Costa Fortuna - Med in May/June

[elotfan]

well, at least by not being able to book excursions ahead of time, we don't have to decide until we get there!

 

does anyone know how soon in advance we need to fill out the embarkation form, and whether or not we need to print off a copy to take with us? and, correct me if i'm wrong, but we don't need to fill out our passport information on the embarkation form...right? (i seem to recall that it is not "required" information...i am a little bit leery of submitting passport information on the web...has anyone filled this out yet?)

 

wow - the time is flying by...soon enough we'll be on the ship!!!

 

jocey

[rico100]

I was under the impression that they will not release your documents until the embarkation form is completed. You should complete the form ASAP.

When I filled out the form, there was no asterisk beside the passport number box. I assume that the number is not required.

 

Eric

[elotfan]

well, the forms are all filled out and the travel agent expects that our documents should be in next week!!! :D this vacation is fast becoming a reality, and i haven't even decided what i need to pack yet! i guess the next step for me is getting some euro...good thing our dollar is strong these days!

 

can't wait til we leave!

 

jocey

[elotfan]

docs are in!!! this is really starting to feel real now!!!

[rico100]

Jocey,

 

We received our Docs today. Reality is setting in.

I have tried to source options regarding Segesta in Sicily. There is very little information regarding half day tours. I did get some information regarding the train from Palermo to Segesta. Our stay in port is from 8:00am to 7:00pm. There is a train leaving Palermo at 9:40 am, arriving in Segesta at 11:23am. The return leaves Segesta at 2:50pm and arrives in Palermo at 4:35pm. The price is Euro5.2/person each way. The Palermo train station is approx. 2 km from port. I still need to confirm the distance from the Segesta train station to the temple. I think I read somewhere that it is approx. 1 km. I will try to confirm this. If you want to confirm the train details, you can Google Trenitalia and it will provide you with the info.

Hope this helps.:D

 

Eric

[DavidTravels]

We're back from the Costa Fortuna May 8th cruise and overall we had a great time.

 

We left on May 6th with Skyservice. There was a mix up with the Classe Superior seating; however, they gave all of us $300 vouchers so we really couldn't complain. The plane had not been reconfigured for the wider seats (won't be done until June) so they left one seat empty between every two passengers. Service was excellent and we arrived in Rome shortly after 11:00...transfer not so smooth as we waited at least an hour on the bus before leaving for the hotel. All buses arrived at the same time at Beverly Hills Hotel and everyone milling around the lobby looking for room keys. The transfer agents commented that it was the first cruise of the season so hopefully this minor glitch will be ironed out. We were in our room about 2:30 pm and the bus tour of Rome was at 4:00. We went to the Vatican and were let off the bus here, then a general tour of Rome followed by Trevi Fountain where we were again let off the bus. Return to hotel about 7:30 pm in time for the included cocktail party (great olives) and dinner.

 

Transfer in the morning to Naples was excellent. Good commentary on the way down to Naples and we arrived about 1:00 pm. System Costa uses for check in was very good. Since we arrived early for the 3:00 pm check in, we were assigned a numbered card and could then go around the cruise terminal and into the parking area (we couldn't leave to tour Naples though). At the check in area while we were waiting they had juices available and service personnel to promote the wine/water and/or pop packages. We bought the wine/water package for $117 Euro per couple.

 

Ship is beautiful, very clean (always people polishing etc) and our rooms were excellent. Our room (2434) was at the aft of the ship and was much larger than the standard outside...would be good for three adults since there was a couch. Our friends were in Cabin 8430 at the stern and had a double balcony. Only slight issue was lack of privacy between the balconies at the back; however, we seldom saw anyone else out on the balcony. We made good use of the balcony for sail in/sail out gatherings. Unlike other ships there is no rush for registering your credit card. We didn't do it until day four and there was no line up at all.

 

Majority of passengers were from either Italy, France or Germany. Ship carries approx 3000 pax and there were 240 English speaking. There is an English director who holds welcome aboard/departure meetings and is available for questions. The announcements in various languages didn't bother us..in fact, overall, there seemed to be few announcements. Either Sunquest or Costa didn't cross reference our reservations for dinner so you may want to check with the Maitre D before the first dinner (early is 7:00 pm and late is 9:45 pm..he was available from 6:00 pm) if you are planning on sitting with other people. Also, while we didn't have the Sunquest wine/water package available as an early booking bonus, there was mass uproar (all Sunquest passengers sit together) on the first night since there was no record of wine/water packages. The lady at the next table seemed to be the ring leader for complaining about this and kept at it for an hour. The English director resolved the issue (said they had to contact Miami Costa for clearance) and everyone had their wine on the second night.

 

Entertainment was good to great...lots of variety in both the showroom (an ex Platter, flamenco dancers, a Broadway type show called H2O) and in the lounges. We enjoyed watching all the ballroom dancing going on in a couple of the lounges. Shows are at 9:45 pm or at 11:45 pm. If you have late dinner this makes for a very late night after the show.

 

Food was mixed and service middling in the dining room. Soups were very salty (guess they generally are) and while nothing could be done about it, we did mention it to the waiter. He shrugged his shoulder and called over the Maitre D. The Maitre D looked at us as if we had two heads and said "Salty?" in an unbelieving voice and walked away. A simple "thank you for bringing it to my attention" (even if he did nothing) would have been better. A couple of fun events at dinner (IE: Italian night with singing and dancing). Suprisingly we found service better in the buffets at breakfast and in the lounges in the evening. We had very poor service at one lunch (open seating on the day you leave Tunis) and poor service from the Maitre D. The cocktail party on formal night was in the theatre (which extends over three floors) and was a simple event...difficult for the waiters to serve drinks to people sitting in theatre on floor two/three. Formal night was a mixed bag...we were in blazers/dress pants and felt fine. The gentleman at the table next to us was in a dress shirt and no tie...most people wore suits.

 

Getting people on and off the ship was expertly handled. We didn't have to wait at all...very well organized. The cruise is a port intensive one:

1. Palermo/Sicily...we walked into town and did a horse/buggy tour of the city. Cost $20 E each.

2. Tunis/Tunisia...we did ship excursion to Cathage/Sidi Bou Said and medina/souks. Cost $50 E each. Excellent tour guide and he commented that Tunis is appealing more and more to the tourist trade. Of course, we visited a carpet factory!

3. Palma/Mallorca...we did a taxi tour of the city to the castle, cathedral, bull ring and around the city. Cost $20 E each.

4. Barcelona...we did the Hop On Hop Off bus tour. The ship does a transfer to the city for $5 E and then the bus costs $18 E. There are three different Hop On Hop Off lines and you can use all three. We got off to visit the Gaudi house (amazing), Sagrada Familia and Espanol Puebla. We had also planned to go up the funicular for the mountain view; however, it was closed.

5. Marseille...we did a train tour of the city and visited the cathedral. Cost $6 E each. Had lunch in town (home of bouillabase) and took advantage of the ship transfer for $5 E each.

6. Savona...we left the ship here; however, tours available included Portofino so we probably would have done that one. Train station is close by and could get you into Genova easily. The ship does have transfers to Genova airport, Milan airport, Genova train station available for purchase on the ship.

 

From Savona we did a five night stay at Lake Lugano and two nights in Venice.

 

The cruise experience was a very good one and I would certainly recommend it.

 

If you have any specific questions I'll be glad to answer them.

 

DavidTravels

[elotfan]

davidtravels,

 

thanks for the informative review of your trip. it sounds like you had a good time! i just have a couple of questions...the shore excursions that you did through costa - how long were they? also, were the excursions that are outlined in the cruise documents the only ones available, or are there more to choose from onboard? finally, if you did any excursions where ladies could not wear shorts, did you happen to notice if long-ish skirts or pants were acceptable? (like capri pants, for example, or do the legs need to be covered all the way to the ankles?)

 

if you can answer any of these questions, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

oh, almost forgot - was the ship full to capacity, and were there lots of kids on board? also, did any of your party go to the fitness centre and if so, is it worth bringing gym clothes?

 

thanks again!

 

jocey

[DavidTravels]

Hi:

 

We did have a great time and I'm sure you are going to enjoy the cruise.

 

The tours outlined in the booklet are the only ones available. The only one we did from the cruiseline was Tunis and it was 4 hours. In your cabin there will be a list of all the tours and how long they are but I left mine on the ship. Capri pants were OK..as long as the knees are covered for cathedral/church visits.

 

The ship was full and there were very few children. We had early dining so I did see about a dozen maximum. One of my friends went to the gym but only for a sauna..said it was neat since it had windows overlooking the ocean. Another one of my friends had some kind of massage which was about $80 Euro.

 

Enjoy!

 

DavidTravels

[elotfan]

davidtravels,

 

thank you for all of the information, and for answering my questions. we are leaving tomorrow and are sure that we will have a great trip!!!

 

thank you, again!

 

jocey

[elotfan]

hi all,

 

it was great meeting everyone on the ship, and nice to see that even though only a couple of us were posting that a lot of people were reading!!!:D

 

mike and i had a blast, and i will be posting a review in the next couple of days.

 

i hope that everyone had a great trip, and feel free to keep this thread alive if you would like to keep in touch!

 

jocey

[Lana13]

I really want to read your review. The thing is that we did this tour in summer 2004 and I had few major remarks:

 

1. even thouh I come from this parts of Europe, Croatia, and close to Italy (I love Italy and altogether have spent 2-3 years there in my life) I really found the italian passangers very very rude on this tour (begining of August cruise)

 

2. the announcements were too pushy and in 5 languages ( I speak 4 and a half of those) and it was annoying to listen to everything 5 times. Compared to Celebrity wich has non announcements policy I really did not like that on Costa

 

3. The ship was like a motel, in every port there was somebody embarking and disembarking and having a muster drill

 

4.The waiter (our at least) did not speak no English, no Italian, no german, no croatian and after that I ran out of languages

 

5. Everybody finished their dinner at least half an hour before us, and our waiter were stilll trying to find the desserts

 

6. one minor remark- SMALL SPOONS: it seemed that the small spoons were constanly missing in self service restaurant