My wife and I sailed on the Atlantica last year on an Eastern Caribbean cruise. We got a great deal on the cruise and even had a veranda cabin for our first and only time. We have been on 6 cruises with HAL, 1 with Princess and 1 with RCCL in addition to the Costa cruise. We are scheduled for our first Celebrity cruise this December on the Zenith so we haven't been on Celebrity but I can tell you a little about Costa and the Atlantica.
We had wanted to go on Costa for some time because we both enjoy Italian food and wine and figured an Italian cruise line would definitely be the place. Unfortunately we were disappointed in the food. They did have some Italian dishes but they wee not particularly outstanding. Actually of the 4 cruise lines we have been on I would rate Costa's food at the bottom of the list. That''s not to say I went hungary but it just wasn't that outstanding.
We ate at a table for 8 which included a lady and her husband who had cruised a lot including on Costa in Europe. She claimed that the food was better and a lot more Italian dishes were served when Costa was sailing in the Med.
The Atlantica is a beautiful ship both inside and outside. Our cabin was very nice with a nice size but not overly large veranda. There was room for two chairs and a small table. I don't think there would have been room to actually eat out there and you couldn't lay down because the chairs were straight back ones. The room did have a small refrigerator and a safe as well as plenty of hot water in the shower. It also had a nice queen size bed. The room steward did a good job of keeping it clean and stayed out of site most of the time. The public areas of the ship are "bright and cheery". The recreation of the Cafe Florian from Venice is amazing in its details. We visited Venice this summer and saw the original and it was amazingly similar to the one on the Atlantica. By the ways it was the most expensive bar on the ship charging more for same drinks as were served at other bars but you were paying for the atmosphere.
The ship never seemed very crowded although it wasn't full on our trip anyway but there seemed to be lots of room. The staff was friendly and very mixed in the various countries they were from. There were people from all over Europe and from the Caribbean. We even had an assistant waiter from Australia. Our waiter was from Romania.
The ship has several large pools and hot tubs which I used occasionally. Again they never seemed to be very crowded. There was a nice exercise area with many fancy exercise machines. It had a nice sized casino but like all ship casinos it seems to be programmed only to take your money not give you much back.
There is a specially Italian restaurant that costs extra (about $20 I think) to go to. We went one night and had a very nice meal that was probably the closest we came to real Italian food during the cruise.
The Roman night where everyone wears togas (bed sheets kept up with safey pins mainly) was funny. Everyone at our table participated. Some people really went all out and brought costumes they had made at home. Some of them were quite elaborate.
All in all it is a ship and a cruise line I would suggest trying but from what I have read and heard Celebrity is probably a higher class experience. I would think trying Costa out on a cruise in the Med would be the way to do it.
Happy cruising.
