Today, Costa Tuscany, Costa Cruises’ newest cruise ship, sails from Savona, Italy. The maiden voyage of the liquefied natural gas-powered ship marks another step forward for Costa Cruises, with the expectation that the entire fleet will be operational by summer.
Costa Cruises’ new flagship will depart today from Savona and visit ports in the Western Mediterranean such as Marseille, Barcelona, Valencia, Palermo and Civitavecchia. It will sail in the area until November 2022, when it will set sail for Brazil.
Costa Toscana sailing on the maiden voyage
Carnival Corporation’s newest Excellence Class cruise ship departs Savona, Italy today for its first-ever cruise with guests. Costa Tuscany is the second LNG-powered cruise ship sailing for Costa Cruises and the fourth for the Costa Cruises division, which includes AIDA cruises.
After a slight delay in the delivery of the new ship due to a pandemic, the time has come for the first guests to embark on the Costa Tuscany in Costa’s home port in the Mediterranean.
Mario Zanetti, President of Costa Cruises: “Costa Toscana is an innovative ship that fully interprets the new cruise experience, including destination exploration, which we have been working on in recent months.”
“The departure from Costa Toscana also represents another step in the journey that will bring our fleet back to full capacity this summer. Our restart will strengthen an ecosystem that, before the pandemic, generated an annual economic impact of 12.6 billion euros in Europe, of which 3.5 billion in Italy alone, with more than 63,000 jobs.
During the first week-long Mediterranean cruise, scheduled to depart at 6:00 p.m. CET, the ship will visit classic destinations in Italy, Spain and France, including Marseille, Barcelona, Valencia, Palermo and Civitavecchia. Costa Tuscany will visit Savona, Rome, Naples, Ibiza, Valencia and Marseille during the summer. In the fall, Ibiza will be replaced by Palma de Mallorca.
the Costa Tuscany will be deployed in the Mediterranean until November 2022. The vessel will be based in Santos, Brazil during the 2022/2023 winter season.
Costa Tuscany
The style of the new Costa ship pays homage to the Italian region of Tuscany. Star designer Adam D. Tihany, who also designed Seabourn cruise ships, designed the ship; furniture, lighting, fabrics and accessories are all made in Italy.
The 183,900 gross ton cruise ship has over twenty-one restaurants and bars for the 5,322 guests on board. The sister ships of Costa Tuscany include Costa Smeralda for Costa Cruises; AIDAnova and AIDAcosma navigation for the German cruise line AIDA; Iona and Arviasailing for P&O UK, and mardi gras carnival for Carnival Cruise Line.
Thanks to the use of LNG, the ship has virtually eliminated emissions of sulfur oxides, particulate matter (95-100% reduction), nitrogen oxide (direct 85% reduction) and CO2 (up to ‘at 20%).
Fleet returns to operations as cruises return to normal
This summer, Costa Cruises should be fully operational for the first time in over two years. Seven ships will resume operations, joining those already in service; in the summer, the entire fleet of 12 ships will be operational again.
“We are seeing a growing demand for our cruises. Additionally, as the overall situation improves, we expect a simplification of our enhanced health and safety protocols, based on our ongoing pandemic monitoring.
As health regulations continue to be relaxed across Europe, Costa Cruises plans to return ships to normal operating standards soon. The cruise line is already working with authorities to remove the need to book excursions to disembark at ports of call:
“The work we are doing in this direction with the authorities is already well advanced. I believe that cruises will soon return to normal, with new protocols that will allow our customers to fully enjoy the experiences on board and ashore, with the return, for example, of free excursions for customers.
It is unclear if and when other measures, such as social distancing, use of masks and testing requirements, will be removed.
