Costa Cruises, the Italian company of Carnival Corporation, has revised its plans, moving its restart to May. The decision has been taken in consideration of the restrictions still in place in Italy and other European countries to contain COVID-19. Such measures, according to Costa, do not allow the company to offer the best cruise vacations to its guests, especially for what concerns the experience ashore. Previously, the line had anticipated to return to operation March 27.
In line with the new plan, Costa Smeralda's departure in Italy is planned for May 1, with an unchanged itinerary, sailing guests to Italian locations, with three- and four-day mini-cruises or, alternatively, a seven-day cruise, calling at Savona, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, Naples, Messina and Cagliari.
From June 12, Costa Smeralda will return to sailing one-week cruises in the western Mediterranean, with visits to Italy (Savona, Civitavecchia and Palermo), France (Marseille) and Spain (Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca).
The departure date of Costa Luminosa, the second Costa ship scheduled to resume service, is postponed to May 16 from Trieste, and the following day from Bari, confirming its program of one-week cruises in Greece and Croatia, in accordance with recent roadmap for the resumption of international tourism in Greece.
The restart of Costa cruises will continue to be supported by the implementation of the “Costa Safety Protocol.” The protocol contains operational measures related to all aspects of the cruise experience, both on board and ashore. Such 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 on-board services, enhanced sanitation and medical services, and use of protective face masks when necessary.
Furthermore, the company is also working with national and local authorities of the countries included in the itineraries of its ships outside Italy to define the details of the resumption of its cruise operations.
As previously announced, all other cruises scheduled until the end of May, and not included in the Costa Smeralda and Costa Luminosa programs updated today, are cancelled. Costa is in the process of informing travel advisors and customers affected by changes.
Visit www.costacruises.com.
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