Costa Fortuna

Costa Fortuna to join former buddies Classica and Atlantica at Margaritaville at Sea

Costa Cruises’ oldest ship, the 2003-built Costa Fortuna, will leave its fleet in September 2026, having been bought by Margaritaville at Sea. Before she leaves, the 3,450 passenger Fortuna will sail new programs in Greece and Turkey this summer, followed by the Canary Islands for winter 2025-26. She will become the third ship in the

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Costa Smeralda

Costa celebrates 75th anniversary with 75 specially priced cruises

Costa Cruises celebrates its 75th anniversary on 31 March when, in 1948, its first passenger ship, the Anna C, departed from Genoa bound for Buenos Aires with 768 guests on board. And to celebrate the occasion 75 specially priced cruises in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe are on offer, with sailings from spring to autumn.

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Costa Tosacana

Costa takes delivery of new flagship Costa Toscana ahead of March debut

Costa Cruises took delivery of its newest ship, Costa Toscana, at Meyer’s Turku shipyard in Finland on Thursday (2 December), but guests will have to wait until March to set sail on her. Powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), the ship boasts the maritime sector’s most advanced technology for reducing emissions. The Costa Group –

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Antares Experience

End in sight for the former Costa neoRomantica

The Antares Experience, formerly known as Costa neoRomantica and Celestyal Experience, is to be scrapped, according to the Gadani breakers yard in Pakistan The ship was originally launched as the Romantica in 1993 but was renamed neoRomantica after a €90m upgrade in 2011 when two new half decks increased its tonnage from 53,000 to 56,000

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Costa Venezia

Costa Venezia weighs anchor in China and switches to cruising from Istanbul

Costa Cruises is pulling Costa Venezia out of China and from May next year will be offering two alternating one-week itineraries out of Istanbul dedicated to Turkey and Greece. The ship’s new program in Turkey includes three different itineraries, designed to provide for longer stopovers in the ports. Costa Venezia’s new itineraries, which include “flight&cruise”

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Back to cruising … a round up of what’s been happening this week

Cruise lines are moving through the gears as vacations get going again in the wake of the  pandemic lay-off. Here’s some of the news that has been cheering us up this week. Royal Caribbean has to push back Hong Kong return for 3 months Royal Caribbean has been forced to push back the start of

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Costa ambassador Penelope Cruz

Penélope Cruz revels in her new role as godmother of Costa Smeralda

Celebrations were held today in Savona for Costa Cruises’ new flagship, Costa Smeralda, with international celebrity Penélope Cruz taking the starring role alongside the ship itself. Cruz performed the ribbon-cutting duties with the traditional breaking of the bottle against the bow of the ship in the presence of the Master of Costa Smeralda, Paolo Benini.

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Costa Luminosa

Costa Cruises adds a third ship to its 2020-21 South America winter season

Costa Cruises is to base a third ship in South America for the winter 2020-21 season to meet a growth in demand. Costa Luminosa will join Costa Fascinosa and Costa Pacifica in the region to offer various itineraries to discover Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. “The arrival of Costa Luminosa for the 2020/2021 season reflects Costa

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costa smeralda

Construction delays force the late arrival of Costa Smeralda

The arrival of Costa Cruises’ new flagship, Costa Smeralda, has been put back to November because of construction delays at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. It means the ship, the first in the fleet to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) , will now begin her inaugural program of 7-day Mediterranean cruises from

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Cooking up a storm! The culinary stars who give cruise guests a 5 star vacation

Good food lies at the heart of a great vacation. Which is why cruise lines are working with top chefs around the world to create unforgettable dining experiences. The move to bring top chefs to the high seas is a reflection of the increasing interest in all things food-related. Among shipboard celebrity chefs is award-winning

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