Costa Fortuna 25th March - Eclipse Cruise Review

Ports of Call Katakolon (Greece) Heraklion (Crete) and Tripoli (Libya)

Witness of the Eclipse in the Med March 29th

We arranged a whole package through Costa, flights, transfers etc. We were met at Milan Milpensa airport by the Costa Reps and waited a short while for other guests. Then on to the coach for the 2.5 hour journey to Savona. Arrived at Savona to the new terminal Costa has built which was a very impressive building. We had to wait about 30 mins for our “number” to be called before we could board.

Immediately we walked over that gangplank on to the ship is when the wow factor first hits you. The ship is simply stunning, every room, every bar, and every deck.

We had a balcony cabin number 7207 which was right at the front of the ship. The cabin was beautiful, very well furnished with quality finishes and more than enough storage space. There was a mini bar in the cabin. The only complaint would be the fact we were right under the bridge and our balcony was completely overshadowed by the bridge overhang. This meant we could not benefit from any sun on the balcony. It also spoiled any pictures we tried to take from the balcony. Our cabin steward Janeth was very attentive and kept our cabin spotless.

The food. We ate in the Raffaelo restaurant 7 nights out of 8. I would not rave about the food, some things were good, some things we did not enjoy. Plenty of courses so you could have as much or as little as you wanted. We ate breakfast in the buffet restaurant where we found the food to be lukewarm most of the time. I used to go to the omelette station every morning for breakfast for freshly made omelette which was always hot!! Likewise at lunchtimes, if you go to the “pasta station” again you will get piping hot food. I have to say though our waiters were absolutely excellent.

The staff – Every single one of the staff we had dealings with were excellent, very polite, friendly and professional. Even the Customer Services!

Other Passengers- Mainly Italian, Spanish. You have to learn to bite your tongue and keep saying to yourself “remember this is how they do things in Italy” Yes they like to push in, not wait for you to get out of the lift before they get in. We spoke to 2 American passengers who both complained about the languages, ie Italian first. Again I had to bite my tongue and not say, “What do you expect? This is an Italian cruiseline!”

Eclipse - We were so very lucky to witness to eclipse on 29th March. This experience was absolutely amazing. The ship anchored about 11.00am. It was a beautiful clear warm sunny day. We purchased protective eye equipment from the onboard shops to witness this spectacular event. The eclipse started about 12.20 and we experienced the full eclipse at about 1.49. It was an ecstatic moving feeling. The med fell into a sultry darkness and everybody cheered and the captain sounded his horn. I felt quite emotional!!!

Ports of call- We did not do any organised excursions. We did our own thing in Katakolon and Heraklion. We stayed on board in Tripoli but it looks a fascinating City and I really wished we went ashore.

Entertainment- We only went to the theatre once to see a classical concert which was very good. We usually frequented the Conte De Savioa and just like to watch all our European guests dancing. We really wished we could do the rumba, waltz etc!!! There were lots of different activities on board to suit all tastes from Origami, fan painting, Italian lessons, and Greek lessons.

Bars – Staff very attentive and not in your face as others have reported. We did find the drink prices expensive. A gin and tonic was 7.5 euros, so you could soon run up a hefty bar bill. My hubby likes German wheat beer and was drinking Franziskanner at 4.75 euros. All these drink prices then have the 15% gratuity added on!!! We went to the onboard shop on the first night and bought 2 bottles of tanquerry gin for 23.99 euros. They let us take it away!!! So now we needed tonic/lemon. Well we used the minibar. Cans were 2.50 each!! Plus 15%. The next day in Katakolon we purchased 12 cans for 60 cents each so made a massive saving on that one. Now we had our pre dinner drinks in the comfort of our cabin!!

Disembarkation was smooth and quick. They really have their work cut out trying to get 3500 pax off and then get another 3500 new pax on, all within about 8 hours!!!

Overall we had a wonderful cruise. Don’t think I could cruise longer than 7/8 nights. You really get fed up of the constant eating, and eat for the sake of eating. To summarise I would definitely cruise Costa again and thank them for the wonderful experience if Italian style cruising!!

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask

Thankyou for posting your review - there doesn't seem to be many on the Costa Fortuna.

We are on this ship next week and would like to ask what time you arrived back in Savona and more importantly, what time were the first passengers allowed to disembark ?

If possible we would like to catch a train at 9.30, and wonder if there is any real chance of this.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Hi there

We were scheduled to arrive in Savona at 09.00 but we arrived about 08.00. We were flying from Milan so had the transfers from Savona to Milan. We had a late afternoon flight so we were in the "later" times of meeting for disembarkation.

You received your colour coded luggage labels in your cabin the evening before, along with an information sheet telling you what time to meet and where. I think the first colours were to meet at around 07.45. We were due to meet at 10.00 and like everybody else we were there early. We actually left the ship about 0945.

I am sure if you maybe mention to Customer Services that you would like to catch this train they may be able to help.

Hope you have a FANTASTIC time. She is an incredible ship and I am sure you will have a wonderful time. Any other questions please feel free to ask.

Many thanks for your reply. Less than a week to go for us.

Thanks again