Costa Smeralda — the basics, and what to ask
This is one of the big ones — 5,282 passengers across 20 decks — and that changes what a week aboard feels like.
Built in 2019. Modern enough that the cabins and the wiring feel current.
At this size, sea days are the crunch. Everyone is aboard at once, the good deck chairs are gone before breakfast, and anything worth doing needs booking. It is also the only size of ship where you genuinely will not run out of things to try.
Passenger-to-crew is around 3.1 to 1, which is on the lean side. Expect queues at the pinch points.
From her deck plan: an indoor promenade, a waterpark, a casino, a spa, a sports deck and a central atrium. That is what the layout shows — if something has been changed in a refit, correct us.
Cabins run from deck 4 to deck 17 across 10 decks. The usual advice applies and applies harder on a ship this shape: mid-ship and low is the steadiest ride, and what sits directly above your cabin matters more than the view out of it.
If you know this ship, the question people keep asking is which cabins to avoid. That answer only exists in people who have stayed in them.
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