Category: 2014 – Costa Fortuna, Dubai to Savona, 28 Mar – 15 Apr

After the long day yesterday we decided to stay on the ship today and relax, eventually leaving the cabin at around 10:45 to see what was on offer at the grille area at the back which is where they serve what Costa call the late breakfast. Fruit, cheeses and cold meats and iced buns so we decided to wait for lunch opting for a couple of the coffees that come with the all inclusive drinks packages we have bought.
In daylight we could see how far we are out from Dubai itself, in fact its quite a distance from anywhere really.

Its been a really warm day and lovely to just sit out and relax and the ship has almost been deserted as you will see from these photos.

As predicted, we have a deeper balcony at the aft. The only downside is the privacy issue with the adjacent cabins. You would also have thought that sun beds would have been better being as there is enough room.

We popped into the dining room after the muster to find that we are on a table of 6. Hopefully we will have some good company. Strangely enough there appears to be plenty of Brits on board this time which has not been the case in previous Costa cruises.
Sailaway was at 6:00 after the muster drill and we managed to get a quick glimpse of the QE2 berthed in an area where she doesn’t deserve to be.

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I always feel a certain amount of anxiety when making the journey to the ship and with every step along the way that anxiety decreases until we actually get on board. Today our journey started with a drive from Somerset to Heathrow where we parked the car in the Terminal 5 long stay and made our way to T5 using the transfer bus from the car park. We then caught the Heathrow Express to T3 for our Emirates flight to Dubai.

The reason for using the car park at T5 was because our homeward bound British Airways flight from Nice flies into that terminal which is of course a different terminal from the one we left from. We decided that it would make much more sense to not have to do the longer journey on the return leg thus allowing us to get home quicker.

Our flight to Dubai took 7 hours and the plane itself is an absolute masterpiece of engineering. So many little additional features including the capacity to view 3 different camera angles on the outside of the plane.

On arrival at Dubai airport we were kept waiting in the arrivals hall for over 50 minutes with over a dozen or so really slow moving long queues, all stood there in quite a humid conditions. Eventually we made it through with our freshly stamped passports and found the Costa rep who directed us and about another 20 or so passengers to a coach which took us to the ship. Embarkation was swift and I checked my watch as I was boarding the ship and it said 2:35am. Quite a strange feeling to be boarding a ship at that hour.

Our cases were very soon with us in our cabin so we quickly unpacked before going to the buffet which they had left open until 4:00am for us. Judging by the amount of other people about we weren’t the only ones arriving at this strange time of the day.

We eventually retired to bed at just after 5:00am, tired but happy to finally be onboard the ship.

We received an e-mail from our TA today informing us that the itinerary has been changed on our up and coming cruise. Sadly Egypt is now off the list.

Although initially disappointed we think the replacement ports are equally as exciting for us as they are 3 we have not visited before. Aqaba giving us the opportunity to visit Petra for the first time.

•  Good afternoon,We have today received a notification from Costa regarding your cruise in March.Due to the political unrest in Egypt, the ports visiting Egypt have now been changed.The planned calls in Egypt at Safaga, Sharm El Sheikh and Alexandria are replaced by highly appealing alternatives: Aqaba (Jordan), Eilath (Israel), Heraklion (Greece) respectively, offering the opportunity to plan excursions to Petra, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Masada or other magnificent locations.

  Please find below your new itinerary:

Day	Location	Arrival	Departure
Friday, March 28, 2014	Dubai (UAE)	—	11:59 PM
Saturday, March 29, 2014	Dubai (UAE)	12:01 AM	06:00 PM
Sunday, March 30, 2014	Khasab (Oman)	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Monday, March 31, 2014	Khor Fakkan (UAE)	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Tuesday, April 1, 2014	Muscat (Oman)	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Wednesday, April 2, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Thursday, April 3, 2014	Salalah (Oman)	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Friday, April 4, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Saturday, April 5, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Sunday, April 6, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Monday, April 7, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Tuesday, April 8, 2014	Aqaba (Jordan)	08:00 AM	—
Wednesday, April 9, 2014	Aqaba (Jordan)	—	06:00 AM
Wednesday, April 9, 2014	Eilat (Israel)	08:00 AM	09:00 PM
Thursday, April 10, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Friday, April 11, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Saturday, April 12, 2014	Heraklion (Crete)	02:00 PM	07:00 PM
Sunday, April 13, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Monday, April 14, 2014	Naples (Italy)	08:00 AM	02:00 PM
Tuesday, April 15, 2014	Savona (Italy)	09:00 AM	—

Providing that we actually go on this cruise, then we won’t see many other ships until we reach Savona. With the exception of the MSC Lirica then we will go for 2 weeks without seeing any other cruise ships.
When I first started to write this the FCO were advising against all but essential travel to Egypt. The warnings now seems to have been relaxed and according to their website it should now be OK to travel, but only to certain areas.

 

Date	Port	Ships in Port
28 Mar 2014	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Costa Fortuna Depart: 11:59:00 PM MSC Lirica 8:00 AM – 11:59 PM
29 Mar 2014	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Costa Fortuna 12:01:00 AM – 6:00:00 PM MSC Lirica 12:01 AM – 7:00 PM
30 Mar 2014	Khasab, Oman	Costa Fortuna 8:00:00 AM – 6:00:00 PM
31 Mar 2014	Fujairah, United Arab Emirates	Costa Fortuna 8:00:00 AM – 6:00:00 PM
1 Apr 2014	Muscat, Oman	Costa Fortuna 8:00:00 AM – 6:00:00 PM
2 Apr 2014	At Sea	Costa Fortuna
3 Apr 2014	Salalah, Oman	Costa Fortuna 8:00:00 AM – 6:00:00 PM
4 Apr 2014	At Sea	Costa Fortuna
5 Apr 2014	At Sea	Costa Fortuna
6 Apr 2014	At Sea	Costa Fortuna
7 Apr 2014	At Sea	Costa Fortuna
8 Apr 2014	Safaga (Luxor, Karnak), Egypt	Costa Fortuna 7:00:00 AM – 11:00:00 PM
9 Apr 2014	Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	Costa Fortuna 7:00:00 AM – 4:00:00 PM
10 Apr 2014	At Sea	Costa Fortuna
11 Apr 2014	Alexandria, Egypt	Costa Fortuna 8:00:00 AM – 10:00:00 PM
12 Apr 2014	At Sea	Costa Fortuna
13 Apr 2014	At Sea	Costa Fortuna
14 Apr 2014	Naples/Capri, Italy	Costa Fortuna 8:00:00 AM – 1:00:00 PM Noordam 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Prinsendam 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM MSC Splendida 11:30 AM – 7:30 PM
15 Apr 2014	Savona (Genoa), Italy	Costa Fortuna Arrive: 9:00:00 AM

 

 

I had been keeping an eye on this cruise for some time but was unable to book it due to various circumstances going on within the family. I was really taken by the itinerary and even more by the price so when the opportunity to be able to book it eventually materialised then I didn’t hesitate to make the booking.
The booking has been made with Cruise Club UK and it is the third time we have used them. Much to my surprise the deposit was only £100 each which was a welcome bonus especially after loosing as much as we did after cancelling the Celebrity Eclipse cruise in December.

It is a Costa package and includes all air fares and transfers and fortunately we have been allocated direct flights at each end of the cruise, going out to Dubai will be on Emirates and coming back from Milan will be with BA.

There will be 8 new ports for us in amongst the 8 sea days. It all promises to be a fantastic experience and one that we are truly looking forward to.

 

Day	Location	Arrival	Departure
Friday, March 28, 2014	Dubai (UAE)	—	11:59 PM
Saturday, March 29, 2014	Dubai (UAE)	12:01 AM	06:00 PM
Sunday, March 30, 2014	Khasab (Oman)	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Monday, March 31, 2014	Khor Fakkan (UAE)	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Tuesday, April 1, 2014	Muscat (Oman)	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Wednesday, April 2, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Thursday, April 3, 2014	Salalah (Oman)	08:00 AM	06:00 PM
Friday, April 4, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Saturday, April 5, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Sunday, April 6, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Monday, April 7, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Tuesday, April 8, 2014	Safaga (Egypt)	07:00 AM	11:00 PM
Wednesday, April 9, 2014	Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt)	07:00 AM	04:00 PM
Thursday, April 10, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Friday, April 11, 2014	Alexandria (Egypt)	08:00 AM	10:00 PM
Saturday, April 12, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Sunday, April 13, 2014	At Sea	—	—
Monday, April 14, 2014	Naples (Italy)	08:00 AM	01:00 PM
Tuesday, April 15, 2014	Savona (Italy)	09:00 AM	—

 

Our cabin is on deck 6 and is right in the middle. It will be a lovely location and being as there are rear stairs and lifts means we will not have to traverse half the ship in order to get anywhere.
As it is our 5th Costa cruise it will be the first time for us as Pearl members of the Costa club. One of the benefits being able to have a free dinner in their speciality restaurant.