Fortuna Feb 3-10

[akacake]

Just got home from our extended trip after 1 week of cruising and other travels! Will be happy to answer any questions...it was all good!

[sakapfet]

If you were traveling with your kids, how was the squok club?

 

My cabin is 8213 forward, how is that area?

 

Tell us more about food?

 

Are there pennies, dinmes, nickels, quarters machines in the casino?

[Dolphin Girl]

Did you cruise the Eastern or Western Caribbean? If Eastern, what did you do in port? How did you like Catalina Island? What water activities were available?

 

Debbie

[akacake]

We did the Western Caribbean. The food in the dining room was fantastic. We had Joe and Raymond and they were fabulous. I was the only one at the table that had bought the X1 package but they brought wine all night for the whole table, pops for the kids and 2 huge bottles of mineral water every night for me to take back to the cabin. Needless to say they received nice tips from us! It was harder to use the X1 card by the pool bar, not everyone wanted to a serve me directly, a few wanted me to have seat first. I found and tipped one bartender, Sanjay, and he gave me 2 beers at a time and 2 pops at a time...unfortunately he wasn't always there. I didn't use the X1 card on port days except for the dining room.

 

I didn't eat at the buffet so can't say how it was. I had pizza a few times and it was great, no tomato sauce, so a different style than I was used to, but very tasty. I had the hotdogs etc by the pool, they were standard grill food.

 

The casino had everything that I could see...lots of variety. I played the nickel and dime slots.

 

The ship was ULTRA clean and nicely decorated. I didn't mind the crowds and didn't see any rude people at all. One guy jumped in line in front of us once but it wasn't a huge problem. The biggest line jumpers were on disembarkation day! Not us..who is in a hurry to leave their trip?

 

My 7 yr old son only went to the Squok club the first day as we were so busy. It seemed that is was for younger kids and they had 2 separate groups, English kids in one group and all other languages in another. They all participated in the same activities at the same time, just different leaders speaking to them.

 

We were in a balcony 6238 and it was great. A huge room and not noisy at all. We were above the Rex theatre so only one night we heard the music coming up but it wasn't too bad. Gilbert was our room steward and we tipped him the first day and I asked him to please make a towel animal for our son and we had a zoo! He cleaned our room 3 times a day and we left him a very nice tip on the last day as well. I choose to remove the auto tips and give the cash in envelopes to everyone. I ended up tipping a lot more this way but it was more personal.

 

Toga night was lots of fun, we were up dancing everywhere. we brought our own togas and accessories ( grapes, vines ) from home so were the most dressed table. The kids enjoyed it too.

 

 

I would give this whole cruise an 8.5 / 10 we had a terrific time and hated leaving....

[abitaturbodog]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review. I like your idea of tipping the room steward to make towel animals. On our last Costa cruise we didn't get any towel animals and my kids were a little bummed. I'll have to remember to do this next month!

 

How were the social activities? Did you notice if there was a lot going on during the day?

[Dolphin Girl]

Glad you had a great time! Rating the cruise 8.5 out of 10 is very good. I learned a long time ago, no vacation is perfect and you have to have the right mental attitude and most things turn out fine!

 

Which dining room did you eat dinner in? Hope we get as good as service as you.

 

Was there any type of "Sail Away" party on the pool deck? Live Music, steamers or favors, etc? If so, did the cruise director and / or staff try to get everyone involved? Trying to figure out if I need to plan our own at the aft pool or join in the fun mid ship!:)

Thanks! Glad you had a good time. We leave for Florida in 13 days!!!

[akacake]

How were the social activities? Did you notice if there was a lot going on during the day?

 

I didn't partake in any social events..I did see Horse racing going on...placed a bet then watched my horse loose! There did seem to be lots going on all day long...

 

 

Which dining room did you eat dinner in? Hope we get as good as service as you.

 

We were at Michaelangelo's table 136 early sitting.

 

 

Was there any type of "Sail Away" party on the pool deck? Not that I saw...I was looking for a BBQ or something but didn't see anything. NCL does a nice sail away party but this was kind of low key.....

[Jodster19]

Sounds great. We leave for Florida on Wednesday and go on our cruise on the fortuna on March 2nd for the week. Can hardly wait. Sounds like sooo much fun.