Cruising Italian Style…….The Mole on location from the Costa Fortuna

With cruising a booming sector for travellers out of Australia and New Zealand, choosing the actual cruise, the company operating the cruise and even the season or time of year you cruise, is without doubt, the most critical series of cruise holiday and travel investment decisions you will make, either making or breaking your cruise experience and if it is your first cruise, I reckon often determining whether you become a cruise devotee or hate it.

The challenge travel writers face in being honest yet objective in their reporting is a big one for some, but TravelMole has definitely achieved a reputation for honesty and hopefully is viewed as objective. 

So, when The Mole sat down to write this article about a seven night cruise in the Adriatic with Costa Cruises on the Costa Fortuna, [Pictured right entering the port of Venice – this was taken from my hotel!] all these things kept on flooding into my mind, potentially made all the more challenging by the fact that I was hosted by Costa, so deep breaths and here we go!

Let me say firstly, that without and question whatsoever, the Costa Fortuna is an absolutely awesome ship and when we boarded her in Venice after the short journey by Water Taxi from our hotel, the Bauer Palazzo, the scale and size of the massive 105,000 ton Costa Fortuna was a pretty awesome sight from our, as we got closer, what now appeared to be a rather diminutive Water Taxi.

Mole tip: Book Water Taxis to and from the airport and to and from your cruise with Viator, before you leave Australia, it is much cheaper and also………if you fly Business with Emirates, they include a free water taxi to and from the airport and that can mean a saving of up to 200 Euros each way!  

Boarding the Cost Fortuna in Venice is a very simple and straightforward process, very well organised, the only hassle being that we were offered all sorts of drinks and wine packages, which is all very confusing and too much to deal with when all you want to do is board. 

I really wish that cruise companies would not bother with them when you are boarding……hey and while we are at it, the art auctions and trying to sell paintings on board ….who buys them?

In any case, the good news for us was that one of the guys selling the wine packages, turned out to be a waiter [pictured left] we had met previously when he was working on the SuperStar Gemini in December 2007, when we cruised from Adelaide to Sydney and he remembered us!  [Love that ship, pity she has been sold.]

Back to the Costa Fortuna……..what strikes you first, in addition to the sheer size is that this massive vessel is very impressive indeed, beautifully designed and styled, and in particular that she is spotlessly clean and immaculate, with maintenance and cleaning clearly being on the top of the Costa agenda.

For those of you that have cruised, that first look into your cabin is rather like that first look into a hotel bedroom, with the great news on the Costa Fortuna being that our cabin, which also had a balcony, was very large with plenty of space, very well equipped, stylishly furnished and designed with a good sized bathroom.  So phew, no dancing with that shower curtain that happens on so many ships – this shower even had a glass door, safe, TV, and everything else to make this cruise hopefully very enjoyable…and yes, there is also a mini bar!

Like on all cruises, it is very important to get to know your cabin steward and our steward Jun, from the Philippines was excellent, keeping the cabin spotlessly clean and tidy and always with a big smile!

The vast majority of the hotel and hospitality crew are Asian and nothing was too much trouble for them, although I did notice lack of eye contact and appropriate familiarity with the passengers, we had experienced on other ships and I put that down to the size of the vessel and also maybe the cultural issues as a result of nationality of some or, on this cruise the majority of the passengers.

Although massive, you soon get your bearings on the Costa Fortuna…..well kind of, but Costa have not taken on board what some other vessels do by having different carpet colours or clear signs on the port or starboard side and it is hard at times to decide whether you should go forward or aft.

She also has 13 decks and 14 elevators and here’s some other trivia for you, about 1,100 crew, three swimming pool [not enough and one is pictured right, with yes a slide!] 5 whirlpools [also not enough] and 522 cabins with balconies – now that is enough!

Also on the Fortuna, in general, you can only go from the bow to the stern on open outside or cabin decks and I found that confusing, nevertheless there are heaps of lifts to choose from to travel between all those 13 decks!

Now, while I have mentioned that the Costa Fortuna is 105,000 tons, the most critical factors that will determine whether you enjoy a cruise on this vessel include that you need to bear in mind she carries 3,250 passengers and on this particular cruise that included 700 children, in 1,358 cabins. 

So, another Mole tip: I am sure that during non school holiday period cruises this ship is a very different beast to the one we encountered! ………choosing your season to take a cruise on such a large vessel can be critical as August is school holiday time in Europe! 

[Pictured left – the boat drill – compulsory on all ships I have been on – and there have been heaps – either before or as you leave port, so not sure why this one did not happen until we left Bari on the second day, but there you go…whatever – people, people everywhere…..etc, etc!]

If you have a family then so many people and especailly so many children might not be an issue for you and you may well pick a Costa cruise at this time of year.

But if you are a couple expecting a romantic cruise for two, then I reckon this might not be the cruise for you and that was echoed by some of the TravelMole TV interviews with Australian, British, American and English passengers on board the Cost Fortuna, that will be coming on line on TravelMole over the next week or so.

My rough estimate and it appeared and felt like to was that of the 3,250 passengers on board, perhaps only 50 or 100 were not Italian or Spanish, the minority balance made up of English speaking and a sprinkling of others.

This domination which appears to have been brought about because of the school holiday mentioned above, did make the vessel totally dominated by Italians and Spaniards, who when we see them in their own villages or towns in Italy or Spain are probably great to deal with and experience, but when you shoehorn over 3,000 of them onto a ship and 700 of them are children, the net effect was total domination and noise like you could never imagine!

Hey go with the flow The Mole said…relax…enjoy….bellissimo he said to himself!

[Pictured right the Costa Fortuna at anchor]

Another thing you need to take into account on a vessel of this size and nature and with such cross section of nationalities albeit dominated by two, is that the announcements and presentations have to be made in several different languages, so that can take ages.

Also the stage shows and performances have to take languages into account, so lots of mining and in general they were all pretty average.

So, with seven days ahead and a definite feeling coming over us that we might be on the wrong ship, we sailed from Venice with our 3,250 cruise compatriots, with every single one jostling, sorry no the reality was pushing and shoving for a position on the decks to view Venice as we sailed out of the harbour leaving the gondolas and Grand Canal behind us in our wake!

Over the next couple of weeks or so there will be a number of reports from the Costa Fortuna, including on TravelMole TV, so stay tuned and you will also discover some of the great destinations and ports we visited, including Bari, Olympus, Rhodes, Myknos, Santorini and Dubrovnik.

Our first stop was Bari on Italy’s Puglia Coast and to discover Bari on TravelMole TV, click here: http://www.travelmole.tv/watch_vdo.php?sid=75&id=14620

So, more on the Costa Fortuna and the Greek Islands later this week and next week…….plus TravelMole TV interviews on what other English speaking passengers thought of the Costa Fortuna……stay tuned!

A Report by the Mole on location in Europe and the Costa Fortuna