Background Information: We are a family of five, but only four of us were on this cruise—DH and myself (early-mid 40s), and two boys ages almost 16 and 11 years. This was my 7th cruise, DH's 6th, and the boys' 3rd-4th. We have previously cruised with NCL and Carnival on itineraries ranging from 3 to 7 days (3, 4, 5, and 7 days). We had previously done Western Caribbean itineraries and the Bahamas/Florida. We have previously sailed out of Miami, Tampa, Port Canaveral, and Charleston, SC. This was our first cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, as well as our first try on an Eastern Caribbean itinerary, (with the exception of the cruise I did with my parents when I was about 12 years old). DH and I have now been on 6 cruises in 7 years, both with and without kids along.

This was a "southeastern" itinerary on Costa Fortuna March 16-23, 2008, out of Ft. Lauderdale. The ports were San Juan, St. Martin, Tortola, and Nassau for 7 days. We purchased our cabins through an online cruise agent that we had used before with good results. There was a group on this cruise—rock and roll group there to see Three Dog Night and the Lovin' Spoonful. We were not part of that group, but they seemed to be having a good time, and their presence had no affect whatsoever on our experience of the cruise (other than meeting many of them through Cruise critic—great people!). I guess what I mean is, the fact that this was a themed group cruise did not change our cruise experience for the negative. Hardly knew they were there.

Costa is an Italian cruise line, owned by Carnival. The Italian/European flair was different from previous cruises with Carnival and NCL, but was a positive aspect for us. If I do mention negatives in my review, it is only for the sake of objectivity. Any negatives were very minor, and did not affect our overall cruise experience. Read more