Costa Fortuna sails home for the last time today, closing out 23 years under the Costa Cruises brand. The ship’s final voyage departed Piraeus on September 4. It ran a seven-night Eastern Mediterranean itinerary. Stops included Izmir, Mykonos, Volos, Santorini, and Heraklion. From there the ship swung back through Rhodes before returning to Piraeus today, September 11. Once guests disembark, Costa Fortuna’s identity changes entirely.
The 103,000-ton ship isn’t headed for the scrapyard, though. It’s headed for Belfast instead. Harland & Wolff will handle a complete transformation of the vessel. That’s the historic shipyard best known for building the Titanic. Once the work wraps up, Costa Fortuna reemerges under a very different name. It’ll sail as Margaritaville at Sea Beachcomber, joining a completely different brand.
That new identity says a lot about where the ship is headed next. Margaritaville at Sea is the Jimmy Buffett-inspired line known for short, affordable getaways. It’s picking up its third vessel in just three years. Beachcomber becomes the largest ship in that growing fleet by a wide margin. It dwarfs the line’s existing ships in both size and passenger capacity. That’s a significant step up for a brand built around laid-back, budget-friendly cruising rather than mega-ship scale. Most of its current lineup sails smaller, more intimate ships aimed at short weekend getaways.
The debut is set for January 2027, sailing out of PortMiami. Once it enters service, Beachcomber will run four- to eight-night Caribbean itineraries. That gives American cruisers an easy, short-getaway option under a brand built entirely around a beachy, tropical vibe. It’s a sharp turn from Costa Fortuna’s old life. The ship spent years sailing longer, more traditional Mediterranean itineraries aimed largely at European and international travelers.
Ship transfers like this happen more often than casual cruisers might realize. Older vessels frequently get sold, chartered, or repositioned to new brands entirely. That usually happens once their original owner moves toward newer, more efficient tonnage. What makes this particular handoff notable is the scale of the transformation ahead. Converting a 103,000-ton former Costa flagship into a Margaritaville-branded experience is a massive undertaking. Dining, entertainment, cabin styling, and public spaces all need reworking almost from scratch. Harland & Wolff isn’t just repainting a hull here. The yard is essentially building a new onboard identity inside an existing structure.
For longtime Costa Fortuna fans, today marks a genuine ending. The ship has spent more than two decades carrying passengers across Mediterranean waters. That kind of run builds real loyalty among repeat guests. Guests who sailed her during this farewell season got to experience something special. They caught some of her final days under the brand that defined her entire career. That history doesn’t disappear once the refit starts. It does close a chapter that won’t reopen, though.
For Margaritaville at Sea, the acquisition marks real momentum. Three ships in three years is an aggressive growth pace. Margaritaville at Sea entered the cruise business relatively recently, after all. Landing a ship this size signals something bigger, too. The brand wants to compete more seriously with mainstream players rather than staying a small, niche operator. Whether Beachcomber can translate that scale into a completely different kind of cruise experience remains an open question. Bookings and early reviews will tell that story once the ship actually sails.
Either way, today closes one era and opens another for this particular ship. Costa Fortuna’s Mediterranean chapter ends in Piraeus, after decades spent carrying passengers around Italy, Greece, and the wider Aegean. Its Caribbean chapter starts taking shape in a Belfast shipyard soon after. That new chapter carries a name most of its former passengers have probably never heard.
