Costa Ready to Restart Cruise Operations This Weekend

Costa Deliziosa

Costa Cruises is scheduled to restart sailing in Italy this Sunday, Sept. 6.

Carnival’s Italian brand will be followed by Germany-based AIDA Cruises scheduled to resume on Nov. 1.

The brands will begin in a gradual, phased-in manner with six initial ships and limited itineraries, becoming the first two of Carnival’s nine brands to resume operations.

“Our highest responsibilities and top priorities are always compliance, protecting the environment, and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, the communities we visit and our crew,” said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation. “We are engaged with a large number of medical experts and scientists around the world, and they are providing us with extremely valuable insight that we are using to develop new and enhanced protocols that are in the best interest of our guests, crew and overall public health. In areas of the world where community spread is largely mitigated and authorities are supportive of a gradual return to service over time, we look forward to again welcoming guests onboard.

The initial cruises will take place with adjusted passenger capacity and enhanced health protocols developed with government and health authorities to follow shoreside mitigation guidelines, the company said.

Costa Cruises is restarting sailing with two initial ships departing from Italian ports beginning Sept. 6.

The Costa Deliziosa will offer weekly cruises from Trieste on Sept. 6, 13, 20 and 27, visiting five destinations in southern Italy, including Bari and Brindisi in Puglia, Corigliano-Rossano in Calabria, and Siracusa and Catania in Sicily.

The Costa Diadema will follow on Sept. 19 from Genoa, calling at Italian ports in the western Mediterranean, including Civitavecchia/Rome, Naples, Palermo, Cagliari and La Spezia.

The one-week itineraries are being reserved exclusively for Italian guests.

AIDA Cruises will resume its cruise operations with two of its ships, sailing from the Canary Islands in November 2020, followed by an additional two ships departing from the western Mediterranean and the United Arab Emirates beginning in December 2020.

The first of the brand’s cruises are set to begin Nov. 1, with seven-day voyages to and departures from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, with AIDAmar, followed by sailings from Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife with AIDAperla on Nov. 7. In December, AIDA Cruises will resume sailing operations in the Western Mediterranean with AIDAstella departing on seven-day cruises from Palma, Mallorca, beginning Dec. 12. Additionally, AIDAprima will offer seven-day cruises from Dubai starting Dec. 11 and from Abu Dhabi beginning Dec. 15.

In working with global and national health authorities and medical experts, Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises have developed a comprehensive set of health and hygiene protocols to help facilitate a safe, healthy return to cruise vacations, according to a press release.

Costa Cruises to restart sailings in September

Costa Cruises to restart sailings in September

by Samantha Mayling 

Costa Cruises plans to restart its sailings from Italian ports on a gradual basis from September 6, 2020.

On Monday, the Italian government approved the resumption of cruises and new health protocols developed in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

The first ship to set sail will be Costa Deliziosa (pictured), on September 6, offering weekly cruises from Trieste to Greece.

Costa Diadema will set sail on September 19, operating seven-day cruises in the western Mediterranean from Genoa.

Costa Cruises said it is working with authorities and the destinations to ensure a “responsible, smooth and well-organised application of the new regulations and protocols”.

Further details on the Costa Deliziosa and Costa Diadema itineraries will be announced in the coming days.

However, the cruise line is extending the suspension of its cruise season for other departures until September 30.

Costa Cruises’ new safety protocol is consistent with the health protocols defined by the Italian government and European (EU Healthy Gateways) authorities.

The UK Foreign Office last month advised against cruise ship travel.

Costa Readying Two Ships to Start Mediterranean Cruising

Costa Smeralda

Costa Crociere may be readying two ships to start cruising in the Mediterranean as soon as August, according to crew aboard the line’s ships who attended a recent town hall-style meeting.

The ships that would be put into operation will reportedly be the newest vessels in the Italian brand’s fleet, the 2014-built Diadema, and the 2019-built Smeralda. 

In a letter sent to the crew, Costa said it has been working with various institutions to restart operations with a limited number of vessels, as soon as August. However, any restart would be linked to a certain number of conditions, according to the company.

Costa Diadema

The new challenge is for Costa to crew its ships, with Costa noting that many countries are restricting the movement of the crew, presenting challenges in getting crew to the ships.

Thus, Costa is asking that crew near the end of their contracts consider extending their contracts aboard.

“We official inform all crew members under a valid contract that they will be requested to fulfil their contract commitment, continuing the regular schedule of operation,” a company letter read.