Costa Fortuna accidents and incidents

October 2022Other Incidents

After reconsidering Costa Fortuna’s Turkey-based itinerary program, in October 2022, Costa Cruises canceled most of the ship's 2023-2024 schedule (April 15, 2023, thru April 10, 2024) due to redeployment. The affected voyages (70x total) were mostly roundtrips from Istanbul Turkey (67x) plus 3x relocation voyages to Istanbul (9-day from Barcelona, 8-day from Marseille and 7-day from Savona.

The ex-Turkey schedule included 7-day roundtrips as well as 14-day B2Bs/back-to-back cruises visiting ports in Turkey (Izmir, Bodrum, Kusadasi-Ephesus) and Greece (Mykonos Island, Rhodes Island, Piraeus-Athens, Heraklion Crete).

According to Costa, Fortuna's program was canceled due to "international restrictions".

18 July 2015Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

(overboard) On July 18, 2015, a 52-year-old female passenger sustained serious injuries after falling overboard from her cabin’s balcony on Barcelona Deck 10 (approx 100 ft / 30 m down into the sea).

The woman (of Italian origin) remained in the water for ~3 min, before the ship lowered 2 lifeboats and saved her. She was found unconscious, and in a critical condition was medevaced and transported to Haukeland University Hospital (Bergen Norway). Later, the woman was flown to Molinette Hospital (Turin Italy), where she remained in a coma. The incident occurred upon entering into call port Flam Norway, during a Norwegian Fjord cruise itinerary with next call port Stavanger.

05 May 2015Propulsion / Power Loss

On May 5, 2015, after experiencing an electrical failure (leaving it with only one operational engine), the ship had to change course to Palermo Sicily for repairs. The incident also caused itinerary change – call port Valletta Malta was dropped.

22 February 2015Propulsion / Power Loss

On February 22, 2015, the vessel developed a “technical problem”(unspecified issue) at ~7:30 am, upon arrival in BVI Tortola island’s Road Harbour. The incident forced the ship to anchor (instead of docking) and all its passengers were tendered into port. Because the ship was unable to maneuver in port, it probably had some kind of propulsion system malfunction. The shipowner Carnival Corporation flew an engineering crew from Miami to Tortola to assess the vessel for repairs. No official statement was issued.

08 January 2011Crew / Passenger Deaths

(murder) On January 8, 2011, Costa Cruises officially reported that a male crew committed suicide on the ship. However, unofficially, the man’s brother reported that an anonymous crew has said that following an argument, the man was murdered by another crew, and the incident was made to appear like a suicide.

June 2005Ship Collision / Allision

In June 2005, the Italian news media “Libero Quotidiano” reported about a near-sinking accident involving the cruise ship Costa Fortuna. In June 2005, the vessel was navigating along Italy’s western coast, passing by Capri island. During that voyage, the ship carried ~3500 people (passengers and crew) aboard.

According to the media source, the vessel (just like the fleetmate Costa Concordia) performed a “salute” - cruising into the shallow waters. Until the Concordia disaster, this was an unofficial tradition on Costa ships – to perform sail-bys – just to entertain their passengers.

During that particular “salute”, the Fortuna ship ruptured its hull on the rocks of Capri and started to take on water. The crew used the water pumps at max to keep the ship from sinking. The vessel was able to move to the next call port Palermo Sicily, where the hole in the hull was repaired overnight. Nor the Captain or any other crew reported this accident to the Italian maritime authorities (including Italy’s Coast Guard). The only thing that Costa Crociere reported on that voyage was a rise in the main engine’s temperature.

This serious accident came to light during Costa Concordia's sinking investigation, when the Palermo Port authorities mentioned a report by one on the ship’s photographers who were on board when the collision happened. The investigators concluded that the incident was a “critical” one, and only the favorable weather prevented a Concordia-like sinking disaster.

14 April 2003Fire Accident

On April 14, 2003, while the vessel was still under construction, a fire broke out at the shipbuilder Fincantieri’s Sestri Cantiere Navale yard in Genoa. It took ~3,5 hours for the fire to be extinguished.

The accident resulted in heavy damages on Vigo Deck 8 (cabin deck, also having the ship’s Navigation Bridge). More than half of the deck’s length (aft to bow) was damaged. Lesser damages were reported on Napoli Deck 9 (the Lido deck with swimming pools) and Caracas Deck 7 (all cabins). No injuries were reported. The fire accident didn’t affect the vessel’s scheduled delivery in November 2003.