Abord the Costa Fortuna

Dear Family and Friends,

Even though we enjoyed going to the Doge's Palace, the last day in Venice was hard because the kids just wanted to get on the cruise ship! After some tense moments when Julie couldn't find her passport, we boarded the Costa Fortuna.

Boarding the Costa Fortuna

Once we were on the ship, everyone was a little bit relieved!  After checking out our two cabins (far away but on the same deck and the same hallway), we started learning our way around the large ship.

Exploring the Deck

In the evening, we watched Venice go by from the cruise ship. Joe had given Nicolas and Elyse permission to explore the ship together, which they did often during the cruise. Unfortunately, poor Nathaniel had to stay close to Mom and Dad the entire time.

Cruising through Venice

Dinner that night was the first of many seven course meals that we were served during our trip (appetizer, soup, pasta, main dish, salad, cheese plate, dessert).  Of course, we had several choices in each category and usually we only ordered 4 or 5 courses. Each night, our waiter helped the children pick a dessert to which he always added some Italian gelato. Joe and Julie enjoyed being able to try all sorts of foods without worrying about the price or if they would be hungry if they didn't like it. A few nights, the waiters provided some entertainment with Italian songs and Nathaniel ended up humming "O Solo Mio" throughout the rest of the cruise. The only thing that Joe didn't like was a famous Italian dish called beef carpaccio, which happened to be raw beef. 

Michelangelo Restaurant

The kids were facinated by ships (given Joe's history, there's no surprise there). When we said we might go on a cruise, Nicolas immediately wanted to go online to see the cruise ship plan, how many floors, what was on each deck, etc. During the cruise, drawing cruise ships on the children's menu became a favorite pastime of Nicolas and Nathaniel while they were waiting for their meals. Of course, it helped that the theme of the Costa Fortuna was the great ships of history. We enjoyed the decor of the ship, and learned a little bit about the history of Costa each time we turned on the television in our cabins. One day, Nathaniel spoke as if he were an expert and said, "the first cruise was before world war II and they were carrying olive oil."  The date wasn't exactly right, but it showed he was paying attention.

Fortuna's Old Cruiseship Theme

We often ate at the buffet, especially on excursion days when we had to work the meal around our schedule. Regretably, the children did not eat a lot of veggies and often had two or more desserts, though Julie succeeded in encouraging some fresh fruit with each meal.   

Breakfast Buffet

We tried to let the children get caught up on their sleep in the mornings. When there was an opportunity, Julie and Joe got up early to exercise. Jogging around the little track was a lot of fun, though the wind on one side of the ship added an extra challenge. Joe also tried to go up on deck in the mornings in order to catch a glimpse of the sunrise.

Sunrise over the Greek Islands

Whenever possible, Joe would also try to watch the sunsets, particularly on days when the ship was leaving port.

Sunset in Bari, Italy

When the weather was good, we found a less popular spot on deck so that the kids could play games of tag and "spa." Julie and Joe liked the spa best because the kids "played" at giving them back rubs etc. 

Relaxing on Deck

Unlike other cruiselines, there were a lot of Europeans on our Costa Cruise ship. As expats, we liked this aspect of our cruise except when we had the emergency lifeboat drill and they had to do the complete announcement 6 or more languages while we waited in line.

Nathaniel's Vampire Costume

We sent the kids to the "Squok club" a few times so that they wouldn't have to endure the formal dinner or get off at a few of the short ports-of-call. Although most of the children and workers at the club spoke Italian, there were also children from Korea, Germany, France, Ukraine, and Spain. True to form, Elyse was a social butterfly in spite of the language barrier and stayed sometimes even after Julie came to pick the others up. She even translated for the french kids. Some of the activities that they did included dressing up like witches and vampires, doing parades across the ship, dancing in the disco, and (their favorite) dodgeball. However, Nathaniel didn't like musical chairs (only one winner, lots of heartbreak).

When it was rainy and cold outside, playing Uno and Nines in one of the nice lounges was a favorite family activity.  We bought a package with non-alcoholic drinks and especially enjoyed sharing some "Pink Panthers" ( a slushy strawberry and coconut drink) as we watched the view of Greek islands passing by.

Our favorite onboard activity 

We really enjoyed this ship and were happy to have a hotel that moved with us after a day of sightseeing!! It was also nice to have so many people taking care of us. As we found out, people like our cabin steward Eva work nonstop for 8 or 9 months every year even though she has two small children who she only sees three or four months a year (she said this is her last year doing this). 

Our Favorite Ship

We did spend some time in our cabins. The kids enjoyed playing there a little bit, like inventing their own cruiseline called the "Sona Kittyfit" after the many cats we saw on Rhodes Island. We inadvertantly scared Sara, one of our cabin stewards, with a wooden snake because she is used to snakes in her home country of Brazil.  Mostly, we went to the cabins to recover from our long, busy days.

Busy Days

On our way home, Julie expressed her anxiety about the expectations for meals at home. Fortunately, Joe said he would give her a few days to go shopping and get organized before he expects the same food selections at home (ha ha).

Chow!

Joe, Julie, Nicolas, Elyse, and Nathaniel