Positive Costa Fortuna review - 12/16-12/23

Below is the text to a cruise review I just submitted under the Member Review section. Feel free to reply with questions. :)

Hello fellow cruise enthusiasts! Below are the details of my cruise which took place from 12/16/07-12/23/07:

Background Information/Embarkation

I traveled with my college friend on this cruise. We are both 30 year old professionals with previous cruising experience. This was my 7th cruise and first on Costa. I've been on Royal, NCL, and Princess previously. I will try to address things in this review that have not already commonly been reported. I will also cut and paste this review to the Costa message board so folks can respond with questions. We both flew in early on the day of embarkation. The taxi from FLL airport is about a 20 minute ride with average cruise day traffic and will cost about $20 including tip. I found the check-in procedure to be a little slower than when I've left out of the Port of Los Angeles, but even so it only took about 45 minutes from curbside to on the ship. Costa doesn't hand you your cruise card... you go to your room (which is left open) and your cruise cards are on your bed. I thought this was a little strange. I'd encourage you to make your room your first stop so you can pick up your cards and secure the door.

Ship Info

Our first impressions of the ship were actually a little negative. Overall, the ship seemed very nice, but there were a couple things that Costa did that quite frankly took a step backward from other lines. For example, in the embarkation photo there is no background. So the line of people behind you is in the background of your photo. Who is going to buy a photo with a grumpy old man and the depressing port building hallway in the background? Once on the ship, we noticed a couple things like the basketball net was shredded. This is a $2 item - why didn't they bother to replace it? There were only 2 ping pong tables and they weren't in the best shape. Worse still, the balls and paddles for all games (ping pong, basketball, tennis, bocce, even foosball) were not available at the tables. You had to go to the info desk on Deck 3 to sign them out for the week. I can't tell you how many people asked my friend and I where we got the balls from while we were playing. Most people don't want to go down and back up 7 decks (not to mention lug around equipment) when on vacation. Please, Costa, put your sports equipment out at all times! What makes even less sense is that they told us they don't check you off when you return them (and they didn't), so what is the purpose of the sign-out process? Even if they lose a paddle or two or some ping pong balls, what is the big deal? They could probably replenish their stock at the end of each cruise for no more than $50. For comparison purposes, on the Golden Princess they had about 6 or 8 ping pong tables with balls all over the place. As you can tell, sports are an interest for both of us. The other small things we noticed were a number of the small deck lights out. Again, a simple inexpensive fix that makes a good first impression. All that said, once we got past those few things, we largely enjoyed the ship. I also want to say that we didn't notice smoking to be worse on this ship than any other, and the people seemed friendly even though there is a more worldly mix than on other lines... I think this added to the experience.

Activities

The big difference between a Costa cruise and a cruise on another line in my opinion is the difference in activities. On other cruises they had a lot of sports tournaments and pool games. Here, they had a very limited amount of tournaments (often tournaments were advertised in the daily paper, but it was just open play). There were a couple games done by the pool area (not IN the pool) which reminded me of something off of Sabado Gigante. It was like corny, silly games... not that ones on other lines are sophisticated, but these were even worse! Still fun to watch. The reason we like sports activities is because they are a good way to meet people, and when you are two single guys traveling, that is important. Most of the activities on this ship centered around music and dancing. If you like music and dancing, this cruise is definitely for you. If you don't, I hope you like sitting on deck and reading a book, since there is definitely a lack of other activities (unless you like bingo and art auctions). Speaking of bingo and art auctions, I have some words about each. As for bingo and the people that complain about it, let me say this: it is activities like these that allow the cruise lines to make a good deal of money and thus keep fares low. If you like to play, great - you get to play. But if you don't like to play, think of it as you saving $50 or $100 off your fare for you to hear a few announcements about bingo or horse racing or the slot tournament. If these activities didn't exist, you can be sure your fare would go up by at least that much. As for art auctions, buyer beware. They had original animation cels for sale on this ship from undesirable sources (i.e. Fred Flintstone from a 90s cartoon or a relatively unknown movie). These sold for $800-$1000. On land you could probably get these for a couple hundred dollars. You can get a Simpson's original for around $500 and even a low end Disney for under $1000. Just be aware before you buy. I've seen other warnings about this from other sources as well. Just remember the cardinal rule about art - make sure you like the piece first and foremost. Anyway, back to the ship activities. During the day there were several dance sessions on Deck 9. Just to show you how much they feature dancing, whereas most ships showcase the main pool in the center of their sports deck, the dance floor is instead the center of focus. At night, there was dancing from probably 6pm until 4am (live bands until about 1 or 2 probably and then the disco). Speaking of the disco, I personally liked the way Costa set this up. Whereas on other ships they have kids discos which probably close around 12 leaving the little ones to wander around the ship and maybe get into trouble, on this ship everyone is in the same place. The "teen disco" would start around 11 and then the adults would start to show up around midnight. The younger ones would stay until all hours. I think this is better all around. First off, I think kids around 15-17 think going to a kids club is lame, so they don't go. This leaves a limited number of kids who go. Folks 18-20 have problems because although they can get into the adult disco, they can't drink, thus they don't feel like they fit in. The 21+ crowd alone is sometimes limited, thus they don't want to dance since there are only a few people on the dance floor. When you combine the 3 groups, they coexist well and the dance floor is always packed. The groups still remain separate for the most part (if you are a parent worried about a 50 y/o dancing with your 16 y/o), but they are all on the dance floor. On this cruise we saw a mother dancing with her 12 and 16 y/o daughters almost every night. I thought that was really cool -- I mean where else can you do that? Kudos to Costa for this concept! Dancing in the other areas was fun too - the bands were great!

Service

We were fortunate that we ate in 2 different dining rooms at both early and late seating. We started late and went early for a few days to take better advantage of the evening ports before going back to late. We had great success with our tablemates - 3 30ish females with their Dad and another family group with slightly older parents and a 40 something daughter. We had a lot of fun and hung out at other times on the ship. At the early seating we were with two 20 something grad students. We found the service at both times to be quick and friendly. This is in direct opposition to what others have reported. We both ordered a lot of food, and it was brought with a smile, in a timely matter, and at appropriate temperatures. Staff at other areas of the ship were great as well and very friendly. We did not see any poor treatment of Americans as was also reported. Everyone was very nice all around.

Shore Excursions

We did not do any formal excursions, but here is a brief review of the ports: San Juan - Since this was an evening stop, we found it to be a bit of a bust. My friend enjoyed taking some photos of old San Juan (you dock right by the fort in Old San Juan), but other than meandering around the streets, there isn't much to do unless you had an excursion (none of which appealed to us). It was nice to walk around, but still not much to do. The good news is that you can walk around safely right by the port and there is no trouble getting back to the ship. St. Thomas - We really liked this port. We took a taxi to the Ritz hotel, as my friend wanted to rent some sailing equipment. He had arranged to do so online, and luckily brought copies of his emails, as the policy had changed and they no longer rent their equipment out to non-guests of the hotel. He was able to rent a couple things based on his emails. If you want a quiet, nice beach, this is a great stop. I'm more for a beach where you can do some people watching, so after a couple hours there we went to Magen's Bay Beach (a top 10 in the world beach). We both thought it was slightly over-rated, but still very nice. There is a $4 charge per person for this beach. If you like to shop, there is a lot of this by the pier. Make sure to leave yourself a good hour to get back to the ship since the traffic is pretty bad with multiple ships in port. Catalina Island (DR) - We both liked this port and it was my favorite. It was a great beach with a nice bbq (think fixed structure with picnic tables, not a temporary site). It was well staffed with a very limited wait to eat. The beach has free chairs available. Keeping with true Costa tradition (for this voyage anyway), the volleyballs were not put out until about 2pm instead of having them out all day. However, there was of course dancing by CD (instead of live band, which was playing on the ship for some reason). Still, it was pretty fun. Please bring some cash with you to this port as there is great local art for sale. They will pull the paintings off the frame and roll them up so you can bring them home. I got a very large piece for pretty cheap. The merchants are very nice but pretty aggressive. I thought this was the best shopping on the whole cruise. A great day overall!

Stateroom

We had an interior room, which was more than adequate. Plenty of closet space and a slightly larger bathroom than other lines. I always book an interior knowing that we won't be in the room much and it is actually nice to not have a window when trying to sleep late or to take a nap. Our cabin steward was great and did a great job with 22 cabins.

Dining

I've already touched on dining, but I will add that the food is great on this ship. I think the dining room food was comparable or even better than other lines I've been on while the buffet offered a few less choices than on other lines. Still, there was plenty to eat and I don't think I had a bad dish let alone a bad meal. They also had food available right by the pool at lunchtime on sea days and midnight snacks brought around to highly populated areas of the ship by waiters. The midnight buffet on the last night was very nice. I don't know how other people have complained about the food on this or any other ship. I read about people who didn't eat anything but salad or steak that was cooked wrong all week. I don't get it. I'm a bit of a picky eater (I don't like fish at all and don't eat "cute" animals), and I still did fine. Maybe these people are used to Chef Boyardee or something... who knows. I come from an Italian family and know what good Italian food is like, and this was good Italian!

Entertainment

We thought the shows were largely good. The only one that was a little bland was the soul singer the first night. We only caught a few songs, but that was enough. Don't get me wrong, she was talented, but didn't seem to warrant carrying the stage on her own. Other shows included a couple production shows, a Vegas music/comedy act, a New York Italian-American singer, a circus show, and the passenger talent show (happened to be all singing on our voyage). If you want to do this, make sure you look for the sign-up on day 2 or 3 in the daily paper. If you miss this, you will not be able to partake.

Disembarkation

This was a depressing process as always; it went pretty smoothly, however. We were amongst the last off the ship at around 9:30. We missed seeing our tablemates for the last breakfast as we were late getting up. One bit of advice - try to exchange email/phone info by the 4th or 5th day if you don't think you'll see folks again. There was a nice family from South Carolina we hung out with a lot, but didn't see them after day 5 so never got to trade info :( After we left the port, we took a taxi to the airport and rented a car for the day as we both had late flights. We spent the day at South Beach (about a 30-40 minute drive by the scenic route). This helped take the edge off of our return to the real world, but not by much. Happy cruising!

Thank you for your informative review. I recall the same thing on the Costa Magica regarding sports equipment. If you like sports, I think best to bring your own stuff (deflated basketball and pump, ping pong paddles and balls etc..) if your luggage has room.:eek: Did they have the lifesize chess set?

Was it easy to switch from late to early seating and back. Did the maitre'D arrange that for you? Did you switch tables each night to meet new people??

The first hotel you visited in St Thomas - which beach was that. How far from the port and what was the cost of the taxi?

Thanks again for taking the time to write a thorough review.

Nice, well thought-out review! We'll be on Fortuna in March. Glad you had a good trip! I'm sure I'll think of some questions to ask in the next day or two!

Happy New Year!

Thank you very much for all your information. We will be on the March 13 cruise and looking forward to the experience. Could you please tell me if Costa allowed passengers to bring onboard bottled water and soda ? How about wine?

Thank you!

Workermom

Thank you for your informative review. I recall the same thing on the Costa Magica regarding sports equipment. If you like sports, I think best to bring your own stuff (deflated basketball and pump, ping pong paddles and balls etc..) if your luggage has room.:eek: Did they have the lifesize chess set?

 

Was it easy to switch from late to early seating and back. Did the maitre'D arrange that for you? Did you switch tables each night to meet new people??

 

The first hotel you visited in St Thomas - which beach was that. How far from the port and what was the cost of the taxi?

 

Thanks again for taking the time to write a thorough review.

Good suggestions, but even bringing equipment means you have to tote it around with you... from the pool to lunch to the art auction, etc. Kind of a pain in the butt!

As for dining, not too much trouble at all. We asked to be switched the first night, but weren't too adamant about it. The second night we still had the late seating and the maitre'd apologized for not switching us. The next day we had a new dining table card at our door. Moving back was no problem since they didn't put others at our table. The moves were more for the purpose of schedule than meeting others, as we liked the people at our first table.

I'm not sure of the name of the beach in St. Thomas, but just ask for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. You just enter the hotel and walk out back to the beach. My friend rented equipment, but I just sat in a chair. I was given hotel towels upon request. No one bothered me. They also have a nice pool there. The beach is on the east part of the island, and it cost $10 per person. Taxi rates are fixed by the gov't in St. Thomas.

Thank you very much for all your information. We will be on the March 13 cruise and looking forward to the experience. Could you please tell me if Costa allowed passengers to bring onboard bottled water and soda ? How about wine?

 

Thank you!

 

Workermom

I'm not sure whether or not it is "allowed". I'm sure Costa could tell you that. I've seen other threads where people talked about bringing cases of soda out in the open and not being questioned. I personally had some cans of coke and a water bottle with some rum in it in my checked bag and it was still there when I got the bag. ;)

Thanks for the great info--can you tell me how you got around in Casa de Campo? Are you able to get a taxi easily (what was the cost) and where did you go for the art? I have read the threads on this port; but am confused about how the best way to get around is! Thanks for your help! Also, we don't speak spanish--will this be a problem for us?

Thanks for the great info--can you tell me how you got around in Casa de Campo? Are you able to get a taxi easily (what was the cost) and where did you go for the art? I have read the threads on this port; but am confused about how the best way to get around is! Thanks for your help! Also, we don't speak spanish--will this be a problem for us?

Just to clarify, there are two stops in the Dominican Republic. The first stop is Catalina Island - Costa's private island. You are tendered from the ship to the dock, and there are no vehicles on the island - the beach is right there. There are some shops on the island (just a couple hundred feet from the dock) and that is where you will find the art and other items for sale. The second stop is Casa de Campo aka La Romana. The ship docks at the port, but I did not get off. We were told not to walk off the ship from the pier since the area is bad. You can take a taxi from there to get into town. I'm not sure of the cost, but a couple friends went and I think they said it was around $10-15. As for not speaking Spanish - not a problem. English is widely spoken in all the ports.

The purpose of La Romana is to go to the evening show, and wait for the golfers to return from their tours. They really don't want you to get off otherwise. There wasn't anything to do at the pier. We took the tour to the show. It was pretty expensive, but good. Or kids 3, 9 and 11 liked it too, (and went nuts laughing at the dancers in thongs). If you do go out that evening, bring mosquito repellant.

The purpose of La Romana is to go to the evening show, and wait for the golfers to return from their tours. They really don't want you to get off otherwise. There wasn't anything to do at the pier. We took the tour to the show. It was pretty expensive, but good. Or kids 3, 9 and 11 liked it too, (and went nuts laughing at the dancers in thongs). If you do go out that evening, bring mosquito repellant.

Hi: Just wondering, if one does not do the La Romano show for the one night at that port....what is going on on the ship? anything? Not sure whether to do this show or not.

Thanks

The ship was still pretty well packed on the night we were in Casa de Campo. There will be a show in the main show lounge every night. I think maybe it was the Circus Variety show that night.

There is always live music and dancing in the lounges too, regardless of whether you are in port or not.