Fortuna New Year's Cruise: A different view

[Ice Queen]

We were also on the New Year’s cruise on the Fortuna and had a very different experience from Linda and her group but cruising preferences are a personal thing and what works for some does not work for others. We (mother 78, brother 51 and me 56) had a terrific time and would certainly sail with Costa again if we get another great deal like we had this time. We were also in a suite, room 7233. We are all experienced cruisers and international travelers. I think my brother and I have probably been on 13 or 14 cruises and my mother more than that, across a range of lines but not on “premium” ships like Seabourn, Silverseas, etc. Sailed Costa back in the 80’s but it was a true Italian ship then with an Italian dining room staff. In fact. I think virtually all staff back then were Italian. But it was a long time ago in a very old ship and I cannot use it as a comparison to this cruise.

 

There are definitely some things we agree with Linda about. The ship is immaculate. Dirty dishes are never left sitting on a table, the suite was spotless, ashtrays were emptied regularly, decks and deck chairs wiped down. I don’t recall being on a cleaner ship. We also had ample storage space in our room even with three of us. There were drawers, closets and shelves that we never used, even in the bathroom, which is very nicely appointed.

 

Service in the dining room was often SLOOWW. Not leisurely dining slow, just can’t get the food out of the galley and served slow. I did notice that some diners did seem to get served more promptly than we did but maybe they just ordered fewer courses or maybe their waiter knew a few tricks to get to the head of the line.

 

The food was hit and miss, sometimes very, very good, other times only fair. I thought the pizza was excellent as were most of the pastas and the soups. The hamburgers at the grill were overcooked and the buns stale and dry. The lobster tails in the dining room were mushy but they were warm water lobsters which are often like that. I know better so ordering them was my fault. Amazingly, the steaks in the dining room (Michelangelo late seating, table 62) were cooked to order. I ordered one rare since I like them medium rare and just knew it would come out overcooked. It didn’t. Rare as ordered. Our escargot were in garlic and butter piped with a ring of potatoes rather than bread or pastry.

 

We also ate in the Club restaurant. Although they say dinner for two is complimentary with a suite, it was actually complimentary for the three of us except for wine. My brother’s ribeye was excellent. My mother and I had the lamb chops. Two were excellent and two were slightly tough and dry.

 

On balance, I would say the food is comparable to most other lines I’ve been on. Certainly better than what we had on the Renaissance R5 and my last Golden Princess cruise. In general, we were pleased with both the quality and variety of food. No complaints either on portion sizes. Smaller sizes enable you to sample more courses. And in fairness, you have to remember that they are serving around 1300 meals at each seating. That is like a major business conference meal and when was the last time you had anything other than a mediocre conference meal for that many people? When you are turning out that many meals all at once, and people are ordering so many different things, it’s amazing the food turns out as good as it does.

 

We were also disappointed in the lack of participation in toga night. We had been led to believe this was a mega-major event but didn’t find it so. The Roman night talent show was OK and the passengers participating were certainly very talented. We attended only a couple of other shows and found them entertaining but not outstanding.

 

But our experience on other things is very different from Linda’s. We found the staff be unfailingly polite and welcoming and with the exception of the photographers, I was very impressed with everyone’s command of English…and Italian,…and Spanish… and French. We never had any difficulty making ourselves understood and there were no mistakes with any of our requests or orders in the dining room or lounges. Actually, I spent most of the week feeling pretty ashamed of myself and many of my fellow American for our lack of fluency in anything more than English. I watched our butler Raphael “Rafi” speak fluent English to us and then turn around and address our neighbors in Italian. The same was true of our waiter, Abraham. (Both were Filipino as was our room stewardess, Carolina). Some of the cruise staff, such as the guy who called bingo and the woman who directed the Caribbean deck party were equally amazing as they rattled off discussions in four or five languages. All the staff we ran into wherever we were on the ship always smiled and greeted us. Americans were definitely in the minority but it seemed higher than Linda estimated. My guess was that Americans made up about 15% of the passengers judging by the number of English speakers we ran into. But I haven’t heard any actual numbers. Even though we were relatively few in number, English was the first language for almost all events, announcements and activities.

 

There was smoking certainly but far less than I anticipated and I rarely saw anyone smoking in an area that was designated as no smoking. I only got chased out of one lounge due to smoke during the day when I was reading there. But it was a smoking lounge so I can’t complain.

 

We rarely had any difficulty finding deck chairs. In fact, I remarked at the large number of chairs all over the decks. It seems like the Europeans are definitely sun worshippers. We tend to favor the shade (of which there wasn’t much) so maybe that’s why we had less problem than Linda with chairs. The central pool is noisy and active constantly but the adult pool aft was very quiet and I never saw children in there.

 

Speaking of children, there were a lot on board but I never saw a better group of well behaved children in my life. No temper tantrums, no running around unaccompanied, no shouting except around the pool, no pushing all the elevator buttons. Even quiet and well behaved in the dining room which must have been hard on them, given the length of the meals. Most of the time, we didn’t even know they were around. I was also impressed with manners of the Europeans (mostly Italians) that we met. They were very polite, asking if they could take an extra chair, making room on the elevator, waiting in lines, etc.

 

No real comments on the itinerary. Have been to all these islands before so skipped the tours and didn’t even bother to get off the ship in San Juan. Short evening stay on New Year’s Day so there was no point going into town. We did enjoy the beach day on Catalina Island. Again, ample chairs and umbrellas for anyone who wanted them.

 

We did take a catamaran snorkeling tour that afternoon ($66 pp) and also enjoyed that very much. The guide on the boat (not a Costa staffer) was fluent in at least five languages.

 

All in all, we had a great time and it more than met our expectations. But then we didn’t go in with high expectations given the price of the cruise and the lukewarm reviews we read. It was on the par with many of the mass market cruises we’ve taken and we would certainly go again, but Princess (even with the mediocre food) still remains my favorite.

[monicajay]

Thanks for your well written and balanced review. Although I am going on the Mediteranea, my MIL is going on the Furtuna on March 16th so I am checking out all the reviews for her.

 

I speak perfect French and bad spanish along with my English so I'm sure it won't take a day or two and I will be working on my Italian:eek: .

 

Yes, Americans need to start understanding that English is not the only language.

[Ice Queen]

I speak high school French and a modicum of Italian learned from audio tapes before my last visit there. I did try to speak what little Italian (Buon Giorno, Buena Sera, Si, Grazie, Prego, Due Cappuccini, etc. ) I know to the Italian staff and I think it makes a difference. They appreciate the attempt even it you botch it. The photographer was stiff and unsmiling but when I spoke my little Italian, he smiled and softened.

[retdon]

Ice Queen,

I agree with most of what you have said about the Fortuna. We also got an unbelieveable price for a holiday sailing and being with our family was great.

 

Speaking of rude, we may have come in contact with a passenger(s) who was having a "bad" day and that was why they were rude. We never saw or heard a crew member who was rude to anyone. The crew were trying to be very helpful even if they could not speak the best English.

 

Yes, I agree, we should speak more than English. My DH is fluent in Spanish and uses it when he can.

 

Most of the upset children we saw were in the evening when they were tired from a long day. I am sure the change in routine was hard on the very little folks. My DH and others in our group did see kids in the adult pool and hot tubs. He said they were running and pushing each other in the water. I also saw teens (13-15 yo) playing the slot machines in the evening.

 

If you notice my signature we have sailed on different lines but had a good experience on Princess and great food. We really like HAL and X (except the last Zenith cruise, ship really needed to be retired, worn out). We will probably try RCL the next time, been a while since we went on it and have heard a lot of good things about the new freedom class of ships they have.

 

Every cruise is an adventure and like you, we sail for the ship and not the ports. A cruise is the ultimate vacation, everything is done for you and we love it. You could say a cruise is like a dart game, sometimes you hit the bullseye and other times you don't. As each day is an adventure, you learn as you go and we found out we prefer the "US" cruise lines more.

[Ice Queen]

I like your attitude about cruising. All are an adventure, some are better than others but they all beat sitting at home, or in my case, working.

[abitaturbodog]

Ice Queen - Thanks for taking the time to post a review! I'm relieved that you had a very opposite opinion of the Fortuna than the other reviewer. We're sailing on her in 2 months and look forward to being able to compare the Mediterranea and Fortuna ourselves.