Costa Fortune New Years Part 3

[retdon]

Here is the last of what we have to say about our cruise.

DRESS:

We always enjoy formal nights and have always dressed for them. There were 2 formal nights and both nights I would guess only about 25% of the passengers dressed semi or formal. We did see more suite and ties than tuxedos, some sport coats but more shirts and slacks than anything. It seemed more of the ladies had a little fancier clothes on than men.

We did see tank tops, shorts, etc. in the main dinning room on various nights. They say no bathing suits in buffet but we did see them in there.

TOGA NIGHT:

About 20% of the passengers dressed in togas, what a disappointment. The ship provided sheets and instructions on how to wear it so it was made available to all passengers. They also provide gold cardboard leaf laurals for you head.

Our group was all dressed up and we partied and had our own fun, until the show in the Rex Theater. It started at 10:45pm and we had to rush our waiter to finish dinner. When we arrived at the theater all the seats were taken with folks standing everywhere. It was HOT , no AC and too many people................ I did not stay and went to the casino which was also crowded and SMOKEY.....

BINGO:

What a riot when you had a seat. Yummy Yummy, Cheeky Cheeky Cha Cha, B as in Barbeeeee. The cards are $20 for 3 or $10 for one. Only 2 games are played, the first a straight BINGO and then they continue with a cover all. It is not a roll over bingo but an announced prize in either 46 numbers, 47 numbers and 48 numbers and then the final prize for a cover all in how ever many numbers.

Our complaint, it was held in the Grand Lounge and there were not enough seats, why can't it be held in the theater where there would be pleanty of seats???????

As someone else on this board said "chair hog itis" is every where on the ship.

CASINO:

If you don't smoke you will when you go to the casino, but this did not stop our group. A couple of folks in our group really got lucky, one paid for their trip and another brought home some cash. I just made deposits but had a good time anyway. There are penny, 5-10-50 and $1 machines. The penny machines were our favorites, you could play as little as 9 cents a pull or as much as $4 a pull on some.

The video poker, which is my game, was really bad. It was hard to get anything, even to keep playing, I gave up on them.

Black jack was something else, someone in our group had 2 run ins with some foreign passengers who did not know how to play and thought they did. Our folks gave up on blackjack when security was called by the foreign folks and all the communication was in their language and never translated into English. Even the casino supervisor supported the foreign passengers and never asked the person in our group what happened.

The tournaments were held during our dinner time so we did not participate.

Children are in the casino all the time especially at night. One person in our group saw a man with a child sitting on his lap punching the slot button when it hit for $500. When the casino staff came over and asked who was playing the machine the man said he was. The staff left and when they returned told the man they were not going to pay the $500 because the child was playing the machine. The man did not like it but the casino staff stuck to their statement and did not pay him. Don't people know they have cameras in casinos??????

The locations of the casino is bad, it is a main walk through from the front of the ship to the back so there is always people walking through there.

SHOWS:

The show for late seating is held at 7:15 pm which we did not like as we all like to have a cocktail and dance before dinner. There were some that did go to a few shows and said they saw were OK. I never went to see any so I don't know.

Our complaint: schedule some shows so the late seating can come after dinner.

CARIBBEAN NIGHT DECK PARTY:

By the time we finished dinner and went up on deck all the chairs were gone again. The dance area is very small and very crowded due to the design of the pool area. It is in tiers and does not have a large open area. We heard the wildest caribbean music that night, have you ever heard -- Mambo #5, Macarena, YMCA, etc. all in Italian.............. The folks did have fun dancing and all the kids were in the middle of it. I did feel sorry for the little folks who were so tired and wanted to go to bed, crying and really upset.

They set up a buffet of fresh fruit, cheese and breads. Decorations were nil to almost none and there was an ice sculpture demonstration.

It was beautiful leaving San Juan at night.

OVERALL:

The design of the ship made it really feel crowded it some areas. This was the largest ship we have sailed on and it was really different from what we were used to. This won't stop us from going on another big ship.

 

The food is not satisfactory for our tastes. Our chef said it was all overcooked and lacked seasoning. There is a statement on the bottom of the menu that say a lot of the food is frozen (which is to be expected) and if anyone experiences gastrointestional symptoms to report it, that they make every effort to defrost it properly. The fact that it was served cold really turned us off. The selection of food is very poor, we got down to fried cat fish the last night...... this is Italy?????

 

Our suite was wonderful as was our butler Joe and cabin attendant Fanny, we loved the veranda and hope to do it again. It was especially nice to sip champagne out there.

 

We wished more crew members could have spoken English better. Even those at the Customer Service desk had difficulity understanding what we were saying and the bar staff had real problems.

 

We had a blast on New Years in the atrum, snow fell from the top floor all the way down and covered the Christmas tree, it was beautiful. By the time we got there from dinner all the party hats and favors were gone but we had brought whistles and some silly string. At midnight the confetti and balloons filled the atrum from top to bottom.

 

Will we sail again on Costa, from our group of 16 all said no..... I made it a point to talk with other passengers from Mexico, Canada and the US, all said they would not sail Costa again.

We found that we prefer the mix of more US passengers than Europeans. If we do a European cruise we would go on an US line.

 

We are glad we were with our family and got a holiday cruise for a great price but would not consider Costa again, that is why there is a cruise line for everyone and everyone is entitled to their likes and dislikes.

Hope all the CC's who have booked have a better experience then us.

CHOW, Linda

[njs]

Thanks again for your input. BTW I thot you both looked wonderful in your togas:) We went to the specialty restaurant the last night since the kids didnt want to dress up anyway

Re dress code:

I did notice on the Mediterranea capers that the dress code seems to have relaxed a bit since our Costa cruise in 05 and noted that carnival seems to have done the same. We saw shorts and t-shirts in the Mediterranea dining room as well so it seems to be on all the lines. I dont really care how any one else dresses (except when sons give me grief when others are dressed down and I made them dress up), Im more concerned about my food :D

[retdon]

Hi NJS,

Thanks for the comments. I think if cruise lines would just say casual and drop formal it would be better overall. We heard that HAL is doing that and we were surprised since they usually have an older crowd and us seniors like to dress up. Linda

[commonsense2]

Hi NJS,

Thanks for the comments. I think if cruise lines would just say casual and drop formal it would be better overall. We heard that HAL is doing that and we were surprised since they usually have an older crowd and us seniors like to dress up. Linda

 

I've been on HAL 3 times now. They have dropped 'informal' - which used to mean jacket and tie for men (women won't need any explaination of that as they already know was it means). HAL still has smart casual and formal. Also on HAL, they request the dresscode be adheared to for the entire evening in all the public areas except the lido dining areas. the dresscode is always a hot-button topic on the HAL boards.

[retdon]

Glad to hear HAL dropped informal. I still want to dress up a couple of nights and hope they keep it, we will definately sail again on HAL, never a complaint on their ships.

[Slippery when wet]

OH dear...I couldnt be more depressed.....leaving tomorrow to sail on Fortuna on sunday and now I am worried about being crowded, too hot...and eating lousy food with slow service! Geesh...

[Yeldarb]

I've sailed costa twice and loved it. Just go with an open mind. getting ready to leave on a cruise should be exciting, not depressing. Have a great time.

Cheers!

[doverite]

OH dear...I couldnt be more depressed.....leaving tomorrow to sail on Fortuna on sunday and now I am worried about being crowded, too hot...and eating lousy food with slow service! Geesh...

 

Look for all things to be positive - Anything negative is just another one of life's experiences along your journey - I'm sure you will enjoy yourselves.:)

[Slippery when wet]

Thank-you everyone! I feel a little better......I am sure we will have a good time! I am actually hoping that Retdon is a bit a snob!! :) We probably will not be so fussy! ha ha :) My husband has made me feel better about it all! He always does! I'll write when I get back! Leaving in 2 hours!

[retdon]

Slippery when wet, Sorry you feel that way about someone you have never met.....................

 

Hope you have a great time, everyone is entitled to their OWN OPINION!!!

I have really found out why there are so many LURKERS on this board instead of people who post their reviews.

 

So long CC members, I just became a lurker, I don't need to waste me time on people who have never met a person making such statements.............................:mad:

[tgenius]

Slippery when wet, Sorry you feel that way about someone you have never met.....................

 

Hope you have a great time, everyone is entitled to their OWN OPINION!!!

I have really found out why there are so many LURKERS on this board instead of people who post their reviews.

 

So long CC members, I just became a lurker, I don't need to waste me time on people who have never met a person making such statements.............................:mad:

 

retdon don't take it personally, I think that she meant it toungue in cheek. I value your honest opinion as it helps us for our cruise in March that way we can be prepared and plan accordingly.

[commonsense2]

Slippery when wet, Sorry you feel that way about someone you have never met.....................

 

Hope you have a great time, everyone is entitled to their OWN OPINION!!!

I have really found out why there are so many LURKERS on this board instead of people who post their reviews.

 

So long CC members, I just became a lurker, I don't need to waste me time on people who have never met a person making such statements.............................:mad:

 

reton, i wouldn't worry about other posters' comments. from my short time here i've seen it doesn't matter if you are short or long time poster, write a good or bad review. either way people will pick it apart. pretty much the same on all the boards.

[G.M.T.]

Slippery when wet, Sorry you feel that way about someone you have never met.....................

 

Hope you have a great time, everyone is entitled to their OWN OPINION!!!

I have really found out why there are so many LURKERS on this board instead of people who post their reviews.

 

So long CC members, I just became a lurker, I don't need to waste me time on people who have never met a person making such statements.............................:mad:

retdon,

have a look at the smiley at the end of the sentence:) .

 

For me snob as a statement shows that you like the good things in life and other people are jealous.

 

Slippery, has always written lighthearted messages, take it with a pinch of salt (so you can rub it into Slippery's wounds when she has a bad cruise:D ).

 

Don't take things so seriously - cruisng and CC are meant to be fun and entertaining.

 

Ron

[abitaturbodog]

retdon don't take it personally, I think that she meant it toungue in cheek. I value your honest opinion as it helps us for our cruise in March that way we can be prepared and plan accordingly.

 

Nah, I think she really meant it!:D

 

Just kidding!:)

[G.M.T.]

reton, i wouldn't worry about other posters' comments. from my short time here i've seen it doesn't matter if you are short or long time poster, write a good or bad review. either way people will pick it apart. pretty much the same on all the boards.

Too true.

 

Can't wait for your Europa review. :mad:

 

Ron:)