Romance on the high seas
The smaller, more intimate Costa neoRomantica is the gem of Italian cruise line Costa, Europe’s No. 1 cruise company.
If you love the romance of travel, or are a hopeless romantic like most of us, there is a “love boat” made just for you.
No, it’s not that Love Boat from TV, but the Costa neoRomantica, a cruise ship that lives up to its name.
The gem of Italian cruise line Costa, Europe’s No. 1 cruise company, the Romantica, which was originally constructed in 1993, was completely refurbished in 2012, hence the “neo” in its name.
Purple reign: The Montecarlo Deck on Costa neoRomantica has the St. Tropez Lido pool and bar.
“It’s brand-new, and it’s a very good, very strong ship from a nautical point of view,” says Costa neoRomantica Captain Sokratis Sklavos. “It’s a beautiful ship in terms of amenities. We have a lovely spa.”
As the captain says, the ship’s Samsara Spa is even more beautiful than most of the five-star spas I’ve seen on dry land. With two floors devoted to pampering and beautification, Samsara has different thermal rooms, heated stone beds and a two-level Thalassotherapy pool with mineral water beneficial to the skin.
I could have happily spent most of the cruise there, but there is a world of things to do, see and eat on the Costa neoRomantica.
Intimacy is romantic
We embarked at Oi Wharf in Tokyo for a seven-day, six-night cruise (priced at only US$626 with all meals free) that would take us to Kobe, Jeju Island in South Korea, and Fukuoka before circling back to Tokyo. (I will write about these destinations in a future article.)
Japan has been the Costa neoRomantica’s homeport since April, sailing from Tokyo or Fukuoka for cruises that last nine days at most and five days at least. The itinerary changes with every cruise, and includes Japanese destinations like Okinawa and Nagasaki, South Korean attractions like Jeju and Busan, and Taiwanese ports like Keelung.
Intimacy is romantic, and the Costa neoRomantica is that — a smaller, more intimate ship (capacity: 1,800 passengers) that’s easy to get to know and get around.
Room with a view: The Balcony Cabin with ocean vista
“In Italian we call this ship bomboniera — a small gift — because it’s small but nice,” says Benedetto Minuto, Costa neoRomantica’s hotel director. “Also, the architecture is in the style that they built ships in the past. The new building of ships is totally different because the concept is to bring on board as many passengers as possible. On this size of ship, we have more opportunity to stay in contact with the passengers.”
True enough, during the cruise I’d see Minuto and the captain almost daily, and every time they would warmly greet our media group of 12 Asians and one New Zealander and ask how we were doing.
“If the passengers have some problem we are able to solve it faster in an efficient way,” Minuto says. “In a big ship, when you finish the cruise, you don’t know the passengers.”
The captain, who is Greek and a 26-year veteran of the cruise industry, has a commanding but cordial presence and says he enjoys every aspect of his job, especially getting to know his passengers. “I’m the captain of a cruise ship, not a tanker ship,” he laughs. “The most challenging part is when you’re operating in a very trafficked area and the weather conditions sometimes are not so favorable because of typhoons. So you have to be proactive, you have to look at least a week ahead in order to avoid any bad weather. For me, safety is my utmost priority. All the rest are second.”
Cruise life: The Veranda Suite can sleep up to four and has a Jacuzzi.
Minuto, whose job it is to ensure passenger satisfaction, likens the ship to a living entity: “The bridge, which has the captain and his team, is in charge of safety and navigation,” he says. “They are the brain of the ship. The engine department with the chief engineer in charge — they are the heart of the ship. The biggest department is hotel, which is the soul of the ship, because a body without a soul is cold. We have the mission to please passengers, to create one unforgettable moment for them.”
For me, cruising on the Costa neoRomantica was full of unforgettable moments. First was stepping into my beautifully appointed Oceanview cabin, which was spacious enough for four people at almost 17 sqm. You can sit on a ledge by the porthole and gaze out at the calm seas, which I found a fairly romantic activity, even when done solo.
The ship offers six kinds of cabins, from the basic Inside cabin (for two to four people) to Balcony cabins, Veranda Suites, and the ultimate Grand Suite, an almost 50-sqm floating condo with a living room, Jacuzzi, and outdoor viewing deck suitable for families.
Mangia, mangia!
Costa bills itself as “Italy at Sea,” and we all know that Italy is famous for its food! I forsook my keto diet for a week to try all the delizioso pasta, risotto, tiramisu and gelato that would issue from the neoRomantica’s kitchens.
“Without pasta, you can kill an Italian,” jokes executive chef Pasquale Ciarmello, who hails from Naples and says that each day, the kitchen focuses on dishes from a different region in Italy. “If there are Italians on board, pasta consumption increases 10 times.”
Surf and turf: La Fiorentina Steakhouse offers lobster and Wagyu steak meals at very reasonable prices.
To meet the demand, two months before the ship sets sail, the kitchen loads up on tomatoes flown in from Italy and replenishes supplies at ports like Jeju and Busan. Ciarmello says the Costa neoRomantica can go through 80 kilos of tomatoes, 120 liters of oil, and 150 kilos of pasta a day!
Since Asians and Europeans are the ship’s biggest markets, however, Ciarmello oversees cooks who specialize in Japanese, Korean, Indian and European cuisine, and told us that the chief cook who prepares the staff meals is Filipino.
Every day I’d go for breakfast at the complimentary all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant Giardino, and there’d be hot miso soup and dumplings alongside the baked goods, deli meats and cheese.
We’d have dinner at Botticelli restaurant, an elegant sit-down dining room featuring paintings by Italian master Sandro Botticelli, and an Italian-style a la carte menu offering antipasti (appetizers), primi (pastas), secondi (entrees), contorni (salads), formaggi (cheeses) and dolci (desserts). When all the food is free — you just have to pay for drinks, including water — you are tempted to order everything!
Italian elegance: We took our free dinners at Botticelli restaurant, which features the art of Italian master Sandro Botticelli.
“Be prepared to gain weight,” I’d been warned before the cruise, and to that I would add, bring a swimsuit and workout clothes and just try to work off what you eat at the fully equipped gym, two swimming pools, and outdoor jogging track.
In addition to the free restaurants are special dining outlets you have to pay for, but they offer such alluring promos you’d have to be a real skinflint not to avail of them. La Fiorentina Steakhouse had a US$27 promo on a five-course meal that included pan-seared scallops, grass-fed Angus tenderloin, Caesar salad and a warm brownie with stracciatella ice cream.
Pizzeria Capri, which boasts the only wood-fired oven at sea (ship kitchens normally use induction ovens to reduce the fire hazard), had large Italian pizzas for $8.50.
Best of all, the ship’s fine-dining Ristorante Casanova, whose menu was created by three-Michelin-star chef Umberto Bombana (and meticulously executed by handsome young chef Alberto Bologna), had a $59 promo for a seven-course meal that included a heavenly slab of roasted duck foie gras, a to-die-for homemade spaghetti “guitar” with Norwegian sea crab, and a choice between two cuts of pan-roasted Australian Wagyu or Tuscan-style suckling pig for a main course. By the end of the meal we were so full that even an offer to proceed to the Verona wine and cheese bar was voted down in favor of a walk on the deck to let the exquisite meal digest.
Entertainment galore
There’s little chance of getting bored on a Costa cruise with all the entertainment options available. There’s a duty-free shop with many buy-one, take-one promos and they offer cooking, dance, craft and Italian lessons during the day.
At night they stage elaborate shows at the ship’s two entertainment venues, Cabaret Vienna and the Grand Bar, with performances from singers Erika Capobianco and Richard Green, dance shows with a sizzling Latin dance troupe, magic shows with magician Vituco, who pulled me onstage for a card trick involving a psychic fake snake (long story), and tenor Fabio Valenti, who does a powerful rendition of Nessun Dorma.
There’s also a disco with mixologist bar, happy hour ($10 for all you can drink from 11:15 p.m. to 12:15 a.m.), casino with gaming tables and slot machines, and let’s not forget the kids, who have their own Squok Club.
The vast wine selection at Enoteca Verona
On four of the six nights onboard there were big parties, namely an all-white night, tropical night, formal gala night and Italian night, which was the most fun because we dressed in the colors of the Italian flag, wore masks and danced in a conga line during dinner at Botticelli, where our Filipino server Karl Corpuz put on a surprise dance number with other Pinoy waiters that thrilled diners. (Corpuz later told me they’d auditioned to become part of the regular shipboard entertainment, and got in.)
“The character of the ship is Italian style in all activities and food, and entertainment is one of the most important points,” Minuto says. “Sometimes we have up to 39 different nationalities, so we have to please everybody. For example, the carnival party is inspired by the Venetian carnival, which is one of the most wonderful shows you can see in the street. Most Italian people love to wear costumes, so we try to bring this experience onboard.”
Stellar service
Of Costa neoRomantica’s crew of 609, 60 percent are Filipino, followed by Indonesians, Indians, and 32 other nationalities.
“We work very well with the Filipino community because they’re onboard the ship many years,” Minuto says. “My advice to crew is to treat passengers as they would like to be treated.”
They must want to be treated very well because, despite working 11-hour shifts seven days a week for eight or nine months (the usual length of a contract), the neoRomantica’s staff are some of the most cheerful, friendly, efficient and helpful I’ve ever encountered.”
One, two, three, disco: The mixologist bar at Disco Tango
I met Filipino crewmembers all over the ship, from the restaurants to the kitchen to a guy from Bohol who worked in the engine room. Every time I spoke to them in Tagalog they were really happy to meet a kababayan, and some would get emotional when talking about home.
I even met Ate Marge from Trinity University of Asia’s College of Hospitality and Tourism Management — she had brought 45 students onboard to teach them about careers in the cruise industry, and they even held a commencement exercise on the last day.
A cruise ship just for Asia
Cruising is booming all over the world, particularly in Asia, as evidenced by Costa’s building an enormous ship just for the Asian market, the Costa Venezia, which can accommodate over 5,000 passengers and will be like Venice on the sea, with a lobby modeled after St. Mark’s Square and a restaurant built like the Grand Canal.
It will set sail on March 8, 2019, and embark upon a 52-night Marco Polo voyage starting from Trieste in Italy and passing through Europe, the Middle East and Asia before ending in Tokyo on April 29.
There’s no other word to describe such a journey than “romantic.” I was really sad to leave the Costa neoRomantica when it docked once more in Tokyo, but harbored dreams of more romantic cruises in my future.
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Starting in 2019, all kids under 18 cruise for free on all Costa itineraries. To book your cruise, visit www.costacruise.com.
