Cruise to "hell" on costa fortuna

[oncruisecontrol]

Many people never join until they have a specific question or something important to say. I hardly find it odd. I lurked for some time...years even , before I bothered to register. My spouse has taken 10 or so cruises...if he decided to register and post would that make him a phoney like this person is alleged to be?

 

 

I did not mean to imply that the post was phony. I would just like to hear about his other cruises for comparison's sake.

[Cruise4Andy]

I absolutely love constructive criticism and reviews, but certainly reserve careful judgement when I read threads titled, "Cruise from or to Hell", "Worst Cruise Ever" or "Morst Horrible Food I've Ever Seen". Although everybody is entitled to their own opinions, criticism and praises, we should not forget the facts. So let's look at it a bit closer:

 

The OP mentioned...

"that the food was sent back several times to the kitchen."

Why was the food sent back in the first place? If you didn't like it, order something else, instead of sending it back!

 

"The chef answered that he was busy and not to bother him"

I guess the chef must have been one busy guy... Are you serious??? Do you really think that the chef is personally handling your complaints? Take the kitchen tour, and you'll see how many staff members are actually working in the kitchen! It' not only ONE chef!

 

"The Italian guests with their children were rude, inconsiderate and down right nasty"

You did know that Costa is an Italian cruise line, right? I'm not Italian, but believe that the OP is rather small minded and inconsiderate, if you think that ALL Italian guests were nasty. Give me a break! Get a life and spend some time in a foreign country. Spend some time in a big city like New York, where nationalities from all around the world come together, live together and know how to respect each other, each others culture and each others differences. RESPECT, remember that word!

 

OMG.. and then there are posters like Real Person. Nice screen name, but seriously, let's get REAL.

 

Table tennis paddles:

Did you do some research before your cruise? If you want to play so desperate, bring your own paddles and balls. That's what I do!

 

Never any ice cream machines at the buffet, yet you say that the ice cream machines were never cold???

I know for a fact that they do not have ice cream machines in the dining rooms, so where else did you find ice cream machines, if not at the buffet? Kind of contradictory, don't you think? :confused:

 

Big gaps in railings?

What railings are you talking about? The gaps in railings on the outdoor decks and balconies are standard and no different as on any other cruise line. I guess we could install chicken wire? It is simply the responsibility of parents, that their kids are not climbing on or over the railings! Supervision is the key here! :o

 

Overflowing pool:

Well, when a cruise ship moves, the water within the pool will move as well. Depending on how rough the sea is, it will move more or less, hence it is possible that pool water will overflow onto the deck area, which in conclusion can make the surface slippery and wet. Signs are permanently attached at nearly all exits towards outdoor deck areas, warning passengers in 5 (yes FIVE) languages, that the surface might be slippery. Cost could plant some palm trees and shrubs instead of the pool, eliminating the annoying overflow of pool water??? :D

 

Don't leave your shoes or clothes?

Well of course not... I'm not running around naked! :eek:

Thought about taking your stuff with you when you go somewhere? The wind can be a factor too, especially on the higher decks, maybe your stuff was just simply blown away.

 

Real Person, I guess you really have never been to prision or a jail, but might be a good idea. Check with your local law enforcement agency and see if they can arrange that for you. A tour that is, including lunch and dinner. Please get back to us with a review about the rooms, food and staff members! :D

 

 

Just my 2 cents... with 98 cents to spare! ;)

[Cruise4Andy]

Well said, Capricruiser, well said!!! Agree with you 100%! ;)

[Capricruiser]

Thank you Andy - also, excellent reply in no. 30.

[goldengreeke]

There are no cruises from Hell, only CRUISERS from Hell!:rolleyes:

[Real Person]

I said "NEVER ANY ICE AT THE BUFFET".

I said "ICE CREAM MACHINES NEVER COLD,SOUPY CREAM".

Have you ever been on this ship ?

Well i have and this is what i saw,if you don't like what i saw i'm sorry about that but don't sit and talk crap about my post.

I thought this board was for people to share stories and info about ships.

[florida frank]

i think you get into trouble when you use words such as NEVER. i was on the same cruise and ate every meal at the buffet, finding ice and ice cream MOST of the time. were there problems here and there. sure. but, i have been on many cruises and have enjoyed them all because i make the best of it and do not choose to be hypercritical. nor is it fair to use absolute terms to describe problems when it is not true. there will always be some issues/problems on any cruise as humans will be humans and not perfect.

[HMSDingy]

I absolutely love constructive criticism and reviews, but certainly reserve careful judgement when I read threads titled, "Cruise from or to Hell", "Worst Cruise Ever" or "Morst Horrible Food I've Ever Seen". Although everybody is entitled to their own opinions, criticism and praises, we should not forget the facts. So let's look at it a bit closer:

 

The OP mentioned...

"that the food was sent back several times to the kitchen."

Why was the food sent back in the first place? If you didn't like it, order something else, instead of sending it back!

 

"The chef answered that he was busy and not to bother him"

I guess the chef must have been one busy guy... Are you serious??? Do you really think that the chef is personally handling your complaints? Take the kitchen tour, and you'll see how many staff members are actually working in the kitchen! It' not only ONE chef!

 

"The Italian guests with their children were rude, inconsiderate and down right nasty"

You did know that Costa is an Italian cruise line, right? I'm not Italian, but believe that the OP is rather small minded and inconsiderate, if you think that ALL Italian guests were nasty. Give me a break! Get a life and spend some time in a foreign country. Spend some time in a big city like New York, where nationalities from all around the world come together, live together and know how to respect each other, each others culture and each others differences. RESPECT, remember that word!

 

OMG.. and then there are posters like Real Person. Nice screen name, but seriously, let's get REAL.

 

Table tennis paddles:

Did you do some research before your cruise? If you want to play so desperate, bring your own paddles and balls. That's what I do!

 

Never any ice cream machines at the buffet, yet you say that the ice cream machines were never cold???

I know for a fact that they do not have ice cream machines in the dining rooms, so where else did you find ice cream machines, if not at the buffet? Kind of contradictory, don't you think? :confused:

 

Big gaps in railings?

What railings are you talking about? The gaps in railings on the outdoor decks and balconies are standard and no different as on any other cruise line. I guess we could install chicken wire? It is simply the responsibility of parents, that their kids are not climbing on or over the railings! Supervision is the key here! :o

 

Overflowing pool:

Well, when a cruise ship moves, the water within the pool will move as well. Depending on how rough the sea is, it will move more or less, hence it is possible that pool water will overflow onto the deck area, which in conclusion can make the surface slippery and wet. Signs are permanently attached at nearly all exits towards outdoor deck areas, warning passengers in 5 (yes FIVE) languages, that the surface might be slippery. Cost could plant some palm trees and shrubs instead of the pool, eliminating the annoying overflow of pool water??? :D

 

Don't leave your shoes or clothes?

Well of course not... I'm not running around naked! :eek:

Thought about taking your stuff with you when you go somewhere? The wind can be a factor too, especially on the higher decks, maybe your stuff was just simply blown away.

 

Real Person, I guess you really have never been to prision or a jail, but might be a good idea. Check with your local law enforcement agency and see if they can arrange that for you. A tour that is, including lunch and dinner. Please get back to us with a review about the rooms, food and staff members! :D

 

 

Just my 2 cents... with 98 cents to spare! ;)

 

Could not of have said it better and I like your attitude.

 

My niece and her husband are onboard the Fortuna as I write and her calls and e-mails have all but been positive. She loves the ship and the itinerary has been perfect. Again, everyone has a different perspective with regards to likes and dislikes while on a cruise. I might add that we are Italian and she likes the European flavour of the ship and that may be the problem as many non-Europeans expect everything done as the cruise lines who cater mostly to the American market.

[HMSDingy]

I said "NEVER ANY ICE AT THE BUFFET".

I said "ICE CREAM MACHINES NEVER COLD,SOUPY CREAM".

Have you ever been on this ship ?

Well i have and this is what i saw,if you don't like what i saw i'm sorry about that but don't sit and talk crap about my post.

I thought this board was for people to share stories and info about ships.

 

I think his response was rather polite and not "crap" as you put it. True this board is about sharing opinions but not shoving them down your throat with vulgarities.

[Castlebubble]

I find it interesting to note that 20 years later nothing has changed on Costa. We made the mistake of taking our honeymoon cruise on the Carla Costa in 1989 and it was just as bad then as you said now, same complaints and no who worked on the ship seemed to care. To this day we cringe when we see a commmercial for Costa Cruises. We never went on another Costa cruise and never will. Sorry for your experience.

[florida frank]

i can sure understand folks being critical as there will always be problems when you have that many people in close quarters. but......don`t let all of the good be outweighed by the occasional bad....IMHO

[HMSDingy]

I find it interesting to note that 20 years later nothing has changed on Costa. We made the mistake of taking our honeymoon cruise on the Carla Costa in 1989 and it was just as bad then as you said now, same complaints and no who worked on the ship seemed to care. To this day we cringe when we see a commmercial for Costa Cruises. We never went on another Costa cruise and never will. Sorry for your experience.

 

Did you cruise just the one time with Costa? I have never cruised with Costa but surely you cannot place judgment on the entire cruise line for one bad cruise. There are other Costa ships you could have tried. We have sailed with both Princess and RCI and I have favourite ships on both lines.

[Real Person]

My point exactly with my response to Andy's post. Its the ME attitude that's going around. Ciao da Montreal!!

This is the last time i'm logging into this site but before i go i would like to say a thing or two.

To the guy's like andy that have not cruised in 3 years but comes to this web site on a daily basis as a chat room to replace something missing in his life,maybe a friend or his wife.

I was useing this site first to see some reviews, and then share what i saw on the ship.

Well Andy i'm sure glad we got people like you in hear to straighten guy's like me out.

Thank you for letting me know my shoes and towels blew off the lower level of the middle of the ship when i went to jump into the pool for 5 min.

Next time i will wear my shirt,shoes and towel into the pool so they don't blow away.

Thanks for letting me know how desperate i was about playing table tennis,didn't know i was at the time.The next cruise we take i will bring some paddles with along with a ball and maybe, just in case i should bring the table with also.

As for the water over flowing,well i'm not sure but was this water flowing into the elevator lobby for a reason,and why were there a bunch of caution cones and caution tape around this area.

As for my son climbing on the railings,what i saw was he slipped on water and his leg went under the BIG gap in the railing and got cut,maybe your right i should watch over him and hold his hand while walking,he's still only 9 years old.

And then you say i should go to prison,lol if you only knew the truth.

Well good luck with YOUR little chat room here, i won't be coming back for a while since Costa has put a sour taste in our mouth.

Again, thanks for letting me know what really happend on this ship.

[HMSDingy]

This is the last time i'm logging into this site but before i go i would like to say a thing or two.

To the guy's like andy that have not cruised in 3 years but comes to this web site on a daily basis as a chat room to replace something missing in his life,maybe a friend or his wife.

I was useing this site first to see some reviews, and then share what i saw on the ship.

Well Andy i'm sure glad we got people like you in hear to straighten guy's like me out.

Thank you for letting me know my shoes and towels blew off the lower level of the middle of the ship when i went to jump into the pool for 5 min.

Next time i will wear my shirt,shoes and towel into the pool so they don't blow away.

Thanks for letting me know how desperate i was about playing table tennis,didn't know i was at the time.The next cruise we take i will bring some paddles with along with a ball and maybe, just in case i should bring the table with also.

As for the water over flowing,well i'm not sure but was this water flowing into the elevator lobby for a reason,and why were there a bunch of caution cones and caution tape around this area.

As for my son climbing on the railings,what i saw was he slipped on water and his leg went under the BIG gap in the railing and got cut,maybe your right i should watch over him and hold his hand while walking,he's still only 9 years old.

And then you say i should go to prison,lol if you only knew the truth.

Well good luck with YOUR little chat room here, i won't be coming back for a while since Costa has put a sour taste in our mouth.

Again, thanks for letting me know what really happend on this ship.

 

 

Your choice to never post again. I don't know about Andy but we have been cruising form the last 6 years; one cruise per year and although we did not cruise Costa, at least we speak from experience. What you fail to understand is that your posts as most on this board are welcomed. It just your choice of text that's somewhat in your face. And, IMHO, you fail to grasp the meaning of the responses and seem to choose to interpret them to your advantage and/or disadvantage. But hey there are a lot of other cruise lines out there. Please don't let your experience with Costa turn you off to cruising. I hope you well in the coming New Year:)

[burners]

Well I personally hope the negative reviews keep coming. That just means less people on the ship and lower prices for the next time I cruise Costa. I will be going on my third Costa cruise in March(second time on Fortuna) and I am sure I will love it ,and I am just as sure that someone will post on here that "It was the worst cruise ever".If I listened to all the negative reviews I never would have sailed Costa and found out what a delightful cruise line it is.

[eastender]

I did this cruise and in a pretty good position to compare as we did the carnival legend the week before. One interesting thing was that our balcony cabin was EXACTLY the same as carnival, right down to the lamps and drawer knob strings, same bed, bathroom, everything. There were certainly some problems on the costa, I thought this was probably due to the fact that the ship had only just arrived from it's transatlantic trip (probably half empty) straight into xmas week, totally banged out! It was pretty obvious that the buffet was a bit of a no go area, way too busy. I think they wanted you to use the dining rooms and if you did, in our experience, everything was fine unless you wanted fast food but that's not the Italian way. They may have possibly been understaffed but what they had were working very hard. The last meal we had, lamb shanks was dissapointing but in general the food was much superiour to carnival. The waiter we had, Marvin, was superb, very professional. Ice cream at buffet looked ok to me, try getting it on RCI. Two big problems were firstly with tenders to Grand Caymen, I think, big delays for some reason & secondly debarkation was another joke, imagion a 3 lane highway full of traffic trying to squeeze down to 1 lane, it was like that trying to get off, I hate Port Everglades anyway but in general I really enjoyed this cruise, we're English by the way and more use to the continental attitude. I also thought the Elton John show was poor but others loved it! on carnival, one of the comedians missed a flight so there was no show! Another small pain was the muster drill, in 5 languages, with life vests on! I thought that was finished. Lastly, when a ship's busy, I think it's rude to hog a chair with shoes etc and leave it for a long time. I was using a lounger and 5 hogged loungers in prime position were unused for 2hrs beside me. Their stuff should have been moved.

[peabody99]

All I can say is I hope that elton john show is somehow on the pacifica in march (fingers crossed) lol I love campy stuff. If I can choke down the food I think I will be golden.

[naysmitj]

We cruised on Costa in 2006 out of Florida on Eastern Caribbean. Surrounded by mostly Italians from Italy. Had a very pleasant cruise. No complaints regarding food, other cruisers or staff.

Ship was clean and comfortable.

My only compaint was too much time at sea, as we enjoy getting off and venturing out at ports.

Cheers

Pat and Jim

[bartman4]

I have to agree with the original poster. Just got off a weeklong cruise on the Costa Fortuna. The food was horrible (very little variety, all meat was throughly overcooked, shrimp were dry AND overcooked both in self serve, sit down and the pay to sit down restaurants). Crew were generally fine, but having had such nice cruises on Carnival, Disney and Century in the past year, I was amazed at how bad the food and entertainment on the Fortuna were. I'm Italian-American and got to listen to many of the Italian customer complaining about both the food and bar service, so I don't think calling critics anti-Italian in this case is helpful or the reality. What was good? The New Year's party was a blast. San Juan was much better as a port stop than I was expecting. The kids camp was awesome (not quite Disney, but on par with Carnival). The crew was generally courteous. Unfortunately the poor quality of the food sort of overwhelmed the positives for my family (we cook much better food daily at home...)

[GOLDENBONNY]

I have to agree with the original poster. Just got off a weeklong cruise on the Costa Fortuna. The food was horrible (very little variety, all meat was throughly overcooked, shrimp were dry AND overcooked both in self serve, sit down and the pay to sit down restaurants). Crew were generally fine, but having had such nice cruises on Carnival, Disney and Century in the past year, I was amazed at how bad the food and entertainment on the Fortuna were. I'm Italian-American and got to listen to many of the Italian customer complaining about both the food and bar service, so I don't think calling critics anti-Italian in this case is helpful or the reality. What was good? The New Year's party was a blast. San Juan was much better as a port stop than I was expecting. The kids camp was awesome (not quite Disney, but on par with Carnival). The crew was generally courteous. Unfortunately the poor quality of the food sort of overwhelmed the positives for my family (we cook much better food daily at home...)

 

shrim overcoked???We just back form Carnival,no shrim ,no smoked salmon at all in buffet!!!all food was -fried-fried -fried .we kept talking about how people complain about Costa food,thay should try Carnival)entertainment was not good????Try Carnival Valor with CD talking form stage how good it is to FART!! yae,yes,how good it is .

[GOLDENBONNY]

I have to agree with the original poster. Just got off a weeklong cruise on the Costa Fortuna. The food was horrible (very little variety, all meat was throughly overcooked, shrimp were dry AND overcooked both in self serve, sit down and the pay to sit down restaurants). Crew were generally fine, but having had such nice cruises on Carnival, Disney and Century in the past year, I was amazed at how bad the food and entertainment on the Fortuna were. I'm Italian-American and got to listen to many of the Italian customer complaining about both the food and bar service, so I don't think calling critics anti-Italian in this case is helpful or the reality. What was good? The New Year's party was a blast. San Juan was much better as a port stop than I was expecting. The kids camp was awesome (not quite Disney, but on par with Carnival). The crew was generally courteous. Unfortunately the poor quality of the food sort of overwhelmed the positives for my family (we cook much better food daily at home...)

 

shrim overcoked???We just back form Carnival,no shrim ,no smoked salmon at all in buffet!!!all food was -fried-fried -fried .we kept talking about how people complain about Costa food,thay should try Carnival)entertainment was not good????Try Carnival Valor with CD talking form stage how good it is to FART!! yae,yes,how good it is .

[Cruise4Andy]

You're very welcome Real Person... I'm glad I could be of assistance. Please keep in mind that any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome here at CC, but negative, derogatory attitude towards any and/or all posters, as well as foul language is pretty much frowned upon.

 

Don't know which cruise line you prefer, but I hope you'll be back on their ship... in the meantime, we'll be enjoying our future Costa cruises.

 

Just FYI: I have a very busy life and a very supportive and loving wife and family. Even though I'm on CC quite often, no family member and/or spouse was harmed or neglegted by posting this reply! :D

[mkgcars]

It's not really fair to judge someone by the number of posts they've made. For example, my number of posts got reset years ago - and besides, someone's opinion is invalid just because they have fewer posts? Just because they don't agree with you?

 

People who have been on a few cruises know how to read between the lines - and could reply in a kindly informative way, but in this case people were a bit harsh.

 

I'll point out one response item that I don't think was fair, as an example. The poster complained about the ping pong paddles being floors away from the tables. It was a valid criticism - why pick on them and tell them they should have brought there own? I mean who's to know ahead of time that this would be the case.

 

 

And grammar? Some people have limitations. For example, I grew up in a school system where grammar was not taught. I also am a bit dyslexic and to some degree this has affected my grammatic ability. Picking on someone's grammar to negate their opinion is crap IMHO.

 

mattg

[Capricruiser]

I don't think Realperson's number of posts and criticisms are an issue here. It's the way he presented them, using vulgar language and accusing others who did not agree with him with more vulgar and offensive terms. Anyone who can't express himself without resorting to these means should not be on the forum. There was another one several weeks ago who thankfully has dropped off.

[guxu]

Actually, I valued that person's opinion since he was on the ship. However, he lost his credibility when he used a-- word and failed to respond the statements from his fellow cruiser on the same ship.