Cruising Journal

Costa Fascinosa: The Club Cruise to the Canary Islands

The highly anticipated C|Club Cruise 2024, exploring the Canary Islands aboard Costa Fascinosa, concluded a few days ago with great success, highlighting the tremendous enthusiasm among the participants.

Costa Fascinosa set sail on May 16 from Savona, heading towards the Canary Islands on a 15-day journey filled with experiences, moments of sharing, parties, cultural conferences, and unique destinations featuring earth, air, water, and fire. Indeed, these four elements were the protagonists of this cruise, along with fun and discovery!

Departing from Savona after a quick embarkation process, we found ourselves in the atrium of Costa Fascinosa, adorned with totems and decorations highlighting the Club Cruise, increasing the excitement of embarking on this journey to a destination that is certainly on everyone’s wish list. Experiencing it during an event cruise with special activities and events that allow immersion of all the senses is truly a unique opportunity. But now let’s get to the heart of the cruise.

After a warm welcome aboard, we headed to our cabin where we were greeted with a sweet surprise, a bottle of sparkling wine, and complimentary chocolates, one of the several benefits reserved for Platinum members. There were no activities scheduled to give guests time to settle in and recharge for the following days. After an excellent dinner and a long rest in the comfortable bed of our cabin, we were ready to start our cruise, which touched nine ports, including five Canary Islands: Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, and Tenerife.

Several highlights marked this cruise, starting with the Welcome Cocktail, where the captain and the Loyalty Director welcomed guests, wishing everyone a pleasant cruise. Following the formalities, we dove into the Competitions, now a staple of Club Cruises, where guests have great fun and engage in something new. This time, the Cooking Competitions focused on Cuisine and Art & Craft. The surprise for the guests in this year’s cooking competition was the presence of three Michelin-starred chefs: Bruno Barbieri, Angel Leon, and Helen Darroze, who demonstrated the challenge the teams had to face and judged the participants. Helen Darroze showed how to make homemade mayonnaise, Angel Leon how to perfectly fillet anchovies, and Bruno Barbieri how to prepare gnocchi in various shapes. The three teams then engaged in a timed skill test, assisted by the three chefs. In the Art & Craft competition, guests created Carnival masks to honor the famous Canarian Carnival, comparable to that of Rio de Janeiro. In various workshop sessions, participants crafted costumes, ranging from rainbows to tigers, ballerinas, and princesses, which were then worn for a parade that determined the winners.

Returning to the culinary theme, another important event was the show cooking by the three Michelin-starred chefs in a Mystery Box style, where they created dishes with the available ingredients, showcasing their skill and practicality in the kitchen, which were then tasted by some lucky guests drawn to experience this event. However, the chefs didn’t stop there; they also organized an evening flash mob, serving coffee, cocktails, and ice cream themselves across the ship’s various bars, generating surprise and enthusiasm among the guests. Another unmissable event during the Club Cruise were the conferences with Franco Alvisi, interesting, engaging, and essential for getting to know the places we were about to visit. Two conferences were held in the theater: the first, titled “Volcanoes, Conquistadors, and Princesses,” took place before our arrival in the Canary Islands, giving us an overview of the islands’ features, places to visit, and formation; the second, held after exploring the five islands, provided in-depth insights into illustrious figures, history, and culture of these wonderful places.

There were also many new dining experiences during the Club Cruise. In addition to the Destination Dishes that now accompany all menus, offering all guests the chance to try these dishes for free, there were special menus like the Gala and Canarian Carnival menus, offering a burst of colors and flavors on the presented plates. Additionally, two lunch buffets were set up in the indoor pool area, and two evening buffets, including the “Magnificent Buffet,” a new feature introduced on selected cruises like the Costa Voyages.

Finally, the PARTIES, and what parties they were! The main events were the “4 Elements Party” and the “Canarian Carnival Party.” The first featured the four elements—earth, air, water, and fire—with a dance team show representing these elements with specially designed costumes to celebrate nature, followed by a DJ set until late at night. The second party immersed us in the Canarian Carnival celebrations, with participants of the Art & Craft competition opening the dance wearing their costumes, followed by dancing until late to samba rhythms. A third big party was the “White Night Special Edition C|Club Cruise,” featuring Patrizio Nicoloso, who made the entire pool area dance with a fantastic DJ set that took us back to the ’80s. Staying on the theme, another amazing evening was the one that saw as a guest Boy George, famous English singer-songwriter and disc jockey of Irish origins, who performed in the Costa Fascinosa swimming pool with some of his greatest hits and then let loose with everyone present with a DJ set until late at night giving us incredible moments of joy!

Last but not least, the destinations! We visited 5 of the 7 Canary Islands, starting with Lanzarote, where we explored the island by heading to Jameos del Agua, a natural paradise that left us in awe. We then enjoyed some free time in Arrecife, soaking up the sun and sipping cocktails. In Fuerteventura, we took part in a fantastic excursion, “A Five-Sense Fuerteventura,” where we visited the salt pans and the salt museum, the windmill museum with a folk performance, had a beach stop, and then a delightful lunch. The first stop was the salt pans, where the guide provided a comprehensive explanation of how salt is produced. We toured the various basins while a worker was at work, witnessing the process firsthand, and then tasted different types of salt, which vary based on processing time. At Tiscamania Windmill, we were welcomed by a man in traditional attire with the timple, a typical island instrument. He spoke about the music and the instrument, played five songs, let us taste gofio, and guided us through the museum to see how it is produced. After a beach stop in a resort-rich area, we moved on for lunch at a restaurant nestled in the “jungle,” featuring typical local dishes. This was truly a five-sense excursion because we touched the earth, listened to local music, admired the wonders of this land with our eyes, and tasted and smelled the flavors and scents of the local cuisine.

In Gran Canaria, the land of aloe and olives, we took part in a unique excursion, “Gran Canaria Sustainable Aloe & Olive,” where we first visited Finca Canaria, an Aloe Vera plantation, learning to recognize aloe vera, seeing how it grows and is harvested, and how Aloe-based products rich in benefits are created. Yes, we even got to take a piece of aloe to test on our skin—what freshness! The excursion continued to the Las Olivas Ecological and Cultural Center, where we saw how olives are treated and harvested by hand, one by one to preserve quality, and tasted bread, oil, and olives.

 

In La Gomera, we enjoyed a relaxing day between the city, a good lunch of croquetas and carne fiesta, and a beach just 10 minutes from the ship. Finally, in Tenerife, we embarked on a volcanic hiking adventure in the heart of the island! We ventured into the Chinyero Nature Reserve, walking between the Chinyero and Garachico volcanoes and high lava mountains, learning to distinguish different types of lava from lapilli to lava bombs, admiring craters, and observing the landscape transformed by the eruption, ending with a picnic immersed in nature.

Once again, it was an immersive, unique, and unforgettable experience, enriching our emotional, cultural, and memorable repertoire—a cruise that perfectly combines life on board with the destination, creating a bubble that allows you to experience the journey in a completely different way that should be lived at least once. Now, we can only wait for news about the C|Club Cruise 2025, which we know will be full of novelties!

Stay tuned for more updates, news, and reviews of Costa Cruises on Cruising Journal with photos, videos, and cruise offers.

Giorgia Lombardo

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