Costa Sales ‘Robust’ as Easter Cruises Kick Off European Season

Costa Cruises is highlighting a series of Easter cruises including sailings in the Western Mediterranean, South America and a two-week cruise bound for the Canary Islands, according to a press release.

“Sales in the last three months have been robust. Ship occupancy is growing steadily, and summer programs are selling quickly with a high demand for cabins. This is a very encouraging outlook, considering that our capacity in the Mediterranean has increased compared to 2019, while keeping our capacity in Northern Europe constant, thanks to the entry of new, state-of-the-art ships into the fleet in the last three years, such as Costa Toscana and Costa Smeralda,” said Mario Zanetti, president of Costa Cruises.

The Easter cruises mark the beginning of the spring-summer 2023 season. The Costa Toscana will be returning to the Mediterranean after a winter in the Arabian Gulf and will be offering one-week cruises to Genoa, Marseille, Barcelona, Cagliari, Naples and Civitavecchia/Rome. 

The Costa Smeralda will offer a one-week itinerary to Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca (Ibiza in summer), Palermo, and Civitavecchia/Rome. Joining them in the Mediterranean is the Costa Diadema, which underwent major renovation work over the winter and restarted on Friday. 

The Costa Diadema will introduce new experiences onboard such as the Archipelago restaurant, where guests can enjoy menus crafted by chefs Bruno Barbieri, Hélène Darroze and Ángel León; the Sushino at Costa, a sushi bistro by the sea; and the Fiorentina Steak House, featuring Italian and international meats. The Costa Diadema will offer two-week cruises to the Canary Islands and a one-week itinerary starting May 7, with calls in Savona, Civitavecchia/Rome, Cagliari or Ajaccio (depending on departures), Palma de Mallorca, Valencia and Marseille.

Starting on April 13, the Fortuna will also offer sailings in the western Mediterranean including a three-day mini-cruise and 14-day itineraries to Turkey and the Canary Islands. In the summer, the Costa Fortuna will offer a new two-week itinerary exploring the Greek and Balearic islands with calls in Savona, Civitavecchia/Rome, Messina, Crete, Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini, Kefalonia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona and Marseille.

The Costa Deliziosa will sail to Marghera/Venice, Katakolon/Olympia (Greece), Mykonos (Greece) Santorini (Greece) and Bari while the Costa Pacifica will visit Catania, Malta, Mykonos and Santorini. 

The Costa Fascinosa will sail 12-day itineraries to the North Cape, or nine-day cruises to the Baltic. The Costa Favolosa will explore Iceland, the Lofoten Islands and Greenland while the Costa Firenze will offer one-week cruises in the Norwegian fjords.

AIDA Status Update: The Latest and Greatest

AIDA is one of the cruise lines that has managed to resume service after a pandemic-related break, at least partially.

In this short update, Cruise Industry News recaps what the German cruise line has been up to since it stopped sailing in March 2020.

Service Resumptions

Over the last year, AIDA continually looked for service resumption opportunities. While some plans ended up scrapped before the actual service start, others went ahead. The German cruise line already welcomed passengers back three times.

First, in October, it reactivated the AIDAsol in the Mediterranean, in an all-Italian itinerary visiting Naples, Palermo, Catania, La Spezia and Civitavecchia. After a couple of sailings, however, the operation had to be cancelled due to new travel restrictions in Germany.

After cancelling other restart plans, AIDA had its second service resumption on Dec. 5, with the AIDAperla in the Canaries. A second ship, the AIDAmar, was added to the program before Christmas. On Dec. 29, AIDA was forced to cancel the operation after IT issues

While plans initially called for a January restart, a new lockdown in Germany prompted further cancellations.  

Sailing in the Canaries

The AIDAperla then re-entered service on March 20, marking the third AIDA resumption. The ship is currently sailing in the Canaries, offering a week-long cruise departing Gran Canaria and visiting Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.

The operation was recently extended until June, replacing a set of previously announced Mediterranean cruises. 

Intact Fleet  

With the Carnival Corporation having sold 18 ships already since the start of the pandemic, the AIDA fleet remains intact. So far, none of its 14 vessels had to depart the fleet.   

After the sales in other brands, AIDA ended up with some of the older and smallest vessels across the nine brands of the corporation – including the 38,000-ton AIDAcara built in 1996 and the 48,200-ton AIDAmira built-in 1999.

AIDAcosma Delayed

AIDA’s 2021 new build, meanwhile, was significantly delayed. Initially scheduled for a spring debut, the LNG-powered AIDAcosma was pushed to the third quarter. With the change, the vessel’s inaugural season in Europe was entirely cancelled and the first voyage rescheduled to Oct. 23, 2021.

In other AIDA shipbuilding news, the cruise line announced in November that it is progressing on its way to emission-neutral ships. The cruise line also said that it plans to install batteries onboard the AIDAperla and fuel cells onboard the AIDAnova in 2021.

By the Numbers:

Ships:

  • Ships shed: -0
  • Ships added: +0

Result: No Change

Berths:

  • Berths shed: -0
  • Berths added: + 0

Result: No Change