Costa Fortuna Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Our sixth Caribbean cruise was aboard the Costa Fortuna from December 9-16, 2007. We stayed in the 160 square foot but very spacious inside cabin 8294 and our room attendant Michael from the Philippines was very kind and efficient and did a great job of always having our room spotless. We stopped in San Juan, St. Maarten, Tortola and Nassau and had a great time shopping and souvenir hunting. Despite some early rough weather due to the off-season Hurricane Olga, we kept our Bonine handy and had a smooth cruise unlike some other people who didn't come prepared and suffered from major motion sickness. Meals were as tasty and plentiful as they were with our previous cruises aboard Carnival which didn't surprise us since Costa is owned by Carnival. Our dinners at the 2-person candlelit table 440 were romantic and had a panoramic view of the entire dining room. Our waiter Francisco from the Dominican Republic and his assistant Joyce from the Philippines were friendly and did an excellent job of taking care of us. Selections included old favorites such as grilled tuna steak and new treats like salmon with Gorgonzola cheese spread. The ship itself was very well-maintained and we had no problem finding our usual nightly hangout spot from the outset. The Bar Classico Roma was a relaxing place to enjoy a fine cigar and a drink after dinner and we had many pleasant evenings chatting with other guests about our cruise experiences. All in all, we'd highly recommend the Costa Fortuna as a great way to get a taste of the Mediterranean in a Caribbean cruise and you can visit http://davehertz.com to view photos from our wonderful time at sea!

the food on this ship was the worst i have ever tasted not only at dinner but breakfast and lunch as well the staff was not at all friendley and acted as if they didnt care .the service at dinner was absolutley horrible. the person who cleaned our cabin needs to back for more training.the shows were so unprofessional it was shocking. i have been on many crusies and this was by far the worst.not one person on the ship had anything good to say

Sailed on a Eastern Caribbean itinerary in Dec 2007. We were in cabin 2312 (Deck 2, outside) which apparently picks up some noise from the structure of the ship when sailing in rough waters. This translates into incredibly loud thumping (about once every 20 sec when it was the worst) which made it impossible for us to sleep for the first two nights of the cruise. We talked to the customer service agents on four different occasions but to no avail. The best they could offer was that they could move us to another cabin but wait, no other cabins were available. When we mentioned any kind of monetary compensation the response we got (when translated from broken English) was that they "didn't even know who to talk to about that". Not to completely rip Costa, the food in the restaurants was pretty good and the childcare (for our 7 year-old) was excellent.

My husband and I just returned from our honeymoon at sea on the Costa Fortuna. We loved being at sea, but this ship needs some major work. First off, our cabin was located directly above one of the lounges, where music played loudly into the wee hour of the morning. When discussed with customer service, their advice was to "put in ear plugs" and just try to ignore it. Could not sleep until 2:30am most nights. Also, the ship was SO packed and the occasion of our honeymoon was forgotten by all, even though we had confirmed twice. This could have been because we traveled over a holiday week, but it was still inexcusable. Also, the buffet food was the same for all seven days of the cruise. Cabin steward was phenomenal, that was a major plus.

Overcrowded, poor AC and air circulation throughout ship. Poor food quality. We've been on Costa Mediteranea and enjoyed but this was really a sub standard experience.

Very well appointed ship, a competent crew, and engaging staff. Of all my cruise experiences, this was hands-down the best on-board entertainment I have ever seen. The ship's dancers and singers were way above par. The featured entertainer and ship's orchestra was as good as you'll find anywhere. The lounge entertainment was just first-class with many options for rock and roll, standards, jazz, ballroom dancing, and classical. The fine dining cuisine was very European and very good. Excellent dining staff. The buffet was predictable and interesting.

The ship was great, the food and the whole cruise :-)

This was the first time sailing on Costa, sailed Carnival and Royal Caribbean before. We tried Costa because of the Kid's Free Promotion. The biggest problem was the food and the lack of variety, mostly cold. This was in the buffet and diningroom. We found ourselves buying food at the ports so we wouldn't eat on board. Photographers and INformation staff very rude and not knowledgeable at all. We went to 3 shows, all awful. Stateroom was okay but very small.

The ship was adequate. The decor was OK. I missed the ammenities that are offered on American cruise ships like having the bed turned down at night. The chocolate and the towel figures were sorely missed. The cost for the use of the Internet was prohibitive and it was slow!

My cruise started out great but then there was the rude employees! Everyday was sunshine and tanning! There were the employees that could remember your name and drink order with a smile, and then there were the European employees that were just plain mean and ignorant! Most of the action occured in the center bar / lounge of the ship but it was usually the older passengers doing there ballroom dancing. The disco was designated for teenagers to midnight!!! Can you imagine??? The adults really couldn't use the disco until the teens were done at midnight, and then it was only open for another 2 hours after that! That to me is very strange because the teens continued to stay in the disco sometimes till closing! On other cruise lines you must be at least 18 to enter the disco and 21 to drink AND the teens have there own club somewhere else on the ship. In the gift shops the perfume selection for women was limited and again I must say the staff was rude! I was dissappointed not to find my favorite cologne. Anyway, at night fresh cut fruit was brought around on skewers along with dishes of ice cream. Now I appreciate the sentiment however, who the heck wants to eat ice cream while there drinking beer or wine at a bar! I asked where are the bar snacks? And the waiter replied; "Oh, just this only" And, there was no pizza available. Ice cream is not the first thing on my mind at that hour and at that point. The ports were nice, the beaches were beautiful and I had a good time aside from my complaints. I smiled through it all. The only downer port was San Juan because we arrived at 5:pm (and it was dark, you couldn't see much), and had to leave 4 hours later. One of the Italian Navigation Officers was very rude also when he was asked a simple question. Umberto I think his name was... anyway, his rudeness wasn't necessary and he wasn't all that! There was Italian day/ night one of the days on board which was great, however, we missed most of it because the schedule of events were never given any times nor were they posted in the daily paper of activities on board. That stunk because my friends and I missed some of the best things like the pizza dough throwing. And another sad thing was that one of my friends was in the Passenger talent show and we wanted to buy a DVD of it. But they made no videos or DVDs of the event so you couldn't take one home of that show! But I did find the 'self-assist' dissembarking of the ship to be great. You could leave first! I found the Information desk staff to be helpful and nice - to me, (however I did over hear some of them lose there patients with some of the other guests...) ***Anyway, if you want the Italian Flair with the European Snobbery, Costa is the way to go.!

The ship and cabin were nice

We had the best time on our tip. Everthing was great, the food, ship, staff, & the ports of call. We can't wait for our next trip. Our room was clean and spacious (for a ship)

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.

Ancient history now, this was my first cruise in 2007 departing Savona through the Med. Reading other comments, it's clear that Costa has changed some things in the last 10 years and probably not for the better. First the good: I enjoyed the food, yes, it was very Italian but that's quite all right with me. They still had a very impressive buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner, and at that point, 10 years ago, I would not remotely say the food was bad or inedible. Quite the contrary. The ports of call were interesting. The room stewards and waiters were attentive and helpful, more so than the customer service types. Now a few detractors: Hearing everything in 6 languages got old after a while.... ok, it got old quickly, even if I understood 4 of them. There were very few Americans on the ship and they took our passports, and we had to go through a horrendous procedure every time to get them back for ports of call. This alone was cause to never sail with them again, unless they changed it. I agree with other commenters who complained about traffic choke points and constantly being routed through the casino. Last but not least, they lost my daughter's suitcase in the 100 yards from the ship to the baggage claim area. Other commenters wrote about the "rude" fellow passengers, all I can say is welcome to Europe (except Britain) where queue jumping is an art form. Waiting your turn is a sign of weakness.

From the cabins to the dining room everything was superb. The staff was very enthusiastic and informative.

It was a nice cruise mostly because of wonderful excursions and beautiful places we visited,We were very disappointed with the swimming pools ( cold water, crowded ) and also quality of food served. Overall nice exprience but we don't recommend this ship .

This is a beautiful ship, but the buck stops here. You will feel like an outsider from Day One with no care from the staff. It is extremely frustrating to have so liitle assistance on the ship with information, entertainment and shore excursions. The cruise is geared to an Italian crowd , not Engilsh speakers On my cruise of 3000 there were only 27 Englsh speaking cruisers...I was horrified. I was shocked that the ship allowed customers to change at every stop, but Africa. It felt like a cheap hotel. I wrote a letter to the company describing my numerous disappointments...they could care less! If you are spending this considerable amount of money go with an English speaking cruise ship who cares about you!!!

The ship was very large and beautiful. The rooms were adequate. The staff in the dining room was excellent but the room steward was poor. The customer service was below the standard expected in the US and aboard ships that are more "American". The shows were short and not too exciting. The itinerary was great! Egypt was the worst with more theives than you could imagine and it was filthy.

We enjoyed our Mediterranean cruise on the Fortuna. My three sons ranged in age from 9 to 13 and found the kids club lacking (too crowded and not very fun), but there was plenty of other things to do. I was worried that the smoking would be hard to avoid since it is an Italian ship and, as Californian, I am not accustomed to having to breath anyone's smoke, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. They did not allow smoking in any of the dining areas and very few off the bars. The food was varied and good . . . not gourmet . . . but good. I liked that they served Italian food and played Italian music in Italian waters, switched everything to Greek in the Greek waters and then to all Arabic in Libya. The stateroom was very nice and the steward was fantastic. The ship was very clean. All announcements are in five languages and it was fun to be where English speakers were by far the minority.