{"id":48846,"date":"2026-04-08T22:31:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-took-a-costa-caribbean-cruise-for-about-100-a-day-despite-some-disappointments-id-do-it-again\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T22:31:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:31:51","slug":"i-took-a-costa-caribbean-cruise-for-about-100-a-day-despite-some-disappointments-id-do-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-took-a-costa-caribbean-cruise-for-about-100-a-day-despite-some-disappointments-id-do-it-again\/","title":{"rendered":"I took a Costa Caribbean cruise for about $100 a day. Despite some disappointments, I&#8217;d do it again."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69b8520f4d65ec51752a1644?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Beach with cruise ship in the distance\"\/><figcaption>Although it was not perfect, my Costa Cruises experience turned out to be a pretty great value.<\/p>\n<p>Becky Pokora<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>My Costa Pacifica cruise cost $100 a night, so I expected a stripped-down experience.<\/li>\n<li>The ship felt dated, the food was hit-or-miss, and I sometimes felt nickel-and-dimed.<\/li>\n<li>Still, I got to see the Dominican Republic for such a low price. I&#039;d cruise with Costa again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When I booked my trip with Costa Cruises, an Italian budget line, I wasn&#039;t expecting luxury. Honestly, a seven-night solo Caribbean cruise for only $700 felt like a gamble.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#039;ve cruised before, that price might not seem unusual \u2014 many lines offer weeklong Caribbean sailings starting around the same rate.<\/p>\n<p>However, in this case, $700 was my <em>total<\/em> cost, including taxes, fees, surcharges, gratuities, and even the solo supplement.<\/p>\n<p>At about $100 a night, I expected a stripped-down experience. In some ways, it was. Still, after a week on board, I can confidently say this cruise delivered everything I look for in a tropical getaway.<\/p>\n<h2>My itinerary stayed primarily within the Dominican Republic<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69b8520ca96e437d6eb86486?format=jpeg\" alt=\"mountains overlooking water\"\/><figcaption>One of my favorite excursions left from Cabo Rojo port and explored Jaragua National Park.<\/p>\n<p>Becky Pokora<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The cruise I booked was aboard the Costa Pacifica, with an itinerary that started and ended in La Romana, Dominican Republic, a port about an hour from Punta Cana.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the week, we visited five ports, four of which were in the Dominican Republic: Catalina Island, Saman\u00e1, Amber Cove, and Cabo Rojo (the other was Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos).<\/p>\n<p>I liked that this cruise let me easily see multiple parts of the country without road-tripping. I don&#039;t know if Costa intended this as an immersive advantage or a logistical convenience, but either way, it made my vacation better.<\/p>\n<h2>The ship felt dated in places, but it was comfortable enough.<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69b852094d65ec51752a163f?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Interior cabin on Costa cruise with bed, two lamps on either side, simple wallpaper\"\/><figcaption>My inside cabin on the Costa Pacifica.<\/p>\n<p>Becky Pokora<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The ship&#039;s six-story atrium with dramatic glass elevators made a stunning first impression, but the rest of the Costa Pacifica was nowhere near as striking.<\/p>\n<p>Well-worn carpets lined hallways and elevator landings. The buffethad barebones furnishings and pastel plastic dishes that reminded me of summer camp.<\/p>\n<p>In my opinion, the 3,800-passenger Costa Pacifica has all the essentials, but none of the frills.<\/p>\n<p>On board, you&#039;ll find two main dining rooms, one buffet, an outdoor snack bar, and four specialty restaurants, plus numerous bars and lounges and a single theater. There are also three outdoor pools, a waterslide, and six hot tubs, but not much else.<\/p>\n<p>My 180-square-foot interior cabin didn&#039;t look like it had been updated since the ship was completed in 2009. The wallpaper wasn&#039;t especially modern, and the cabinets looked a little worn.<\/p>\n<p>However, my mattress was comfortable, and the shower had plenty of hot water and pressure \u2014 so the room hit the marks on function (just not fashion).<\/p>\n<h2>It took me a while to get used to the ship&#039;s vibe and pace<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69b85209a96e437d6eb86484?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Musicians on small stage\"\/><figcaption>Listening to live music in the Costa Pacifica&#039;s atrium was a popular late-night activity.<\/p>\n<p>Becky Pokora<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Costa Cruises is headquartered in Genoa, Italy, and its Mediterranean identity felt obvious when I stepped on board.<\/p>\n<p>On the ship, it sounded like two-thirds of the conversations around me were Italian. The scheduling also felt very Southern European.<\/p>\n<p>Like in Italy, the ship quieted down for a mid-afternoon siesta and picked up with dinner seatings at 9:15 or 9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Most theater and live music performances \u2014 plus a few structured Teen Zone activities \u2014 were also scheduled after 9.<\/p>\n<p>Of the three theater productions I attended, none stood out. I thought they leaned more toward low-budget, in-house shows than polished productions, so I didn&#039;t feel guilty if I went to bed early.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69b8520aa7a4f9df67ba6a93?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Lounge chairs\"\/><figcaption>Quiet spaces made it easy to slow down on board.<\/p>\n<p>Becky Pokora<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you&#039;re not used to Italian ways, this scheduling might be culture shock. Although I&#039;m based in the US, as a frequent traveler, I wasn&#039;t caught off guard so much as annoyed: I&#039;m usually early to bed, early to rise.<\/p>\n<p>I also like to stay active and busy when I&#039;m on trips, so my normal travel rhythm didn&#039;t blend seamlessly with Costa. For the first few days, I wondered if I had made a mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, I started jam-packing my time in each port with tons of activities, reboarding the ship at the last minute before sailaway.<\/p>\n<p>Then, once I was on board, I didn&#039;t mind slowing down and soaking up the Italian <em>dolce vita<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2>The extra costs felt more widespread here than on other cruises<\/h2>\n<p>Nearly all cruise lines charge extra for cocktails, spa treatments, and specialty meals, but Costa charged me for things I hadn&#039;t been used to paying for on a ship.<\/p>\n<p>For example, on many cruises, the amount of free food is so abundant that gaining weight on board is practically a cruise tradition \u2014 this wasn&#039;t the case on the Pacifica.<\/p>\n<p>If I got hungry between 6 and 7 p.m., I&#039;d have to pony up for paid sushi or pizza, since the included grill, buffet, and main restaurants are all closed. Gelato for a mid-afternoon snack starts at \u20ac2.40, with no free soft-serve in sight.<\/p>\n<p>If I wanted a glass of water with dinner in the main dining room instead of filling my own water bottle on the pool deck, I&#039;d pay another euro or two.<\/p>\n<p>Like a low-cost airline, cheap base fares lure you in, but everything extra could lead to an expensive final bill. Fortunately, I was expecting this and didn&#039;t let charges get out of hand.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the cruise, my total invoice came to around \u20ac200, covering one spa treatment, WiFi access, drinks, and other miscellaneous onboard charges.<\/p>\n<h2>Food was hit-or-miss, but I found the winners<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69b85209a7a4f9df67ba6a91?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Pasta with parmesan cheese on top\"\/><figcaption>The pasta course was always my favorite part of dinner.<\/p>\n<p>Becky Pokora<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Breakfast and lunch were primarily simple, buffet-driven affairs. Once I learned what worked, I stuck to a simple morning routine and ate most of my lunches on shore in port for convenience and variety&#039;s sake.<\/p>\n<p>Dinner was where quality varied the most and strategy mattered. I love Italian food, but there&#039;s a big difference between mass-produced meals on a cruise ship and the dishes served at a quaint trattoria in Rome.<\/p>\n<p>In my opinion, hot dishes at both the buffet and main restaurant were often overcooked and oversalted. However, Costa overdelivered on its pastas, which were balanced and al dente.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the cold appetizers, like a chilled octopus carpaccio, were also excellent. After discovering these patterns, I often &quot;only&quot; ordered three of the four courses at dinner, focusing on what I felt Costa did well.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69b85210a7a4f9df67ba6a96?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Eggs with asparagus topped with garnish\"\/><figcaption>I had some memorable dishes on my Costa cruise.<\/p>\n<p>Becky Pokora<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One night, I skipped dinner at the main restaurant and headed to the ship&#039;s specialty pizzeria instead.<\/p>\n<p>It cost extra, but the diavola pizza \u2014 with its wood-fired crust, spicy salami, and gooey cheese \u2014 was easily one of the most satisfying bites I had on board.<\/p>\n<h2>In the end, the experience was better than the price suggested<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69b869994d65ec51752a18fe?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Costa Pacifica exterior\"\/><figcaption>My Caribbean sailing on the Costa Pacifica left from La Romana, Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n<p>Becky Pokora<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This Carnival-owned Italian line kept things simple, but I never felt like I was missing out or getting a bad deal.<\/p>\n<p>Value-focused travelers will be hard-pressed to find a cheaper cruise vacation, especially if they&#039;re disciplined enough to rein in incidental spending.<\/p>\n<p>The low price didn&#039;t impact my ability to see the Dominican Republic, and the cash I saved helped me splurge on excursions at each port.<\/p>\n<p>I&#039;d cruise with Costa again \u2014 and suspect my next trip will be even better since I know what to expect.<\/p>\n<p><em>Costa Cruises didn&#039;t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although it was not perfect, my Costa Cruises experience turned out to be a pretty great value. Becky Pokora My Costa Pacifica cruise cost $100 a night, so I expected a stripped-down experience. The ship felt dated, the food was hit-or-miss, and I sometimes felt nickel-and-dimed. Still, I got to see the Dominican Republic for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-48846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}