Costa Orang Tua

CK called it a floating old folks' home.

How apt.

Last Sunday we were invited to go on board this cruise ship called Costa Romantica for a look-see and free luncheon. It was organised by CK's high school friend who works in a travel agency. Nice lady and quite a chatty person.

We were first brought to look at the cabins. The cabins were fine - not too small or big, just nice for two person. Definitely should go for the Outside Cabin, meaning it has a porthole window. It makes a huge difference to the interior with light streaming in and a view of the sea.

Apart from the OK cabin, my dream of crusing around the world in a ship like Titanic sank faster than the Titanic.

The carpeted corridor were musty. And as you enter different deck or area, a different (unpleasant) smell hit you. Sometimes stale, sometimes acrid.

And there were lots of sagging skin as we visited the sun deck and pool. I understood from the hostess the ship just came from Australia, with 99% of retirees on board. We only soptted one teenage girl. That poor thing.

We had our lunch in one of the restaurants. Different from the buffet hall, the lunch here is served as a set, and is better than the buffet food, according to CK's friend. The appertizer was salted beef with cheese and salad, which was pleasant. What followed was a downhill parade of mediocre food (very salty penne, veal with identity crisis as it wanted to taste like pork and a watery mess of coffee cream pretending to be Tiramisu) which made me think, if we were on board for a week, we will have no choice but to eat these. SCARY.

On a more intoxicating note, the drinks are cheap (1-for-1 all day) and the cocktails exotic. I'm sure Lola will be happy here: wake up, stuff face with food, drink, drink, drink, more food, more drinks, sleep, wake up, repeat.