First impressions will last a lifetime. We were not thrilled the moment we walked onboard the Fortuna. Our experience was not good. Luckily we went with 3 other couples so we had great company! We made the most of our cruise and had a good time. But we will never sail with Costa again, even if we are given a free trip with Costa. Don't bother wasting your money! Save it and choice another cruise line.

So, we are just coming off of our cruise on Costa's Fortuna. We sailed March 9 - 16, 2008. Just like most other reviews we read, this one is no different. We are experienced cruisers, and have sailed many other times, with different cruise lines before, but in a nut shell, we will NEVER sail with Costa again. We should have done our homework before booking. If we had, we would have known this is a Carnival Owned and Operated cruise line. I do not like Carnival, never will sail with them or Costa ever again. Easy check in. We arrived around 11am, checked in, walked onboard, rooms were not ready, so we went to enjoy a lunch buffet. Food was luke warm, nothing was piping hot. Nothing all week was hot except one night in the dining room. It was a type of pasta. After 2pm there is not a choice of different foods. You get salad or pizza till after 7 when the dinner buffet opens. After 9, there pizza comes back. Pizza was no better than a frozen one you can make at home. Dining room sucked. Our waiters did not acknowledge us most of the time until we rose our voices and waved our hands in the air to get their attention. Drinks were not refilled. Our glasses sat empty for a good 10-15 minutes before we could get anyone's attention. Food was not good on this ship. It was edible, but not hot. Nothing to different than your average food you can make at home. Dinner lasted from 8:45pm to 10:45pm every night. We missed most of the shows because of the way to slow and late dinners.

Because Costa is Italian, Americans were outnumbered. YES! Italians are rude, pushy, and do not know what excuse me is. Costa crew members, for the most part, are friendly. It is the passengers you have to look out for. Our friendliest Costa crew member was our room stewardess. Ana was great! We had our teen kids, so we had 2 rooms. She took care of us. Gave us items when we asked for them, took care of issue as we asked. We never were made to wait for anything. Very good service. My only complaint, we never received any animals or cutesy things made out of towels (like other cruises before) and only one nite we received chocolate mints before bed. Costa Fortuna is a very complicated ship. It is hard to maneuver your way around this ship. Other cruise lines are simple. For whatever reason, Costa has decided that on all their ships, people will get exercise going from one place to another. Nothing is a straight shot. You go upstairs, to cross this hall, go down three flights, walk again, go up one flight of stairs, walk another hall, and finally make it to your destination. And we always get our room(s) in the middle of the ship, by stairs & elevators, to make getting places, easy on us. Read more