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Great Ports, Entertainment Lacking

Costa Fortuna Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 15

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Costa Fortuna

7 Night Tunisia/Spain/France (Savona Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 27, 2007

Ship: Costa Fortuna

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 11 years ago

Review summary

We would recommend this ship if you are booking solely for the ports of call, as Costa is an Italian cruise line with mostly European guests (which we knew of in advance). As a result, all evening shows, entertainment, comedians, etc. were performed in Italian, leaving us to seek fun in the casino and disco most evenings. However, the ports of call were amazing and being in a new place had us in bed fairly early most nights to be ready for the next day's adventures.

Ports of call

Marseille (Provence), France

5 out of 5
We hired another private tour for this port. We booked a half day tour of Marseilles with Tania from Provence Tours. For 55 euros each, she picked us up from our cruise ship and took us all over town to show us its highlights, namely the Notre Dame Cathedral, Old Port, Abbey (can't remember the formal name), History & Art Museums with their gorgeous marble carvings and fountains, and "the end of the world" a seaside point on the far south seaside of Marseilles.
Thumbs Up
Don't Miss: Notre Dame Cathedral on top of a hill overlooking the city

Palermo, Sicily

5 out of 5
We booked a private Sicilian wine tour with Alessandro with Sicilian Wine Tours. He picked us up at the port and took us to two small wineriers outside of Palermo and ended the afternoon with lunch in a market of typical Sicilian foods. It was absolutely amazing and only cost 140 euros for my boyfriend and I for the entire day and it was just the two of us and the guide. By far one of our most favorite ports.
Thumbs Up

Barcelona, Spain

3 out of 5
We have both been to Barcelona before so we just booked on of those hop-on, hop-off buses to see some of the attractions we hadn't seen before. La Sagrada Familia cannot be missed...we also saw the Spanish Village, Las Ramblas, and the football (soccer) stadium where the football team plays.
Thumbs Up
Don't Miss: La Sagrada Familia, Las Ramblas (and its great street performers)

Tunis, Tunisia

3 out of 5
We booked the culteral and historial highlights of Tunis, which covered the ruins of Carthage, Sidi Bou Said house, and the Bardo museum, which I think are the three main attractions everyone should see while in this port. Do not attempt to do this on your own. The port is far from the city and we heard of a couple that turned around and went back to the ship after being harassed by taxi drivers offering to take them around.
Thumbs Up

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

3 out of 5
We did this port on our own and did a trip to the beach and dinner downtown across from the Cathedral. A great day indeed.
Thumbs Up
Don't Miss: The Cathedral - I wish we had seen it up close and gone inside. It looked fabulous.

Naples, Italy

3 out of 5
We had booked a cruise ship excursion to Capri that was cancelled due to lack of enough English-speaking people signing up for the excursion (just keep this possibility in mind when you go). We are do-it-yourselfers so we figured we would just take the ferry across the bay to Capri and do it on our own, but the weather was too bad (too windy) for the ferries to run, so at the end of the day no one on the cruise ship got to Capri. As an alternative, we hired a taxi driver outside the port for 100 euros to take us to Pompeii and then travel around the city. I had seen Pompeii before, but was the first for my boyfriend. My advice is to try to book this tour with a guide because you get so much more out of the adventure.
Thumbs Up
Don't Miss: Pompeii ruins

Naples, Italy

3 out of 5
We had booked a cruise ship excursion to Capri that was cancelled due to lack of enough English-speaking people signing up for the excursion (just keep this possibility in mind when you go). We are do-it-yourselfers so we figured we would just take the ferry across the bay to Capri and do it on our own, but the weather was too bad (too windy) for the ferries to run, so at the end of the day no one on the cruise ship got to Capri. As an alternative, we hired a taxi driver outside the port for 100 euros to take us to Pompeii and then travel around the city. I had seen Pompeii before, but was the first for my boyfriend. My advice is to try to book this tour with a guide because you get so much more out of the adventure.
Thumbs Up
Don't Miss: Pompeii ruins

Barcelona, Spain

3 out of 5
We have both been to Barcelona before so we just booked on of those hop-on, hop-off buses to see some of the attractions we hadn't seen before. La Sagrada Familia cannot be missed...we also saw the Spanish Village, Las Ramblas, and the football (soccer) stadium where the football team plays.
Thumbs Up
Don't Miss: La Sagrada Familia, Las Ramblas (and its great street performers)

Tunis, Tunisia

3 out of 5
We booked the culteral and historial highlights of Tunis, which covered the ruins of Carthage, Sidi Bou Said house, and the Bardo museum, which I think are the three main attractions everyone should see while in this port. Do not attempt to do this on your own. The port is far from the city and we heard of a couple that turned around and went back to the ship after being harassed by taxi drivers offering to take them around.
Thumbs Up

Marseille (Provence), France

5 out of 5
We hired another private tour for this port. We booked a half day tour of Marseilles with Tania from Provence Tours. For 55 euros each, she picked us up from our cruise ship and took us all over town to show us its highlights, namely the Notre Dame Cathedral, Old Port, Abbey (can't remember the formal name), History & Art Museums with their gorgeous marble carvings and fountains, and "the end of the world" a seaside point on the far south seaside of Marseilles.
Thumbs Up
Don't Miss: Notre Dame Cathedral on top of a hill overlooking the city

Palermo, Sicily

5 out of 5
We booked a private Sicilian wine tour with Alessandro with Sicilian Wine Tours. He picked us up at the port and took us to two small wineriers outside of Palermo and ended the afternoon with lunch in a market of typical Sicilian foods. It was absolutely amazing and only cost 140 euros for my boyfriend and I for the entire day and it was just the two of us and the guide. By far one of our most favorite ports.
Thumbs Up

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

3 out of 5
We did this port on our own and did a trip to the beach and dinner downtown across from the Cathedral. A great day indeed.
Thumbs Up
Don't Miss: The Cathedral - I wish we had seen it up close and gone inside. It looked fabulous.

Pros: The ports of call were absolutely fabulous and the reason we booked this cruise line and itinerary.

Cons: Lack of entertainment onboard for English-speaking guests

Recommends Costa Fortuna? Yes!

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