Trip report - Costa Fortuna 1-10 - 17 - really long

;-) = like
:-( = don't like

1-10-2010 - Embarkation Day - Brrrrrrrr, it's cold in Ft. Lauderdale

;-) - Quick baggage drop-off, embarkation (we got to the pier at 11:45 and
was on the ship by 12 noon. Once we got to the cabin found out that this
inside cabin (1214) actually has two portholes which allows in plenty of
light. While not as good as a picture window (ocean-view) cabin for a $299
per person cabin it is great. I really feel for those that paid a lot more
for a true inside cabin.

Good soft-serve ice cream (gelato) in the buffet area until about 9:00 PM
(time apparently varies each night when they close it down.)

Dinner - I had shrimp cocktail, chilled pear and cantaloupe soup, Caesar
salad, prime rib and vanilla gelato. Wife had garden salad, pork dinner.
She says was very good. Good chocolate soufflé with orange cream sauce.

Show - Welcome aboard show. Singers Liz Roxburgh and Umberto Noto were both
good singers. Look forward to hearing more from them. Acrobats Gaby &
Norbi were some of the best I have ever seen (including those from Cirque
shows in Las Vegas.) Dancers were so-so.

Casino - quite a few tables and loads of slot machines if you like that type
of entertainment. No craps table. 1 Poker Pro machine.

General impression of the ship. Clean and décor is great. One of the
prettiest ships I have been on. Layout isn't really great but it is very
adequate. On this ship you do have the ability to go from bow to stern
inside on decks 1, 2, 5-8. Decks 3 & 4 are blocked by the galley between
the two formal dining rooms. Deck 9 and above are broken up by pool area or
are totally outside areas. All announcements are given in 5 languages
(English, French, Spanish, German, and of course, Italian but not
necessarily in that order.) This is a very cross-cultural group on the
ship, more so than on any other cruise I have been on.

:-( - Once on the ship, if early you can't go to the cabin until it is ready
and that will be sometime after 1:30 PM. ? & ? They do have carry-on
baggage check areas set up on the ship so you don't have to carry them to
the buffet area but don't tell you anything about them during check-in and
they are not marked at all, just someone standing behind a rope that doesn't
speak to you. You are directed to the buffet on deck 9 to wait for cabin
opening. Unfortunately the line at the buffet was extremely long and slow
moving. Food was only so-so. Not really hot. People don't know all the
facts and figures when they should. We kept getting different answers from
different people for simple questions like where to find out where our
specialty dinner reservations could be verified. The Maître d' said one
thing, a person directing people at the customer service desk said a second
thing and customer service said a third. Customer service finally fixed the
issue by setting the reservation while we waited.

TV - standard on-ship channels for excursions, previous night not-so-nearly
newlywed show, cruise info, etc. No movies and only shore-based channels is
CNN during the day and ABC and NBC or CBS at night. Reception is apparently
very poor as the ABC etc. channels break up a lot for us English speakers.
Many of the channels are in other languages but again, no movies.

Dinner - boy what a disaster for service but the food was fairly good for
table 410, early seating. Unfortunately we got a new assistant waiter who
really did not know his job at all. We sat for 15 minutes before we got
water on the table. I did not have a napkin for 35 minutes after sitting at
the table seat that did not have one even after asking for one two times.
We had not been served the main entrée after sitting there for 1:15. Long
wait times between finishing a course and getting the next course. We were
the slowest table group in the restaurant. Apparently they did not have
enough menus to go around as each two people had to share a menu. While the
waiter apologized and another assistant waiter did eventually bring water to
the table the service was unacceptable and the Maître d' apparently could
have cared less as he was told about it and did nothing other than leave the
area. No improvement in service.

Cocktails - while not really expensive the 20% port charge (while in port)
was bad. For soft-drink drinkers they do not have any kind of drink program
like many of the other cruise lines. Each 12 oz can of soda is $2.75 + 15%
gratuity and 20% port charges while in port.

Casino - all slots are coin in/out and will accept coins or cash. No
tickets or using your cruise card like some other lines. Funniest thing I
saw and unfortunately is really fixed is the 4 coin flipping machines they
have. They have a pack of 100 one dollar bills on the coin table as a prize
but the way the packs are fixed there is no way they will ever drop. They
are wedged onto the overflow area cover on the left side of the coin table
(the overflow area is the part where the coins on the left and right side of
the coin table drop as profit to the casino) and I just can't believe the
number of people who are playing the dumbest game on the ship.

1-11-10 - At sea day - Formal night - warm but damp

;-) - Easy pace of the ship - you are not rushed at all. The ship doesn't
seem to have as many planned activities as I have seen on other cruise
brands.

:-( - Lunch in formal dining room - Just like the buffet area there is not a
wide selection to order from on the menu. Since I have an allergy to
mushrooms I have an even more limited selection.

;-) - Dinner - service was much better than last night. They moved in
another asst. waiter to help the first one. Both of us had surf and turf
which was a fillet and tiger prawns (2). Our meals were cooked just right
and tasted good. Person at end of our table ordered the same meal medium
rare. It came out looking medium and was so tough I could have resoled my
shoes with it. Waiter did take it back and promptly tried to bring her
another but she said she was pretty full and not to bother but could she
have more prawns. He brought her out 4 very quickly which satisfied her.

The "show" that some of the waiters put on during dinner with various types
of dances on the stairs between the two levels of the dining room on most
nights was better than the standard lineups that most of the ships do in the
Caribbean. A lot of laughs and cheers from the audience.

Show - "In Concert" - Pretty much a repeat of most of the other cruise lines
"best hits" from their singers. They did from Elvis to Pink Floyd. Songs
were good and only heard one off note the entire evening. Dancers again
were so-so.

1-12-10 - At Sea - Sunny, warm - Earthquake in Haiti - pray for all the
people injured and killed there.

:-( - Lunch - buffet and grill. Finally got through the buffet lines to get
a salad then went to get burgers at the grill. Another line. All self
serve and the burgers were not really hot from the steam table. They were
just warm.

Tuscan Steakhouse specialty restaurant - located on deck 11 above the buffet
area you do hear the noise of the buffet below through the open 3 deck
atrium. Service was really inconsistent and in one instant downright
dangerous throughout the dinner which did last 2.5 hours. While the food
tasted good it wasn't worth the extra $30 per person. I had Caesar salad
with actual anchovies on top (this wasn't as good as the actual Caesar salad
served in the regular restaurant,) French Onion soup (fair,) and then the
main course which was two tiger prawns, a little asparagus, "deep fried"
potatoes (steak fries,) and for desert Crème Brule which was tasteless. The
wife had a garden salad, the French Onion soup, a fillet and chocolate tower
for desert. The tower was the best part of the meal for her too. As for
the service, the place was not crowded as there were many open tables and
with the number of waiters, assistant waiters and bar personnel there
service should have been impeccable. We waited 10 minutes for water service
after sitting down and since we were the third couple seated this was
unacceptable. Ordering was again a chore as the waiter could not understand
simple English. Now the dangerous service. When the table next to us had
their entrée order delivered it was the wrong order, it was ours. When it
was brought to the attention of the waiter she removed the order and later
brought it to us as it was our order. In any decent restaurant in the world
this would not happen. Once food is delivered to one table it is NEVER
redelivered to another table. The only reason we accepted it was that we
knew the people it was originally delivered to but is should not have been
attempted by the waiter in the first place. The people who received our
order waited another 10 minutes for their entrée and they placed their order
and finished the previous course before us. Not an enjoyable evening for
us.

;-) - Show - Had a tenor singing that did Andrea Bocelli and he actually
sounded better on most of the songs than Bocelli did. A great voice and
show.

1-13-10 - St. Thomas - Sunny, warm

;-) - easy off the ship. Just put the barcode of the cruise card to the bar
code reader at the exit and you are off (entry is just as easy as you scan
your own barcode and your picture show up and the person at security
verifies your picture against you.) Ensure that you have a standard
government issue photo-id such as driver's license or passport as well as
cruise card as they are needed to be shown to port security prior to getting
to the ship. Once at the ship you only need the cruise card.

Took a taxi-bus into downtown from Havensight area where we docked ($4
each.) Walked the streets of St. Thomas looking for the great jewelry buy
but finding none did find a deal on Diet Coke and purchased 3 20 oz bottles.
Drank one and took two back to the ship (which we were able to get through
security.) St. Thomas has not changed much in all the years we have come
her on cruise ships but this time it seemed very uncrowded, not the mass of
humanity we have come to know and love on the shopping streets of Charlotte
Amalie.

Dinner - service much better. They seem to get better with age. Still not
as efficient as all previous cruise lines. By now each person should have
their drink of choice waiting when they sit down but this isn't happening

:-( - Singer doing Frank Sinatra and other's songs. He should have stayed
home. Doing comedy show later and we won't go. Jokes he did tonight were
stale and more akin to a Las Vegas act than a cruise ship. Boring.

1-14-10 - San Juan - ? Raining all day (reported to have had two record
setting rain days)

;-) - San Juan and Barcardi tour. Boarding was efficient and all leaving
the ship were given inexpensive but necessary rain ponchos to protect the
dry clothing. We had a covered walkway from the ship to just before the bus
(25 passenger.) When we finally got off the bus at Barcardi it had
temporarily stopped raining so a dry walk to the area where the tour groups
were concentrated and also where they serve the two 'free' drinks. Tour has
changed much since we did it 10 years or more ago. Now it is all done in a
staged manner similar to many other manufacturers and you don't actually get
into the plant to see the actual operations. All-in-all however an
enjoyable experience. Remember, however, if you want to purchase Barcardi
brand rum do so in St. Thomas, not in the factory tour as the price in St.
Thomas was $1.00 - $2.00 a liter cheaper (in A.H. Rise) than the factory
tour for Silver or Gold label.

Dinner - I had their Turkey dinner tonight and it was hot, flavorful and
just the right amount with salad and soup before and dessert after. The
only issue I have with the dessert is that pumpkin pie is supposed to have
some flavor. This was totally flavorless and needed the side of candied
fruit to help it out.

:-( - Again, nothing today was really disappointing.

1-15-10 - Grand Turk - Formal night - Sunny, warm

;-) - As we just went to Grand Turk in March we have done just about
everything we wanted to do on the island. Walked in to the port area and
did a little shopping. Went to Margaritaville for a drink (ouch $22.00 for
two drinks) and they were good on this nice warm day.

Got caught up in the casino tonight where I recovered almost all of my
losses (wife did pretty well today too) so I did not get in to see tonight's
show. Later heard people talking about it and they said it was pretty much
the same as the second nights show.

:-( - Leaving port early. This ship because of it's itinerary leaves port
1-3 hours earlier than most other ships I have been on. Cuts down on the
actual time in port to do things on your own. St. Thomas 8-6, San Juan 8-4,
Grand Turk 12-6

1-16-10 - At Sea - Toga night - cooler and some showers

;-) - Luggage handlers at night. Barely heard them unlike some other ships
I have been on where they wake you up in the night banging luggage and carts
into the walls. 1 AM luggage out time. Some Princess ships have an earlier
time to avoid waking people but this ship's crew shows that it can be done
very late without issues.

;-) & :-( - Customer service - When I went to the customer service area to
get a charge taken off the bill that should not have been there and also to
have the "required" automatically applied gratuity taken off the account,
once I got all the paperwork together the process went smoothly. They
require a photo ID from every person that has a name on the bill. That was
the only holdup. The people at the desk this time seemed to want to make
everyone happy.

Now to dispel the naysayers, I did not stiff anyone that deserved a
gratuity. I actually gave the cabin steward more than she would have gotten
from the ship if I had left things as it was because of her exemplary
service. The waiter and asst. waiter got the standard amounts because of
the service they attempted to give (even though I should have deducted
amounts from both of them.) The Maître d' got nothing. This is the first
cruise that we never got to speak directly with the assistant or head Maître
d' on the ship except for trying to change table assignments early in the
cruise that never happened (thank God for good table partners.) Most of the
time they at least visit the table once during the cruise. Ours went to
every table except for ours. I guess he didn't want to hear complaining
because of the service.

1-17-10 - Ft. Lauderdale - disembarkation

;-) - The process for this ship seems to run smoothly. We were given a
time of 8:45 AM to be getting off the ship and at 8:46 AM we were all in the
Rex theatre (our meeting point) and the announcement was made that it was
our time to depart. We were guided though the ship to the gangway, scanned
our card one last time and we were off.

The luggage area seemed like it had less of each color tag than previous
ships so it was really easy to spot and retrieve our luggage. That process
took all of 2 minutes for the luggage and another 5 waiting for customs and
immigration. They actually took our customs forms and looked at them this
time. (My last Princess cruise no one wanted to take the customs form.)
From the announcement until we were off the ship and waiting for our
transportation was less than 15 minutes. Now that is great service.

Summary: Would I take another Costa cruise? Yes as long as the cost is
reasonable. The food is adequate but not great in any of the locations I
ate. Service was really hit or miss throughout the cruise. Some areas were
wonderful while others sucked. If you can get through the sucked times the
wonderful times will await you to make it enjoyable. The Fortuna is a well
laid out ship with great decorations and while it is a fairly large ship
with over 3000 guests, it didn't feel crowded at any time except when they
put up the damn sale tables in the walkways. That causes congestion on any
of the cruise ships.

Hope you enjoy this loooong read as much as I enjoyed the cruise. Any
further questions, please ask away and I'll attempt to answer them.

Forgot about smoking...

Not a real big issue. They apparently do allow smoking in the cabins
but I did not notice any really bad odors in the hallways. My cabin was
fresh without stale smoke odor. The bars and casino (slots side only) were
full of smoke but this isn't any different than any other cruise line. No
smoking in the restaurants or lavatories is posted. Of course your mileage
may vary if you happen to get someone who can't read or just doesn't care.

LVTravel wrote:
Forgot about smoking...

Not a real big issue. They apparently do allow smoking in the cabins
but I did not notice any really bad odors in the hallways. My cabin was
fresh without stale smoke odor. The bars and casino (slots side only)
were full of smoke but this isn't any different than any other cruise
line. No smoking in the restaurants or lavatories is posted. Of course
your mileage may vary if you happen to get someone who can't read or
just doesn't care.


Nice report. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

I've never been on Costa but your experience mirrors what I hear from
many people.

If the price is right, it can be a good value and if you know what to
expect and adjust your attitude accordingly, you can have a good vacation.

--

George Leppla

Countryside Travel http://www.CruiseMaster.com
Blog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CruiseMaster

Enjoyed your report on the trip,will consider this ship sometime in the
future,right now we are going on explorer of the seas for 12 days from
cape liberty,we hesitate to fly any where any more,too much hassel





cruise lover(~~~~~)






..

(LVTravel) wroote;

Forgot about smoking...
********
Not a real big issue. They apparently do
allow smoking in the cabins but I did not notice
any really bad odors in the hallways. My cabin
was fresh without stale smoke odor. The bars
and casino (slots side only) were full of smoke
but this isn't any different than any other cruise
line. No smoking in the restaurants or
lavatories is posted. Of course your mileage
may vary if you happen to get someone who
can't read or just doesn't care.

Thanks for the detailed review.

We took our first cruise in 2002 for our 25th anniversary, and ended up
on the Splendour of the Seas in the Western Mediterranean. We seriously
considered Costa for the more "authentic" experience, but the smoking
issue was the final determining factor against choosing them. I Imagine
that it still is a bigger deterrent on their European cruises than their
Western hemisphere cruises.

One question---do they try to match up their wait staff by the languages
of the guests at their table? Or, are the menus printed in the same
several languages as the announcements?

"Jeff Gersten" wrote in message
...
(LVTravel) wroote;

Forgot about smoking...

Not a real big issue. They apparently do
allow smoking in the cabins but I did not notice
any really bad odors in the hallways. My cabin
was fresh without stale smoke odor. The bars
and casino (slots side only) were full of smoke
but this isn't any different than any other cruise
line. No smoking in the restaurants or
lavatories is posted. Of course your mileage
may vary if you happen to get someone who
can't read or just doesn't care.

Thanks for the detailed review.

We took our first cruise in 2002 for our 25th anniversary, and ended up
on the Splendour of the Seas in the Western Mediterranean. We seriously
considered Costa for the more "authentic" experience, but the smoking
issue was the final determining factor against choosing them. I Imagine
that it still is a bigger deterrent on their European cruises than their
Western hemisphere cruises.

One question---do they try to match up their wait staff by the languages
of the guests at their table? Or, are the menus printed in the same
several languages as the announcements?


They do have individual language menus for the various 5 languages spoken on
the ship. One thing I did notice is that many of their staff are really
multilingual (some speaking all 5 of the languages prevalent on the ship.)
There is no matching of guests by staff languages as you mentioned. It is
really hit or miss what native language your wait staff have.

Surfer E2468 wrote:
Enjoyed your report on the trip,will consider this ship sometime in the
future,right now we are going on explorer of the seas for 12 days from
cape liberty,we hesitate to fly any where any more,too much hassel

Annie, I had a wonderful time on the Explorer. I saw the ice show
twice, once from the 2nd row, and the second time I was sitting farther
back, but there is not a bad seat in the house. It looks good, no
matter where you sit.


They have a movie theater on the 2nd Deck forward, it was near the
meeting rooms, so they have nice, large bathrooms, so you rarely have to
wait. I like the Sanctuary, it is adults only, nice and quiet with
comfortable, cushioned chairs. I think you have been on one of these
ships before. Hope you and your husband have a wonderful time.


Becca

Thanks for the great report. I'm going on a Costa cruise in April. Was a
little hesitant about it, but now I'm happy. I'm easy to get along with on
a cruise. I never complain. I'm away from home and doing just fun stuff.
How bad is that?

Hugs,
Helen

"LVTravel" wrote in message
...
;-) = like
:-( = don't like

1-10-2010 - Embarkation Day - Brrrrrrrr, it's cold in Ft. Lauderdale

;-) - Quick baggage drop-off, embarkation (we got to the pier at 11:45
and was on the ship by 12 noon. Once we got to the cabin found out that
this inside cabin (1214) actually has two portholes which allows in plenty
of light. While not as good as a picture window (ocean-view) cabin for a
$299 per person cabin it is great. I really feel for those that paid a
lot more for a true inside cabin.

Good soft-serve ice cream (gelato) in the buffet area until about 9:00 PM
(time apparently varies each night when they close it down.)

Dinner - I had shrimp cocktail, chilled pear and cantaloupe soup, Caesar
salad, prime rib and vanilla gelato. Wife had garden salad, pork dinner.
She says was very good. Good chocolate soufflé with orange cream sauce.

Show - Welcome aboard show. Singers Liz Roxburgh and Umberto Noto were
both good singers. Look forward to hearing more from them. Acrobats Gaby
& Norbi were some of the best I have ever seen (including those from
Cirque shows in Las Vegas.) Dancers were so-so.

Casino - quite a few tables and loads of slot machines if you like that
type of entertainment. No craps table. 1 Poker Pro machine.

General impression of the ship. Clean and décor is great. One of the
prettiest ships I have been on. Layout isn't really great but it is very
adequate. On this ship you do have the ability to go from bow to stern
inside on decks 1, 2, 5-8. Decks 3 & 4 are blocked by the galley between
the two formal dining rooms. Deck 9 and above are broken up by pool area
or are totally outside areas. All announcements are given in 5 languages
(English, French, Spanish, German, and of course, Italian but not
necessarily in that order.) This is a very cross-cultural group on the
ship, more so than on any other cruise I have been on.

:-( - Once on the ship, if early you can't go to the cabin until it is
ready and that will be sometime after 1:30 PM. ? & ? They do have
carry-on baggage check areas set up on the ship so you don't have to carry
them to the buffet area but don't tell you anything about them during
check-in and they are not marked at all, just someone standing behind a
rope that doesn't speak to you. You are directed to the buffet on deck 9
to wait for cabin opening. Unfortunately the line at the buffet was
extremely long and slow moving. Food was only so-so. Not really hot.
People don't know all the facts and figures when they should. We kept
getting different answers from different people for simple questions like
where to find out where our specialty dinner reservations could be
verified. The Maître d' said one thing, a person directing people at the
customer service desk said a second thing and customer service said a
third. Customer service finally fixed the issue by setting the
reservation while we waited.

TV - standard on-ship channels for excursions, previous night
not-so-nearly newlywed show, cruise info, etc. No movies and only
shore-based channels is CNN during the day and ABC and NBC or CBS at
night. Reception is apparently very poor as the ABC etc. channels break
up a lot for us English speakers. Many of the channels are in other
languages but again, no movies.

Dinner - boy what a disaster for service but the food was fairly good for
table 410, early seating. Unfortunately we got a new assistant waiter who
really did not know his job at all. We sat for 15 minutes before we got
water on the table. I did not have a napkin for 35 minutes after sitting
at the table seat that did not have one even after asking for one two
times. We had not been served the main entrée after sitting there for
1:15. Long wait times between finishing a course and getting the next
course. We were the slowest table group in the restaurant. Apparently
they did not have enough menus to go around as each two people had to
share a menu. While the waiter apologized and another assistant waiter
did eventually bring water to the table the service was unacceptable and
the Maître d' apparently could have cared less as he was told about it and
did nothing other than leave the area. No improvement in service.

Cocktails - while not really expensive the 20% port charge (while in port)
was bad. For soft-drink drinkers they do not have any kind of drink
program like many of the other cruise lines. Each 12 oz can of soda is
$2.75 + 15% gratuity and 20% port charges while in port.

Casino - all slots are coin in/out and will accept coins or cash. No
tickets or using your cruise card like some other lines. Funniest thing I
saw and unfortunately is really fixed is the 4 coin flipping machines they
have. They have a pack of 100 one dollar bills on the coin table as a
prize but the way the packs are fixed there is no way they will ever drop.
They are wedged onto the overflow area cover on the left side of the coin
table (the overflow area is the part where the coins on the left and right
side of the coin table drop as profit to the casino) and I just can't
believe the number of people who are playing the dumbest game on the ship.

1-11-10 - At sea day - Formal night - warm but damp

;-) - Easy pace of the ship - you are not rushed at all. The ship doesn't
seem to have as many planned activities as I have seen on other cruise
brands.

:-( - Lunch in formal dining room - Just like the buffet area there is not
a wide selection to order from on the menu. Since I have an allergy to
mushrooms I have an even more limited selection.

;-) - Dinner - service was much better than last night. They moved in
another asst. waiter to help the first one. Both of us had surf and turf
which was a fillet and tiger prawns (2). Our meals were cooked just right
and tasted good. Person at end of our table ordered the same meal medium
rare. It came out looking medium and was so tough I could have resoled my
shoes with it. Waiter did take it back and promptly tried to bring her
another but she said she was pretty full and not to bother but could she
have more prawns. He brought her out 4 very quickly which satisfied her.

The "show" that some of the waiters put on during dinner with various
types of dances on the stairs between the two levels of the dining room on
most nights was better than the standard lineups that most of the ships do
in the Caribbean. A lot of laughs and cheers from the audience.

Show - "In Concert" - Pretty much a repeat of most of the other cruise
lines "best hits" from their singers. They did from Elvis to Pink Floyd.
Songs were good and only heard one off note the entire evening. Dancers
again were so-so.

1-12-10 - At Sea - Sunny, warm - Earthquake in Haiti - pray for all the
people injured and killed there.

:-( - Lunch - buffet and grill. Finally got through the buffet lines to
get a salad then went to get burgers at the grill. Another line. All
self serve and the burgers were not really hot from the steam table. They
were just warm.

Tuscan Steakhouse specialty restaurant - located on deck 11 above the
buffet area you do hear the noise of the buffet below through the open 3
deck atrium. Service was really inconsistent and in one instant downright
dangerous throughout the dinner which did last 2.5 hours. While the food
tasted good it wasn't worth the extra $30 per person. I had Caesar salad
with actual anchovies on top (this wasn't as good as the actual Caesar
salad served in the regular restaurant,) French Onion soup (fair,) and
then the main course which was two tiger prawns, a little asparagus, "deep
fried" potatoes (steak fries,) and for desert Crème Brule which was
tasteless. The wife had a garden salad, the French Onion soup, a fillet
and chocolate tower for desert. The tower was the best part of the meal
for her too. As for the service, the place was not crowded as there were
many open tables and with the number of waiters, assistant waiters and bar
personnel there service should have been impeccable. We waited 10 minutes
for water service after sitting down and since we were the third couple
seated this was unacceptable. Ordering was again a chore as the waiter
could not understand simple English. Now the dangerous service. When the
table next to us had their entrée order delivered it was the wrong order,
it was ours. When it was brought to the attention of the waiter she
removed the order and later brought it to us as it was our order. In any
decent restaurant in the world this would not happen. Once food is
delivered to one table it is NEVER redelivered to another table. The only
reason we accepted it was that we knew the people it was originally
delivered to but is should not have been attempted by the waiter in the
first place. The people who received our order waited another 10 minutes
for their entrée and they placed their order and finished the previous
course before us. Not an enjoyable evening for us.

;-) - Show - Had a tenor singing that did Andrea Bocelli and he actually
sounded better on most of the songs than Bocelli did. A great voice and
show.

1-13-10 - St. Thomas - Sunny, warm

;-) - easy off the ship. Just put the barcode of the cruise card to the
bar code reader at the exit and you are off (entry is just as easy as you
scan your own barcode and your picture show up and the person at security
verifies your picture against you.) Ensure that you have a standard
government issue photo-id such as driver's license or passport as well as
cruise card as they are needed to be shown to port security prior to
getting to the ship. Once at the ship you only need the cruise card.

Took a taxi-bus into downtown from Havensight area where we docked ($4
each.) Walked the streets of St. Thomas looking for the great jewelry buy
but finding none did find a deal on Diet Coke and purchased 3 20 oz
bottles. Drank one and took two back to the ship (which we were able to
get through security.) St. Thomas has not changed much in all the years
we have come her on cruise ships but this time it seemed very uncrowded,
not the mass of humanity we have come to know and love on the shopping
streets of Charlotte Amalie.

Dinner - service much better. They seem to get better with age. Still
not as efficient as all previous cruise lines. By now each person should
have their drink of choice waiting when they sit down but this isn't
happening

:-( - Singer doing Frank Sinatra and other's songs. He should have stayed
home. Doing comedy show later and we won't go. Jokes he did tonight were
stale and more akin to a Las Vegas act than a cruise ship. Boring.

1-14-10 - San Juan - ? Raining all day (reported to have had two record
setting rain days)

;-) - San Juan and Barcardi tour. Boarding was efficient and all leaving
the ship were given inexpensive but necessary rain ponchos to protect the
dry clothing. We had a covered walkway from the ship to just before the
bus (25 passenger.) When we finally got off the bus at Barcardi it had
temporarily stopped raining so a dry walk to the area where the tour
groups were concentrated and also where they serve the two 'free' drinks.
Tour has changed much since we did it 10 years or more ago. Now it is all
done in a staged manner similar to many other manufacturers and you don't
actually get into the plant to see the actual operations. All-in-all
however an enjoyable experience. Remember, however, if you want to
purchase Barcardi brand rum do so in St. Thomas, not in the factory tour
as the price in St. Thomas was $1.00 - $2.00 a liter cheaper (in A.H.
Rise) than the factory tour for Silver or Gold label.

Dinner - I had their Turkey dinner tonight and it was hot, flavorful and
just the right amount with salad and soup before and dessert after. The
only issue I have with the dessert is that pumpkin pie is supposed to have
some flavor. This was totally flavorless and needed the side of candied
fruit to help it out.

:-( - Again, nothing today was really disappointing.

1-15-10 - Grand Turk - Formal night - Sunny, warm

;-) - As we just went to Grand Turk in March we have done just about
everything we wanted to do on the island. Walked in to the port area and
did a little shopping. Went to Margaritaville for a drink (ouch $22.00
for two drinks) and they were good on this nice warm day.

Got caught up in the casino tonight where I recovered almost all of my
losses (wife did pretty well today too) so I did not get in to see
tonight's show. Later heard people talking about it and they said it was
pretty much the same as the second nights show.

:-( - Leaving port early. This ship because of it's itinerary leaves port
1-3 hours earlier than most other ships I have been on. Cuts down on the
actual time in port to do things on your own. St. Thomas 8-6, San Juan
8-4, Grand Turk 12-6

1-16-10 - At Sea - Toga night - cooler and some showers

;-) - Luggage handlers at night. Barely heard them unlike some other
ships I have been on where they wake you up in the night banging luggage
and carts into the walls. 1 AM luggage out time. Some Princess ships
have an earlier time to avoid waking people but this ship's crew shows
that it can be done very late without issues.

;-) & :-( - Customer service - When I went to the customer service area to
get a charge taken off the bill that should not have been there and also
to have the "required" automatically applied gratuity taken off the
account, once I got all the paperwork together the process went smoothly.
They require a photo ID from every person that has a name on the bill.
That was the only holdup. The people at the desk this time seemed to want
to make everyone happy.

Now to dispel the naysayers, I did not stiff anyone that deserved a
gratuity. I actually gave the cabin steward more than she would have
gotten from the ship if I had left things as it was because of her
exemplary service. The waiter and asst. waiter got the standard amounts
because of the service they attempted to give (even though I should have
deducted amounts from both of them.) The Maître d' got nothing. This is
the first cruise that we never got to speak directly with the assistant or
head Maître d' on the ship except for trying to change table assignments
early in the cruise that never happened (thank God for good table
partners.) Most of the time they at least visit the table once during the
cruise. Ours went to every table except for ours. I guess he didn't want
to hear complaining because of the service.

1-17-10 - Ft. Lauderdale - disembarkation

;-) - The process for this ship seems to run smoothly. We were given a
time of 8:45 AM to be getting off the ship and at 8:46 AM we were all in
the Rex theatre (our meeting point) and the announcement was made that it
was our time to depart. We were guided though the ship to the gangway,
scanned our card one last time and we were off.

The luggage area seemed like it had less of each color tag than previous
ships so it was really easy to spot and retrieve our luggage. That process
took all of 2 minutes for the luggage and another 5 waiting for customs
and immigration. They actually took our customs forms and looked at them
this time. (My last Princess cruise no one wanted to take the customs
form.) From the announcement until we were off the ship and waiting for
our transportation was less than 15 minutes. Now that is great service.

Summary: Would I take another Costa cruise? Yes as long as the cost is
reasonable. The food is adequate but not great in any of the locations I
ate. Service was really hit or miss throughout the cruise. Some areas
were wonderful while others sucked. If you can get through the sucked
times the wonderful times will await you to make it enjoyable. The
Fortuna is a well laid out ship with great decorations and while it is a
fairly large ship with over 3000 guests, it didn't feel crowded at any
time except when they put up the damn sale tables in the walkways. That
causes congestion on any of the cruise ships.

Hope you enjoy this loooong read as much as I enjoyed the cruise. Any
further questions, please ask away and I'll attempt to answer them.

"Gaga6" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the great report. I'm going on a Costa cruise in April. Was a
little hesitant about it, but now I'm happy. I'm easy to get along with
on a cruise. I never complain. I'm away from home and doing just fun
stuff. How bad is that?

Hugs,
Helen


Not bad at all. I also don't complain a lot on cruises and this one really
wasn't that bad. Just a few things that I didn't like.

I hope you have a blast on your cruise in April and wish you the best in
everything on the cruise.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:48:41 -0500, "Gaga6" wrote:

Thanks for the great report. I'm going on a Costa cruise in April. Was a
little hesitant about it, but now I'm happy. I'm easy to get along with on
a cruise. I never complain. I'm away from home and doing just fun stuff.
How bad is that?

You had to quote the entire message and then top post???

You are a moron.