Can't understand the bad reviews.
We did not see a single ant or bug as other reviewers have mentioned. The rooms were not luxurious (this is 3 star) but they were clean and comfortable.
The food was better than we have experienced in other 3 star hotels.
The staff, who appeared to be locals, were friendly enough.
I would say it was what I would expect (or slightly better) from a hotel of this rating on the whole. The beach however was much better than I expected. Never crowded, clean and safe. The coral just off the beach was a fantastic bonus. We went on a boat snorkeling trip but we saw much more variety at the beach reef. It was fantastic snorkeling with out the bother of a boat trip.

We stayed at Fortuna Club August 18-21 and we had a great stay. I was a bit apprehensive after reading previous reviews. This was our first time in the Bahmas and we were very pleased with the resort. The food was fabulous, the grounds were well kept with tropical flowers and bushes everywhere. The resort workers responded in a friendly helpful manner. The rooms are a bit on the small side and the floors did not seem clean enough. There were a few microscopic bugs in the room. However, with all the constant and fun activity going on in the resort we hardly noticed the draw backs. I would definitely go there again and again.

My wife was complaining about never getting to go anywhere, while I get to travel in my work. I asked her where she wanted to go, and she said some place she had never been before. About the same time I got an email from AirTran about a sale that included Freeport. Since I never had been there either, I decided on an all inclusive for our first trip, packed up the wife and 16 year old son and went. We were there from the 5th to the 10th of August.

I read some less than good reviews of the place the night before we left, poor planning on my part, but they were all about 2 years old, and hopefully, out of date. As far as I was concerned, they were.

The first thing I will say is that we had a great time, and I would go again in a heart beat. My wife and I wanted to relax, and we never made it to the disco, so I can't say much about the night life. We don't gamble, so the lack of a casino was not an issue. For a relaxing trip, you can't beat it.

I few things I will note, since some people might not like them.

Our room was comfortable, but not fancy. The AC worked and everything else worked. I've been told that Wyndham has spent a lot on upgrades. I don't spend much time in a room on vacation, just to sleep and change, and it was certainly adequate for that. Had an ocean view balcony, and close to the beach. Sat out there a bit, listening to the waves.

Most everything is open air. Dining, the bar, don't know about the disco. Being open air, bugs can be a problem, but after a day or so I pretty much quit noticing them. If you're real fastidious, you might not enjoy it.

There seems to be a time of year for certain countries to visit. August was Italy month. I would guess that nearly 70% of the guests were from Italy, most of the rest from France, Spain, and Britain. Very few Americans there in August. This did not bother me in the least, but my kid was upset that there were no girls for him to talk to. I told him to get over it, and he did eventually, then spent a few nights out until nearly dawn.

I liked the food, but cafeteria style is not for everyone. I thought there was something at all meals for any taste. Bagels, toast, eggs, sausage, bacon, yogurt, and fruit for breakfast. Two or three main dishes for lunch, a bit more for dinner. Always a decent pasta dish. There was cheese and cold cuts, in the style I saw in Finland and Russia, at every meal. The quality ranged from fantastic to so-so, with my biggest complaint that most of the beef and pork tended to be overcooked for my taste. But then, I like it rare.

We went to the resturant the last night, and it was pretty good, not great, but pretty good. I thought of it as a chance to have a sit down meal and be waited on. It's also the only option for an air conditioned dinner.

I should also mention that it's hot there in August. After the first day or so, we learned to deal with it. If you don't think you can, don't go.

Animals. Aside from the bugs, there are lizards and land crabs everywhere. This is the tropics after all, and they don't bother you or anything, but you will see them.

The Viva Vacation Club. Yes, if you let them, they will try to sell you on this variant of a time share. My wife for some reason loves to go on these things, so we spent about 90 mins of our vacation on it. It's just not for me, but if you have ever been to one, you know how it works. The island is pretty laid back, and it was a pretty laid back presentation. It did get us a couple of small bottles or rum, a T shirt, a beach towel, and a nearly half price rental on a jet ski, that gave my kid a shot at trying to drown me. It was not that bad a deal as these things go, and if I had a bit of extra cash laying around, I might have even joined. It is not mandatory, so forget about it if you want.

Now for the good stuff. The activities were great as far as I was concerned. As I said, we did not go there for the singles scene, except for my kid anyway. Activities were mostly included, other than scuba and jet skis. Kayaks, sail boards, and one little Hobi cat. Snorkel gear was available, but we brought our own. There are people there to teach you, and we took lessons for the sail boards.

We went snorkeling at least twice a day. There is a reef just off shore, and it was fantastic. Amazing fish, and just a great low effort activity. I was certified for SCUBA years ago, but don't dive any more due to sinus problems, so the snorkeling was my favorite activity.

The bar was fine, but I was really surprised that beer is very expensive in the islands. They served a lite and a regular local beer called Lucayan, and it was OK, but I'm a bit of a beer snob, and I was disappointed. A bottle of beer will set you back $2.50 -$3.00, and since I don't like sweet fruity rum drinks, I made due with gin and tonic, black Russians, margaritas and the like. On the other hand, it seems like I should not complain, since they were all free!

There is a little bar on the beach, just a short walk or paddle to the west called "Margarita Villa" that had cold Stella, and other decent beer for $3.00, so I got my fix there one afternoon. If you really need a cold one, go there.

The staff was very friendly and helpful, and I have no complaints there. They have a "show" every night, but I was usually too tired from spending the day on the water to bother with it, although my kid had fun there.

In total, we had a great time, and like I said, I would love to go back. Not a luxury resort, and more focused on out door activity, but in my opinion, a great deal for the price.

As far as the rest of the island goes, we rented a car because we wanted to see a bit of the island. It was expensive, and gas was $3.80/gal. It's critical if you want to be able to get around on your own time table, but I would probably not bother next time. We took a trip to Paradise Cove/Deadmans Reef to snorkel. $3/person, but it was well worth it. The ocean side of the reef is 35' deep, and well worth the trip with amazing coral and fish you don't see in the shallow water at the resort. We went to the International Bazar in Freeport, but it's nothing special. Prices were very high I thought, and there was not really anything very special there. If you are a Scotch drinker, load up on the quality duty free stuff if you can find it. Johnnie Walker Black was a bit more than half the price I can get it in the Atlanta Area, and they had a special where if you bought $60 worth of certain brands, you got a 5th of Caol Ila for free. I was amazed since that is a brand you don't generally find in the states, and if you do it's over $50. That was a offer I could not refuse.

We drove into Lucaya one night since someone told my kid that was where the "action" was. It's near the Lucaya resorts, and there were a lot more people there. Might be a good stop for the 20 something crowd. We never did get to the east end of the island, but from what I have heard, if you want local flavor, Grand Bahama is not the island to visit.

We did go on a guided fishing trip in a small boat. It cost $45/person, which is not too expensive, and we caught a decent amount of fish. I'm a fishing nut, and that was important to me, and a lot of fun for the family too.

One last note, the Bahamas were quicker to get into than out of. At the Freeport airport, you go through US Customs there, not when you get back to the states. I did not know this, and this was pretty time consuming. We went through security twice, perhaps because of the new terminal that is not quite ready, but don't expect to get to the airport and make a last minute flight. You won't. You are allowed to bring back 2 liters of booze per adult, but one is supposed to be from the island. I did bring back more than the limit, with one bottle of Barcadi Rum, but customs was not very strict. That is not to be taken to mean that you can fill you luggage and expect to get away with it, but it did not seem to matter much if you had two or three.

To sum up, we loved the resort. If you want or expect luxury, and to be pampered, don't bother. If you want a nice, out of the way, and a bit "rustic" resort, with good food, lots of outdoor beach activities, and at a great price, I don't think you can beat this place.

My husband and I went to Viva Fortuna for our honeymoon and had the time of our lives! We were there the week of July 25th-31st 2004. Like others, I had read some of the reviews and was a little worried. The place was abosolutely beautiful, the beach especially! Every person that we came in contact with, staff and guests alike were all very friendly, we are friendly people ourselves so maybe that helped. We had left our marraige certificate and did not get the honeymoon upgrade, which we understood. And our first room was not ocean view but garden view. The view was still very pretty and the room was nice and clean. A couple of days later we told the time share lady that if she got us into an ocean view room we would sit through the time share speech and we got right into a room in the Bimini building with a beautiful view of the ocean. This room was decorated a little brighter, and this room was nice and clean as well. We did not buy a time share though they did put on the hard sell and it took about an hour.
About bugs: the only bugs we saw were when we had left a soda can out on the table over night there were some tiny ants on it in the morning. And yes there are bees around some garbage cans and your drink at the beach but EVERY person out there is drinking a fruity drink. I saw no one get stung and they really did not bother us.
About the food: we loved the food and felt like we had gained weight by the end of the week. There were plenty of choices. Always had fruit and salad bar, anitpasta, veggies, grilled fish and chicken. They also had steak, pork chops, potatoes, pasta bar and some other specialty items. They also had plenty of kid friendly choices, mac and cheese, pizza, etc. Every meal we had there was good, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yes, the building is open to the air but we sat by the big open windows and enjoyed the breeze and view while we ate. There were some flies but they did not bother us much at all. I never saw them run out of food and each meal was open for about two to two and half hours. It did seem to get busy at the last hour so we just made sure we came before that. Plenty of food did have an Italian flare and that was wonderful. One night we did make resevations to eat at the restaurant. It was nice, we sat on the patio and the mosquitos were a bit bothersome, but they seemed to only be biting me. I might suggest sitting inside. There was plenty of the free choices of apps, dinner, drinks and desert. My husband got a free choice which was great and I got the upgrade steak and lobster. We also got a couple of bottles of wine. We were treated great, had a very nice dinner and it was not over priced. We recommend it. As far as the snacks in between meals, we always saw fruit and cheese trays, hotdog bar, pizzas and sandwhiches. We loved the rolled sandwhiches and sometimes skipped lunch just to eat those.
About the bar: they were so nice and we miss them. We did tip at every trip to the bar just one dollar. When they saw us coming they would have the drink already made by the time we got to the bar. And they did make them extra strong and fill up the big cups we bought in the gift shop. They were nice to everyone around us too and we never saw anyone else tipping. They are bartenders and do accept tips, it's not a requirement to tip but what is the harm in throwing a couple of bucks their way, it makes them VERY happy.
The activities: we brought our own snorkling gear that we got at Walmart. The coral reefs right off shore are so beautiful, they were so many different kinds of fish and lobsters and even some sting rays. The water and beach were so beautiful and you could walk for a long time in either direction and see nothing but beach and a few big beautiful houses and a ways down towards the left we found a beach bar. They had a deck and a view to die for. We also took out the kayaks one day and that was alot of fun, the water was very clear way out there. They also had wind surfing, Hobies, snorkling gear and some things that cost a little extra like Banana boating, jet skies and other boat rides. All day there was music(not live) playing around the pool, you could hear it at the beach. They had lots of kid activities around the pool all day and salsa and merenge lessons at the pool. There was beach volleyball, a twenty person jaccuzi. There was so much going on all around us and we did not even come close to doing everything, we spent our time enjoying the beach and the reefs. Inside they had bingo tournaments, pingpong, pool table, karaoke and different things going on. They nightly shows were very entertaining, it was mostly skits and dancing, family entertainment. The staff does work really hard and they are every where doing everything all day and night. Even though we were exhausted we would stay and watch the show every night. We LOVED the Italian flare around the resort, it was nice to hear all the languages being spoken and we miss that too. We did make it to the disco one night and danced. It was alot of fun too!
This resort was a perfect place for our honeymoon and we had a fabulous time! I would recommend this resort to anyone. The people who wrote the bad reviews might need to go stay at five star resorts and pay that cost so they can be happy. But we are just avarage people who wanted a nice resort with a beautiful beach and be able to be casual and enjoy ourselves on our honeymoon and that is excatly what happened. Cant wait to go back! Thanks!