About Costa Cruises

What began as a fleet of freighters transporting fabrics and olive oil between Genoa and Sardinia in the mid-1800's is today the largest and most modern cruise fleet in Europe. Costa Cruises, which became a fully owned subsidiary of Carnival Corp. in 2000, is an Italian company with a modern fleet of ships, worldwide itineraries and a distinct Italian personality.

The Costa fleet sails under the "Cruising Italian Style" banner — offering a product that combines the sophisticated elegance of a European vacation with the fun and spirit of the line's Italian heritage. Costa's international family of ships spans the globe offering cruises of seven days and longer throughout the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and trans-Atlantic.

"Cruising Italian Style" can be interpreted two different ways. Some passengers have disliked Costa because of the extensive smoking aboard their ships, but following Italian government regulations ashore, Costa has severely limited smoking to designated areas in lounges. Dining venues and bars are now smoke-free. Other travelers overlook these factors and enjoy the European atmosphere — after all, Mediterranean-influenced cuisine, regional wines and warm, rich decor are all part of the Italian tradition. Alas, Italian stewards, part of the line's heritage, are no more. Cabin and dining room stewards are now hard-working and passenger-pleasing Filipinos. As they speak English, the former criticism of English-speakers that they were not understood has been ameliorated.

Costa is easily Europe's most innovative cruise line, with an aggressive building program. In July 2006, the cruise line launched its newest biggest-ship-ever, Costa Concordia, which was followed in May 2007 by sister ship Costa Serena. In addition, Costa announced its expansion into the Asia Pacific. During the summer, the Costa Allegra began sailing from China, and in Winter 2006/2007 Costa Classica and AIDacara began departing from Dubai, with the Costa Marina leaving from Singapore. Two more ships, as yet unnamed twins, at approximately 92,700 tons each, are being built for delivery in spring 2009 and autumn 2010.

The Fleet

The line introduced its North American flagship, the 984-passenger Costa Riviera in 1985. It was this vessel that launched the line's memorable "Cruising Italian Style" theme, which is personified onboard all of Costa's ships. The nineties proved to be a decade of enormous development for the company, which welcomed Costa Marina to its fleet in 1990, Costa Classica and Costa Allegra in 1992, Costa Romantica (sister ship to Costa Classica) in 1993 and Costa Victoria in 1996. In July 2000, the 2,680-passenger Costa Atlantica made her debut in Venice as the largest ship ever built by a European company, and the first of Costa's ships to feature balconies. It also heralded the company's new "age." As part of Carnival Corporation, Costa Atlantica was the first to offer the Carnival Cruise Lines design sensibility (indeed it was designed by Carnival's ubiquitous Joe Farcas, who has had a hand in every new build since).

Costa has benefited by its Carnival Corporation ownership in the expanded fleet department. Costa Europa, formerly Holland America's Westerdam debuted in 2002. And as the line embraced its largest-in-history fleet expansion, Costa debuted Costa Mediterranea, a sister ship to Costa Atlantica, in June 2003.

Costa Fortuna was launched in November 2003. The 105,000-ton, 2,720-passenger ship was the first in a new class for the cruise line, and the largest ever to fly the Italian flag; Costa Magica, its sister ship, premiered in November 2004. And bringing the fleet total to 11 ships, the newest, Costa Concordia, was launched in July 2006. Highlights include a wider range of formal and casual dining venues, one of the largest health and wellness centers at sea and four swimming pools (two will feature retractable domes). The ships will also feature plenty of cabins with balconies; approximately 62 percent of outside staterooms will feature that all-important amenity. In May 2007, Concordia was joined by sister ship Costa Serena.

Over the next few years, Costa will welcome several new ships to its fleet. The first will be Costa Pacifica, a 114,000-ton, 3,780-passenger new-build. And taking a step back from the big-ship race, Costa will debut two smaller ships by 2010: Costa Luminosa will begin sailing in spring 2009, and a sister ship, still unnamed, will follow the next spring.

Onboard

Costa Cruises offers a lively cruise experience — whether via port-intensive itineraries, with only a handful of let-your-hair-down sea days, or its onboard emphasis on evening entertainment.

In particular, the cruise line's newest ships — from Costa Atlantica onward — offer the most diverse nightlife and alternative eating options. Otherwise, a Costa cruise is a traditional style experience — albeit with its signature Italian flavor.

Art and architecture are an important part of the Costa experience, and all ships feature millions of dollars in original artwork, and hand-crafted furnishings.

Costa is using its newest ship Concordia to highlight Michelin-star Italian chef Ettore Bocchia's innovative "molecular cuisine." Bocchia, the executive chef at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, has made a name for himself by studying the physical and chemical properties of food, and using science to devise new ways of preparing dishes — for example, cooking with liquid nitrogen, which freezes food at minus 196 degrees, but by some miracle of science doesn't make the item unbearably cold in the mouth. Another: heating fish in melted sugar rather than oil cuts the cooking time in half (and because the fish is wrapped in leak leaves, it never touches to sugar ... and maintains its original taste with no fat). The cover charge for this experience is $25.

Another specialty restaurant is Giampaolo Belloni di Zeffirino with a sumptuous menu that the famous Zeffirino's in Genoa, Italy is known for.

Dining options for smaller cruisers include a Kids Menu and Beverage Card, and ice cream, Nutella and chocolate evening parties. Particularly in its newer ships, investment in the "Club Squok" kids program has helped Costa attract more and more families. The Costa Kids Program includes arts & crafts, sports tournaments, parties in the evening, and two themed dinners per cruise just for kids. Other family friendly features include Italian language lessons, and free babysitting. July and August are the most popular travel months for families with children.

Itineraries

Costa offers one of the cruise industry's most comprehensive — and diverse — selection of European itineraries. In fact, it's one of the few lines that sails the area on a year-round basis. Regions of Europe include the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, Western Europe and the Baltics.

Costa is also exploring new parts of the world. Costa Classica was repositioned to Dubai for a series of weekly cruises that call at Bahrain, Oman and Yemen; returning to Europe in April. There are repositioning trips in each direction. Meanwhile, Costa Marina sailed for Singapore in December for a series of cruises to Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei. Here too, there are repositioning trips in each direction. The People's Republic of China has given Costa permission to sail cruises out of Chinese ports for Chinese nationals. Costa Allegra has been assigned that duty. Costa Atlantica, Costa Magica and Costa Mediterranea made late fall crossings of the Atlantic to take up duties in the Caribbean. Costa Atlantica sails weekly from Guadeloupe for St. Maarten, La Romana and Catalina Island, Tortola, Antigua and St. Lucia. Costa Magica and Costa Mediterranea sail from Port Everglades on three itineraries that include maiden calls at St. Barts, Grand Turk, Roatan and Belize City.

Costa Concordia sails all winter from Civitavecchia on 11-night cruises to Savona, Katakolon, Piraeus, Izmir, Rhodes, Limassol and Alexandria. Costa Europa departs alternating 11-night sailings to Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Malta and Libya with 10-night sailings to the Canary Islands. Costa Serena will is spending its maiden season sailing seven-night summer/fall Eastern Mediterranean cruises roundtrip from Venice, with stops in Bari, Izmir, Istanbul and Dubrovnik. The ship will then focus on 10- and 11-day fall/winter/spring cruises roundtrip from Savona to Spain, Morocco and the Canary Islands, before returning the Eastern Mediterranean in the spring of 2008. Costa Victoria embarks from Savona on 11-night sailings to Spain, Morocco and the Canary Islands. Costa Romantica and Costa Fortuna repositioned to Brazil in late November to begin sailing between Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina with repositioning voyages in each direction.

Fellow Passengers

On European itineraries, Costa attracts mostly European passengers from Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal. On an average winter sailing in Europe there are 60 to 80 English-speaking passengers. During the summer in Europe, about 20 percent of passengers will be North Americans. (The line's former policy of making announcements in five or more languages has been brought under control. There are now very few announcements, usually only one per day as the ship leaves port.) On South American and Caribbean cruises, the demographics flip-flop, with Costa attracting about 80 percent North American passengers (vs. 20 percent from Europe).

Costa's ships also appeal to a wide range of ages, from 20-something first-time cruisers to retirees.