica | 3780 | 114500 | 30 |
| Costa Fortuna | 3470 | 102669 | 30 |
| Costa Favolosa | 3800 | 114500 | 30 |
| Costa Fascinosa | 3800 | 113200 | 30 |
| Costa Smeralda | 6518 | 185000 | 28 |
| Costa Diadema | 4947 | 132500 | 28 |
To Book:
If you want to book a cruise with Costa, and you aren’t sure where to start (or you just want someone else to deal with the details), we can help. Go to the travel advising or max-service travel advising pages and fill out the form there. We will reach out shortly.
Theory Contact:
If you just want to have a theoretical conversation, put your email here and we will send you a questionnaire from our host agency, then we will get back to you in the next few weeks.