Costa Cruises, a brand of cruise liner giant Carnival, plans to expand the capacity of its Italian-flagged fleet by 43 pct by 2021.
Namely, the company plans to add four new ships in the next three years.
Costa Venezia, currently under construction in the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, is due to arrive in February 2019. The ship’s 135,500-ton sister vessel, yet to be named, will follow suit in 2020. Like its twin Costa Venezia, it will be designed specifically for the Chinese market.
The company’s flagship, the LNG-powered Costa Smeralda, being built by Meyer Turku shipyard, is due to arrive in 2019 followed by the Costa Smeralda’s sister vessel in 2021.
Starting in March 2019, the fleet innovation program also includes the return to the Mediterranean of the Costa Fortuna, a ship currently operating in Asia, which will offer one-week cruises departing from Genoa. At the end of 2019, the Costa neoRiviera will be transferred to the fleet of AIDA Cruises, the Costa Group’s German brand.
Hence, the company’s fleet is expected to increase to 17 in 2021, compared with the current 14.
Overall, the Costa Group currently has seven new ships on order, worth over EUR 6 billion. In addition to Costa Cruises four new ships, there are three new LNG ships for the AIDA Cruises fleet, arriving between autumn 2018 and 2023.