Costa Cruises to restart sailings at Italian ports

The restart in operations begins with the line’s flagship vessel Costa Smeralda, scheduled to set sail on 27 March with an unchanged itinerary, with three and four-day mini-cruises or alternatively a seven-day cruise, calling at the Italian ports of Savona, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, Naples, Messina and Cagliari.

From 1 May, Costa Smeralda will return to sailing one-week cruises in the western Mediterranean, with visits to Savona, Civitavecchia and Palermo, Italy; Marseille, France; and Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Costa Luminosa will also resume service, departing from Trieste from 2 May and the following day from Bari, confirming its programme of one-week cruises in Greece and Croatia.

Costa has also taken delivery of Fincantieri-built Costa Firenze and the vessel will first sail in the Mediterranean in 2021, providing two different week-long itineraries in the western Mediterranean before moving to Asia.

The cruise operator said it is working with the national and local authorities of the countries included in the itineraries of its ships outside Italy to define the details of the restart of cruise operations, with enhanced health and safety measures through the implementation of the Costa Safety Protocol.

The protocol contains operational measures related to all aspects of the cruises, both on board and ashore, which were implemented in the past months of cruise operations. Measures include limited capacity, swab tests for all guests and crew, temperature checks when disembarking and re-embarking the ship, protected shore excursions, physical distancing on board and at the cruise terminals, new ways of using onboard services, enhanced sanitation and medical services, and use of protective face masks when necessary.