Costa Fortuna Cruise Reviews

We will do more Mediterranean trips by cruises, but Costa will not be on our list because our overall experience was not very good. Our main complaints are 1) the excursions were less than satisfactory, 2) the food and service of buffet was not as good as that of other cruise lines we traveled with, and 3) the ship was a bit old.

Actually, we enjoyed the trip. The cruise experience was very dissatisfying. The dining room was OK the food was very small portions and average at best. Our server Lee did an awesome job. Everyone that we encountered on the staff was courteous and kind, however, Most of the passengers, did not speak English and work exceptionally rude and discourteous. Having read other reviews we were not really expecting much from Costa. We thoroughly enjoyed the ports of call. The buffet was sorry. The entertainment was worse. This is the first time that I have cruised (16 cruise) where there was not coffee available in the buffet area. Oh, they had dispensers but there was not one time when I went for coffee that it was operating. Also, the only pizza they had to offer you had to pay for. It was marginal. The birthday hours were very limited. Overall, there were very few dining choices or options. If you have cruised other cruise lines in the past and you are cruising with Costa, go into it with the attitude that it is going to be way less than what you have been used to. We chose this particular cruise because of the itinerary and the price. We purchased a mini suite for a very reasonable price and it was fine. I will steward did an OK job. We had to ask for wash clause the first several days before he brought them without asking. Also, we had our do not disturb sign up one day and he knocked on the door wanting our shower curtain (830 in the morning) Telling us he would replace it later on in the day. We had not taken our showers yet, I told him that was unacceptable. Other than those two things he did a good job. It is highly unlikely that we will ever choose Costa it again.

Almost all our cruises have been on different cruise lines, and this was our first on Costa. Overall we were satisfied, but this line is the least desirable of all the ones we have been on.

I have read many reviews before taking this cruise and one of the biggest complaints was the food. We considered the food comparable to other cruises. There was definitely more of a leaning to Italian-type food, but there were always many selections. My wife does not care much for pasta and pizza, but found plenty of times she could choose her favorite main course, beef. Although it was not always on the dinner menu, you typically could find it at least once per day. Fish was also frequently available and there were also vegetarian options available. The desserts were very desirable and plenty to choose there too. The biggest complaint about food at our table was two-fold: apparently Costa has phased out the buffet option at dinner time. Therefore, to eat dinner you must go to the restaurant. That didn't matter to us, but I can see how it would matter to others. The second issue was that after breakfast (except for the one hour "tea-time"), the only coffee available had to be purchased from the bar as no ready-made coffee was at the buffet. In my view these are clearly cost-cutting and revenue-generating measures they have taken, and perhaps will settle well with the southern Europeans on board, but I don't see those steps flying with Americans. However, I do not know if this was a Costa-wide change or only for predominately European-attended cruises (ours was about 90% or so European).

The service was fine. Staff was courteous and helpful. We never had any problem with them.

The entertainment quality was mixed. One constant was that the volume was much too loud on all the shows.

This cruise had the least onboard activities I have ever seen on any cruise. There were things to do, but the depth of selection was low. We used the library, as we always do, but was the smallest we have seen.

We didn't do any excursions, but this itinerary was the best we have ever done. I would recommend that any cruiser who has never done this itinerary to get to it once in your lifetime, though not necessarily with Costa.

The ship was clean, but the layout design was at the weakest of the ships I have been on. First, there was no way to walk completely around the deck on any single level. We like to do this when going for a walk. Further, when moving from one end of the ship to another, you are forced to use deck 5 which forces you by the casino (maybe on purpose?) and through choke points that create traffic jams. We have been on higher capacity ships that have felt less crowded.

Embarkation and Disembarkation went smoothly, and the tender process was fine too.

Bottom line is we enjoyed our cruise, but would rather choose another cruise line for our future cruises.