Costa Fortuna Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Just returned from my 10th cruise, my first with Costa. It was not one of the best cruises. Several European people on this cruise, and it is definitely a different culture! People thought nothing of butting in line, stopping in the middle of a walk-way, pushing past and not saying "excuse me". I am big on manners so this really got annoying. You are definitely in the minority if you speak English.

ranked very good

Ship was very European. We liked the diversity and the fact that you could hear 4 or 5 different languages going at all times on board. However this was a negative for some of the Americans we encountered who complained about the "language barrier" and wished for a more "american" style boat. We enjoyed the uniqueness of the ship and how it was different from the other cruise lines. Pretty relaxed atmosphere and good service.

This was my third cruise and it was an awful experience. Customer Service is basically non-exsistent. I asked a woman in the casino area if I could have a glass of water, after playing the machines for three hours without any service. She rolled her eyes and pointed towards the bar.In addition, I had a member of the staff actually shout at me. The people working the actual customer service desk were the worst.The food offered at the buffet was the same EVERY day and in the dining room it was mediocre at best.The best part of the cruise was leaving the ship and spending the day at the beach.

Just sailed this cruise my ninth. Ship was nice beautiful, but layed out a little strange. Only one floor goes to all parts of ship and that is deck 5. Food was OK, but too many Italian choices, not enough general choices. The lido deck food was the same every day and not of high quality. Great cabin a little small even though we had a balcony. Staff rude, expect you to wait while they walk past you. No direction as to when to wear formal attire. They kept calling then GALA days, but would never say dress is formal tonight. So if you do not under stand Gala as they do, you do not know how to dress. Even though told of this many times COSTA SERVICE(not Customer Service) refused to make any changes so people knew how to dress. Totally unreponsive to any thing you asked or suggested. Ship run by crew for crews benefit, everything else is an after thought. Passengers or just someone to be tolerated. Nice ship, bad crew thought out ship. Good Shows on stage.

It was...weird..

I had such a displeasing experience with the CEO of Costa Cruises, Maurice Zarmati. The man is a true example of what a CEO of any company should not be. I had various issues with Costa agents promising and underdelivering, and rudeness, prior to my cruise, and I contacted Mr. Zarmati, and here is an excerpt from the email he sent back to me: "I don't believe you were "promised" the upgrade by your own words "if available...In this economy I will do all I can to hold to every piece of business..."

Both and costa promised us ship board credit. Once on the ship the credits for our 5 staterooms were denied. It put a damper on the whole trip.

The worst cruise.

Long meaningless announcements in 5 different languages that many couild not understand. Poor television programs with limited channels and many in other different languages. Very little english channels. Not many choices of food that customers could choose. Mostly just pizza everyday and no juice/milk at all that is available to customers. Final bill is a lie and Costa does not issue the credits as they promised, and demand customers to pay before they leave the boat, or else they cannot exit.

For the price we paid for this April 2008 repositioning cruies from Florida to Italy, it was great. We met a lot of nice people from all over the world. Got off a day early in Barcelona to enjoy Spain side trip. We're planning to do it again ...

The food and service was so poor that people waited for the ports to eat. Some of the food was inedible and almost everything in the dining room was frozen. When bad wine was served to many tables they refused to do anything about it and said they will "try" to do better next time. Couldn't get servers to serve water until the 3rd night. I consider myself an experienced cruiser and can usually resolve the occasional problems we encounter with service etc. I couldn't this time. After many cruises this was the worst cruise I have ever taken. Whatever you do don't take a Costa Cruise.....

The cruise and ship were better than we expected from the reviews we saw on this site. The staff was very nice and the rooms were well laid out and comfortable.

We had read negative reports about Costa cruises but we had a fabulous cruise and just wanted to let others know that all was great. The food in the dining room was varied and portions were adequate. The buffet had a theme each day. One day Asian, another Mexican, Caribbean, etc. Our stateroom was one of the nicest we've had and all of the staff spoke English! We loved the shows. There were not as many shops as on some ships, but maybe that is a good thing! The only negative was that we signed up for early dining because my husband is diabetic and we got 8:45 which is too late. We had to wait several hours to meet with the maitre'd to be told that there was no space at first seating. We finally were able to be seated in the first seating. Costa needs to do a better job of assigning dining. Maybe based on when you book and at least tell customers when they book that only second seating is available. Once that was taken care of we had a fabulous cruise!!

The ship was very nice. The food was OK but not great. The pizza, for being an Italian ship, was horrible. The buffet area on deck 9 was totally lacking service. The people at the Customer Service desk were rude and, other than one employee, never smiled. We were at the pool area at least 4 days & only asked for bar service twice & at the beach on Catalina Island we were only asked once. The ports were fine but too short in San Juan & Nassau. St. John's was beautiful. They should eliminate the day at the beach on Catalina Island & spend more time on excursions to Santa Domingo & Casa De Campo.

The ship was clean,But the staff seemed tired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and like they needed a cruise, stoping in Puerto Rico at night was bad because all the stuff we wanted to do was sold-out and it was to dark to walk around the town, to sight see!!!!!!!!!!

Never would we ever cruise Costa again. They actually shut off the whole Lido deck one night for a party for about 100 passengers. That meant over 1,000 passengers could not use any of the amenities on the Lido deck.

The ONLY thing we liked about our cruise was the size of the room (window view) and closet space. Food awful. Dinner took too long to be served. The layout of the ship is awful. To get to the dining rooms you have to take one elevator, then walk the ENTIRE LENGTH of the ship to take another elevator to get to the dining rooms. European Italians were very loud and very rude. I have sailed on 8 other cruises, mostly Holland America, and kept asking myself "What made us choose this line?" NEVER EVER AGAIN. Also, not enough time in the Ports. We would arrive at 5 PM and sail at Midnight - (San Juan). Nassau - arrived at Noon, sailed at 6 PM. Our own cabin was very noisy with something that felt like a cannon ball hitting the side of the ship every morning at l:30 AM. We actually jumped up in the bed and said "What was that?" No sleep for 7 nights. Try another ship, not this one. Not a pleasant experience. We were traveling as a group, l8 people, -- no one liked the food on the COSTA FORTUNA....not even the Italians.

We completed our first Costa cruise yesterday, but it was our 24th cruise in 18 years of cruising. First, I acknowledge that the room steward and the dining room waiter were awesome and committed to doing the most they could to make the trip terrific. Actually they were the bright spots in the 7 day trip. The ships deck plans are easy to navigate; the ship was clean and well taken care of. Our room had a distinct smoking odor when we arrived and the pillows and mattress were mildly permeated with the smell of stale smoke; not being smokers, this was not a welcomed event. No toiletries only soap in a jug in the shower. We had to ask for additional towels as they only stocked it with 2 sets. No robes. One night, chocolate mints were left at turn down no mints on other 6 nights. Tried to call the front desk with a few questions and was always put on hold with no response in the end. The cruise director Max appeared to really engage with his audience and enjoy the fun of the toga party. He has an extensive and enthusiastic cruise staff that supports numerous programs and activities on the ship. The shops and photography were on par with other ships very dull and repetitive. Beverages were expensive. The itinerary provided limited time in most ports. The entertainment was typical of most cruises, but lacked a strong comedic element. They only offered one late night comic and she was more ventriloquist than humorist and not memorable at that. The ship dancers/singers worked hard, the costumes were creative, but it was no more than basic entertainment. We did not spend much time in other venues. We cruised with a group of 500 dancers participating in a dance seminar week they had fun, but took over many areas of the ship. We were upset that public areas such as the Lido deck were even closed some evenings for dancing functions. The main lounge area was occupied by the dancing group throughout the entire trip and this was a pass through area on deck 5. This dancing group also took over the small pool side dance area and blocked passage to the other side of the deck area as this pool side dance area is small and congested. There were many rude passengers who had a different way of using lines and elevators with no regards for people waiting. I was appalled at the number of people who sauntered into late seating 15-30 minutes for dinner. Now on to the food the quality of the breakfast and lunch buffets was the poorest of any we have ever been presented; the selections were limited and odd. Little looked appetizing and usually the only desserts available were VERY limited portions of the previous nights desserts and soupy soft serve ice cream. The handles of the serving tongs were often in the food! We often used the grill as a last resort; even the burgers were greasy and of poor meat quality, while the chicken patties were processed meat. The dinner selections were limited as well lots of pasta and roast beef no filet mignon or lobster and only one night was shrimp available. The portions were extremely small one small scoop potatoes; one red bliss potato; 3 thin slices of tenderloin In conclusion, we did get an extremely good rate, but not sure that it totally compensates for the touches that were missing. Booking of large groups with focused agendas does interfere with the general population and we will inquire before booking next cruise opps, the next one is booked.

Overall we had a really good time. Food was good as expected. There were lots of choices, even for the pickiest of eaters. Was dissappointed to find a lack of food in the evening . Cruised with Costa on other ships and there was always something sweet to eat in the evening. Later discovered that you had to go to the 3rd and 5th floor to get a treat. Didn't find it appealing to walk through smokey lounges to get something to eat. Childrens Arcade should not be next to the Casino . Children should not be exposed to second hand smoke. Found that this cruise had a large population of European clientele. They can be very rude and unpleasant to the staff and their fellow passengers.