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Floating Palaces: Costa Mediterranea, A Tour of Italy

This review could have been titled "Touring Italy On A Cruise Ship - Without Ever Stepping Ashore." That's because Costa Cruises' 85,700-ton, 2,680-passenger Costa Mediterranea presents what many have come to love most, aesthetically at least, about Italy - a rich artistic heritage coupled with abundant architectural charm.

Costa Mediterranea's public rooms, and indeed its staterooms, were designed using themes of Italian noble palaces. Thus, with only a smidgen of suspended disbelief, those aboard Costa Mediterranea can imagine themselves in Venice, Florence, Siena, or Rome - clearly something more than they might have bargained for on their cruise vacations, but a nice touch from a company that bills its vacation product as, "Cruising, Italian Style."

The 15th-century Barbaro Palace on Venice's Grand Canal, for example, inspired Costa Mediterranea's Canal Grande Casino. No, there's not a canal running through the casino center, but you will see wavy motifs on the marble columns and on the ceiling. Also on the ceiling is the night sky, or at least a representation of it. Golden stars on a purplish background are meant to reflect the open-air atriums that form the entranceway to many Italian palaces. Moreover, the casino's primary purple and gold color schemes took inspiration from fabrics of ornate Venetian style costumes.