Costa Marks Cruise Restart from Genoa with Firenze

The Costa Firenze has made its debut in Genoa, marking the restart of Costa’s cruises from the city.

Guests will be able to disembark freely as the company will no longer require bubble-style excursions. 

Costa said it will call at Genoa every Thursday through November as part of a one-week Western Mediterranean itinerary, which also includes Marseille, Barcelona, Cagliari, Palermo and Civitavecchia/Rome.

In addition to the Costa Firenze, starting in November and through the end of the year, the Costa Luminosa will also be in Genoa every Sunday, again for one-week cruises in the Western Mediterranean.

In 2022 Costa will be in Genoa for a total of 45 calls, after only a few calls in 2021 and 2020.

Numbers will continue growing in 2023 too with weekly calls on Fridays from the new Costa Toscana. 

“After a two-year pause, we are finally returning regularly with our cruises to Genoa. We are doing so with a new-generation ship, Costa Firenze, and an even richer product that will allow exploring our destinations in the best possible way,” said Mario Zanetti, President of Costa Cruises.

“Costa Firenze, as well as the other ships in the fleet, offer the opportunity to generate shared value in the territories and contribute to creating models of future development that are sustainable and able to multiply growth opportunities for the territory. I am thinking, for example, of projects such as cold ironing, i.e., the use of land-based energy for ships calling at ports,” he said.

Costa Forced to Cancel Christmas and New Years Cruises

Costa Diadema.

Costa has cancelled its holiday cruise program, citing a request from the Italian government. 

“This is a temporary stop that, as stated by the Government itself, has never questioned the reliability of the health protocols adopted in collaboration with the Italian authorities,” the company said, in a press release. “Those protocols represent a unique model in the tourism sector at an international level, and have proven their full effectiveness in the last 4 months of operation in Italy.”

Costa said that during the holiday period, its ships would be in various ports and it would offer a special food donation program. 

Costa also said, in a prepared statement: “The cruise suspension does not only affect the Company but the entire ecosystem that depends on cruises, such as travel agencies, shipyards, ports and local activities of destinations visited by ships the ports and local activities of the destinations visited by the ships, that the Company helped to restart in the second half of the year.

“The cancellation of Christmas and New Year’s Eve cruises, among the most popular of the year, therefore represents a further economic sacrifice for Costa Cruises and the entire industry, in a period that was already very difficult for the entire sector, that relied on these operations.”

Costa said it will resume service with the Costa Smeralda on January 7, 2021, with the one-week itinerary, dedicated exclusively to Italy, that can be divided into two short cruises of three and four days each, departing from Civitavecchia. The four-day mini-cruise sails to Central and Southern Italy, with stops in Naples, Messina and Cagliari. The three-day cruise voyages to Central and Northern Italy, and includes visits to Civitavecchia, La Spezia and Savona.