Help--choice--costa fortuna or royals splendour of the seas

[Patgo28]

Help

 

Planning a group cruise of the Greek Isles leaving from Venice Sept. 2010

 

Which ship would you pick Costa Fortuna or Royals Splendour of the Seas.

 

Thanks

[margbem]

Can't comment on Costa but we sailed on Splendour last September from Venice and had a great time. She's quite small but well kept, clean and well run. The only comment we had was that the food in the main dining room could have been better. It was often not hot enough and sometimes we made the wrong choice. Our server always recommended so we should have listened more carefully! We avoided Costa because I read a lot of poor reviews and was put off by the fact that kids go free and it is basically an Italian ship, where our first language is English. I'm sure people who have sailed with Costa will tell you their opinions. Read the member reviews to get a good idea, but take some with a pinch of salt!! Feel free to ask me questions about the Splendour.

[Patgo28]

thanks for your reply. I am glad that you enjoyed the Splendour.

[mozfoz]

We sailed the SOS out of Venice in 2007. We also had reservations about the size and age of the ship, as all our previous cruises were newer and bigger ships. We were not dissappointed. Actually, aside from the small room, and I do mean small cabin, the ships size was very appealing. A Med. cruise is a toatally different from a Carib. cruise. The sail away out of Venice is magnificent!!!

[Patgo28]

I have been on the larger ships Freedom and Independence and I hope we will like the Splendour. I know it is a smaller ship but someone that I am going with is afraid that it will be too big. Did you ever feel crowded or that you were being herded like cattle.

 

I don't think it is going to be a problem I am just asking for a friend.

 

Thanks for your help.

[GSPLover]

Have not sailed on the Splendour of the Seas, but have sailed twice on the Legend of the Seas (sister ship.) I think the ship is a great size for the Med. Never have felt crowded at all. No problem with lines in any of the ports.

 

We have sailed on the Costa Fortuna. Very pleased with it. The muster and all subsequent announcements were in 5 languages (this was in the Caribbean.) I think that I'd prefer the RCI over Costa (depending on the itinerary.)

[mozfoz]

The ships you mention have a capacity of over 1500 more passengers than the SOS. Though they are bigger in "tonnage", that does not directly relate to actual usable passenger space. No need to worry about herding. Large ships can be great, but the worry about feeling crowded never existed until the capacities topped 2700 passengers. Will you notice differences? Maybe. A smaller casino. No promenade. No big deal when sailing the Med. The SOS is a great value.

[ticktock001]

I sailed on the SOS a couple of years ago and a fantastic time could not fault it. For some reason - actually yes I know why (they offered a free place for our 17 year old) we sailed on the MSC Orchestra last year. The ship was great oh but the food!!! compared to the SOS it was like eating at a greasy spoon cafe. Also both my husband and I are diabetics not a problem with RCI but with MSC dredful I look forward to my pudding and all we got last year was no choice but that of a milk type of cold pudding. Would we go back to MSC - well this year we are back on the SOS in May!!!!

 

:):):)

[atlanta99]

We sailed on the Fortuna in 2005 on a western med cruise and we all had a great time, but you need to be comfortable with the fact that English speakers are often a small minority on board. That was fine with us and made the experience that much more enjoyable, but you will find many posters on here who complain about that. All announcements were always in five languages on our cruise as well--but that gives you a chance to pick up some easy Italian or German that way.

 

The ship itself was clean and in great shape (although it was much newer back then). The service was fine, but I will agree with ticktock that the food left a bit to be desired. I wouldn't say the Costa food was terrible, but the food on two subsequent Princess cruises and Regent (which, of course, shouldn't count) was much better.

 

One substantive area that might be of concern on a Costa cruise would be smoking, although it didn't affect us. I had read numerous pre-cruise posts warning about the perpetual smell of smoke on Costa cruises as supposedly no one followed or enforced whatever smoking policies they had. We did not find this to be the case, however, and didn't notice any smoking issue at all.

 

Either way, however, I doubt that you can go wrong on a trip from Venice through the Greek Isles. Should be a wonderful time.

[Patgo28]

Thanks for all your replies we have decided on the Splendour.