Fortuna was excellent. It was pretty much identical to the Magic. Including some groups that performed for both of our Magica cruises, were now on the Fortuna.

We got spoiled by the large floor in the main lounge and spent most of our evenings in that room. Trio in that lounge was excellent, duo was pretty good. There music was very good, but song songs were a bit difficult to dance to. Before we sailed Costa, I never expected to do so many waltts, foxtrots and quicksteps on a cruise ship. main dance floor had plenty of rom for the smooth dances.

One difference was the added a second level to dance floor in the large back lounge. All the other dance floors, were identical to the Fortuna. There was quite a bit of dancing occuring in 4 different areas. One piano bar had a large dance fllor ( for a piano bar ) and some people would do some swing there.

My wife and I had a great time dancing on the Oosterdam as we danced often and late. The ship had a band of four muscicians named "Counterpoint" which played very dancable music. However, as I said before, we were lucky in that there were only a few ballroom dancers on the ship and if there had been more, there dance floors would have been far too crowded.

We have done a lot of dancing on Celebrity Century small floors but alright if you pick the right time. The music is good for ballroom. We go to the first sitting for dinner so that there is more space and time to dance.

ok ok, i admit it.....im the best person to ask about dancing on cruise ships!! The verdict...some of the costa ships do have reasonable dance floors (although most of them are a circle)but the quality of the dance music is very hit and miss. They dont play much ballroom, more a mix of latin, salsa, and german leg slapping type dances that no one has ever heard of except Italiens! Queen Mary 2 really has the best ballroom although the band only play at American tempos...not International style music. P&O Ships Aurora and Oriana are excellent for ballroom and latin dancing. The worlds best and biggest company for dancing holidays on cruise ships is 'Cruise & Dance' - check out thier website on: www.zigzagdance.co.uk which is run by Warren Bullock & Jane Phillips who are former British number 1 couple. Their dancing cruises feature workshops and general dancing specially arrange with the ship for anyone who books with them. There is also lots of pics on their website which are interesting.

My husband and I are taking ballroom dance lessons and have loved the Smooth dances and the Quickstep...are just now taking the Viennese Waltz. Rhythm dances are fun but not "our best". What do you mean by the comment that the Queen Mary bands only play at American Tempos, not International Style music?
Thanks.

My husband and I and 3 other couples were at the Costa Fortuna on February 24, 2008. We all love dancing ballroom and a lot more. I must say we had a blast dancing for 7 days on this ship and it was awesome. Music at the Grand Savoia Lounge starts at 6:30 p.m. so we would start dancing then and then take a break for dinner which is around 8:45 p.m. and then go back dancing from 11:00 until it closes at 1:30 a.m. Music is non-stop and there were two very good bands switching (Trio Tringali and Duo Double Whisky)who played a variety of ballroom and latin music as well as merengue, salsa, bachata even polka. We enjoyed the variety of music played. The dancefloor is large, hardwood, circular but unobstructed. There were two more smaller lounges (Leonardo Da Vinci and Conte Verde) that offered dancing opportunities but Grand Savoia clearly became our favorite.

If any of the dancers on this message board know of dance groups going on a cruise I would certainly like to know about it. I often schedule my dance hosts jobs based on finding a dance group booking a cruise. Much more fun to dance with real dancers rather than those who only dream of dancing.

I was recently on the Costa Fortuna with 400 other dancers. First time on a Costa ship though I have been a dance host for 18 years and been on many, many cruises. I was very impressed with the size and number of dance venues and the quality of the music. Even with that huge number of dancers, most of the time, there was room to dance in one of the venues. When it was crowded it was a nice moment to practice my floor craftsmanship. The Cunard ships are also excellent for dancing because of the large ballroom floor. The disadvantage of the Cunard ships is the music tends to be primarily traditional ballroom. There is little WCS, hustle, NC2, or salsa. The Fortuna offered a nice balance of everything. Highly recommended and I am going as a paying passenger in September out of Venice...just to dance.

Hi Reg,

My wife and I are ballroom dancers and we were at the Costa Fortuna (Feb 24 - Mar. 2, 2008). We loved their dance floor. Hardwood and huge. Music is continues from 6:30 PM to 1:30 AM. Live band (Duet and Trio). They played ballroom and latin music and others.

We've been to Princess (4x), NCL(3x), Celebrity, and RCCL but Costa Fortuna is the best so far. We are going to try MSC Orchestra (January 3, 2009). We've heard they are comparable to Costa Fortuna as far as Dancing is concerned.

Don't expect the same quality of food and service as the other liners. But you will definitely enjoy dancing. We will definitely go back again.

We just took our third Costa cruise and really enjoyed it. It gets harder each time to leave the large dance floor and try the other lounges. Fortuna had the same trio, that was on both of our cruises on the Magica. We thought the food was much better, than the previous 2 cruises on the Magica.