Overcrowded on days at sea at breakfast & lunch, if we waited until after rush, food stations closed & remaining ones open, limited selection. ( we couldn't get bread one morning) Only cruise company I've been on which only served tea, coffee, juice & water at breakfast time only, didn't affect us as purchased AI drinks package but really expensive if you were having to buy everything.

We booked 2nd sitting for evening meal on first night we were told we were on 1st sitting so we tried buffet which was for 1st night only but it closed at 8.30pm customer services got us a place at 10.15pm not good start.

Only cruise line I've been who have no choice for free dining at buffet at night & no late night snacks. Wouldn't recommend or wouldn't cruise with them again, all at our table agreed. Entertainment in theatre good 3 nights out of 9.

Fiords were spectacular weather great, that saved the cruise for us.

First the good points. Our Cabin Steward Marc was great and our dinner waiter Henry was great, always smiling and happy. The cabins were good too. That's it there are no other good points.

The hygiene on the ship is appalling and nothing was done to alleviate it. On other ships they wipe everything down with antiseptic and serve with gloves at the buffet but on this ship nothing. They do have antiseptic gel but no one is encouraged to use it.

The food was very poor and at dinner it was always cold and very slow, sometimes taking 2hrs. The decor is Ok but very gaudy. The breakfast waiters are always miserable and I don't blame them on their pay.

The ship is very noisy and very smoky, far from relaxing. The pools were always cold. The excursions are overpriced. Casablanca was awful and we had a few hours in Barcelona. The drinks on board are extortionate.

The entertainment on the ship was terrible only the show put on by the crew was good. The doctor’s fees very high and would not come to the cabin, lots of people were ill and they were making a fortune. The girls on reception were very unhelpful. The Health and Safety drill was appallingly chaotic with people everywhere and nowhere.

I will never go on this ship or with this cruise line again and if you are wise neither will you.

24 of us travelled together for a family celebration, rooms were nice and clean with plenty of storage space, though the one family room was dissapointing with the bunks from the ceiling and the bed not high enough to put cases under, resulting in a very crushed room. The food was plentiful and always well cooked and presented, if you could get past the italians that is! staff very attentive, well looked after in the resterant. A waiter called Rommell looked after us all all week and nothing was any trouble for this man, always smiling and attentive without being overpowering. Enjoyed the formal evenings but was a bit put out when, even though it was stated formal dress only, some (italians!) insisted on dining wearing shorts and casual clothing. The entertainment was ok not brilliant, the theatre shows were good but the entertainment in the lounges bordered on holiday camp entertainment and most of it in Italian.
On the whole a fantastic holiday with great ports of call, be warned the taxi drivers in Tunisia will have your eyes and come back for the sockets if you are not carefull. Do not pay more than 20E I was well and truly conned and they would not let me away from the taxi till i paid 80!!!! even the security guards who were filling a questionare were horrified at what i had been charged. The rest of the ports were fantastic, barcelona especially.
I most probably would sail with the company again as it was a holiday to remember, or it could be down to the fact that 24 family members had a fantastic time together

Embarkation - transfer from airport to ship was ok but terminal onwards was very poor. We have cruised 5 times and this was easily the worst organised and longest process. Took about 2 and a half hours and involved numerous passport checks which seemed to add little value.

Ship cleanliness - very good throughout. Our maid was terrific. We decided in the end to reduce the service charge to the minimum and give her it in case. This was both a reflection of how good she was and how bad the rest of the staff on board the ship were - more on the latter to come.

Ship Food - bland. Easily the worst of the cruises we have been on. Not a patch on Thomson or Carnival. The worst bit was probably having to eat at set times in the restaurants. Although there is a buffet, unlike most ships they dont offer the same food as the restaurants but instead only offer very basis margherita pizza and salad. Restaurant staff were thin on the ground so service was appalling. Drinks order either too ages or were often forgotten.

Ship staff - ranged from fantastic - the maid to awful and rude - the reception staff. Queues were always long at reception. When you did get served staff were sometimes unfriendly and unhelpful and their understand ing of English seemed to vary depending on the work your query might put them to ! Drinks waiters on the sun decks were rarely to be seen. In the end you usually had to walk up to the bar yourself. Again, this was a reflection of too few staff but perhaps also of the staff's unwillingness to 'go the extra mile' and actually try to look for custom instead of just picking up empty glasses.

Entertainment - average. It was difficult for the cruise in that with many different languages spoken on board they tried to please everyone which was laudable. However, this meant that acts needed to be largely visual, eg dancers or magicicans. Singers were quite good but dont expect any 'West End' type productions.

Itinerary - excellent. The venues that the ship visited were fantastic. Ideal combination or early days at sea to head south to the sun followed by daily visits to some excellent ports. The only pity was we had to choose this ship and cruiseline.

Travel Agent - a word on Cruisdeals.co.uk. Beware. I requested 2 cabins for 3 people each (my wife with our 2 girls in one cabin and me with our 2 boys in the other). The tickets when they arrived showed a 2 berth cabin for me and my wife and a 4 berth for the 4 kids (oldest 14!). I immediately called cruisedeals to check that this was an error. I was told it would be sorted out. I didnt not received new tickets but believed that on arrival on the ship we would have been reallocated. Not a bit of it. I made calls to cruisedeals who simply claimed that the booking we got matched what was on their system. One particularly unhelpful agent claimed it must have been my mistake! So much for customer service.

In summary I would never sail with Costa again not would I ever book with Cruisedeals again.

Costa Fortuna Cruise Review 25th March – 2nd April 2006

Ports of Call Katakolon (Greece0 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 98% 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!!

ship cleanliness..good.rooms were cleaned daily.rest of ship clean and sparkling.
ship food..plenty from 7 am to 1am,lot of choice no complaints.formal dining avaiable too..good food abd service.
staff..excellent.
entertainment..v good in the vulcan theatre.
all in all good cruise and would definitely use costa again.
only comlaint was long embarkation,price of drinks and excursions.