Iam used to getting up early to capture photos of cruise ships arriving, but with an arrival time of 0430hrs an especially early start was required for the maiden arrival of Carnival Celebration on 6th November.
With rain forecast the weather didn’t deter me from being in position to see her arrive.
Carnival Celebration is the second in the US lines new LNG powered “Excel Class” and she follows the first ship Mardi Gras launched in 2020.
Carnival Celebration had Come direct from the Meyer Werft shipyard in Turku having been officially handed over just 4 days previously.
What is follows is a selection of images and video taken during her visit to Southampton.
Arrival
Arrival Video
AlongsideOcean Cruise Terminal
Sailing
Shortly after 1700hrs Carnival Celebration set sail on her inaugural transatlantic cruise to Miami, en-route she will stop at La Coruna, Vigo, Santa Cruz before crossing the Atlantic to arrive in Miami 20th November where she will homeport and her maiden cruise season will begin.
It’s a great to see that Carnival Cruise Line chose Southampton, the UK’s premier cruise port as the location for Celebration’s UK debut. Now the countdown is on for Carnival Jubilee next year.
I hope you have enjoyed looking at my images, I would love to see your comments below.
Arrival Marks the First New Carnival Ship in the UK in 20 Years
MIAMI, Nov. 6, 2022 – Today marked a special occasion as Carnival Cruise Line’s most anticipated new Excel-class ship, Carnival Celebration, arrived to the Ocean Cruise Terminal in Southampton, UK, for a first-look event and marked Carnival’s first time bringing a new ship to the UK in 20 years.
To warmly welcome the ship, Carnival hosted local officials, travel partners, and members of the media for a day of fun with guided tours and lunch. Southampton port officials and Celebration’s senior officers participated in a traditional plaque and key ceremony, as well.
To commemorate the special day, Carnival President Christine Duffy hosted a “Let’s Celebrate” event in the cruise terminal that included a ceremonial ribbon-cutting welcoming the first guests on board.
Earlier this week, the line took delivery of Carnival Celebration at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, before Captain Vincenzo Alcaras, Hotel Director Pierre Camilleri, Chief Engineer Fabian Gervaise and the ship’s 1,800 team members helped bring her to the UK destination.
“I can’t tell you how exciting this day has been, finally giving our UK travel partners the opportunity to see our new Excel-class ship,” said Christine. “Carnival Celebration is the ultimate 50th Birthday gift and is a key part of a very unique and exciting period of growth for us. It’s been a wonderful 50 years, and we kicked off the next 50 with a bang today! Next up – Miami!”
Later today, Carnival Celebration will depart on her 14-day transatlantic sailing to Miami where the line will soon host her official naming ceremony with Godmother Cassidy Gifford, daughter of longtime Carnival friend Kathie Lee Gifford, who was the Godmother of the original M/S Celebration.
Carnival Celebration features six unique zones, including the new Miami-themed 820 Biscayne, travel-inspired The Gateway, and stunning Celebration Central, as well as the BOLT roller coaster. Carnival Celebration is the second ship in the Carnival fleet to be powered by a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) propulsion system.
Including Carnival Celebration, Carnival is adding five beautiful new ships to its fleet over the next two years in an exciting period of growth unlike any other in Carnival’s 50-year history. Today, a second ship in Australia will be added as Carnival Luminosa begins guest operations in Brisbane, and next year, the third Excel-class ship Carnival Jubilee will debut from Galveston. Carnival will also introduce a new concept, “Carnival Fun Italian Style,” with Carnival Venezia joining next spring from New York City and Carnival Firenze in 2024 from Long Beach.
For additional information on Carnival Cruise Line and to book a cruise vacation, call 1-800-CARNIVAL, visit www.carnival.com, or contact your favorite travel advisor or online travel site.
ABOUT CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE
Carnival Cruise Line, part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), is proud to be known as America’s Cruise Line, for carrying more Americans and serving more U.S. homeports than any other. Since its founding in 1972, Carnival has continually revolutionized the cruise sector, making a cruise vacation an affordable and popular option for millions of guests. Carnival operates from 14 U.S. and two Australian homeports and employs more than 40,000 team members representing 120 nationalities. Carnival currently operates 24 ships and is in an exciting period of growth, with Carnival Celebration and Carnival Luminosa, which began guest operations in November, and three additional ships joining the fleet by 2024.
Carnival Cruise Line announced today that Netherlands-based Boskalis, a worldwide leader in marine solutions, will deploy a transport vessel as a first of its kind “floating dry dock” facility to complete the repairs to Carnival Vista’s two azipods, the ship’s main propulsion system. The procedure will entail loading the ship onto the semi-submersible heavy transport vessel, BOKA Vanguard, and then docking the vessel at the Grand Bahama shipyard for the repair work.
A video animation detailing the “floating dry dock” process can be viewed here:
“This groundbreaking procedure made possible by Boskalis is a revolutionary way to ensure Carnival Vista’s repairs are completed in a safe, timely and efficient manner, so the ship can resume her popular seven-day schedule from Galveston later this month,” said Lars Ljoen, executive vice president of marine operations for Carnival Cruise Line.
BOKA Vanguard is expected to arrive in Bahamian waters on Friday, July 5 to prepare for Carnival Vista’s arrival on July 12. The loading, transport and repairs are expected to take approximately 17 days.
Built in 2012 as Dockwise Vanguard, the Boka Vanguard is designed to lift and transport extremely heavy cargoes of up to 117,000 tonnes and is the largest vessel of its kind ever constructed. It can transport large offshore oil and gas structures, but can also carry other vessels and act as a floating offshore dry dock facility. The Boka Vanguard is unique in that is has an open and flat stern and bow-less deck measuring 275 by 70 metres allowing the vessel to lift and transport cargo’s longer and wider than these deck dimensions.
By filling its ballast tanks, the ship deck is submerged in a controlled manner, allowing it to lift deep draught cargoes. This creates an alternative for dry docking allowing inspections and repairs to be safely and efficiently conducted at a location where traditional dry dock alternatives are not available.
Following the repairs Carnival Vista is expected to return to Galveston in time for her July 27 voyage and continue with year-round seven-day Caribbean itineraries.
To learn more about Carnival Cruise Line, visit Carnival.com. For reservations, contact any travel agent or call 1-800-CARNIVAL in (USA). Carnival can also be found on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
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With the first half of 2019, being busy with 12 new cruise ships delivered to various owners the second half of 2019 looks to be just as busy. According to the latest cruise ship order book there are a another 12 new ships set for delivery in the second half of the year, with an average of two ships being delivered each month..
The remaining order book is valued at around $5.5 billion with an estimated 24,190 new berths entering service. Of the ships yet to be delivered, five are expedition vessels and one is LNG-fuelled ship.
2019 New cruise ships
Take a look at what new ships are due for delivery:
JUNE
Spirit of Discovery
Image: Meyer Werft
$350,000,000
Capacity: 1,000 Guests
Constructed by Meyer Werft in Papenburg Saga’s first-ever new build, the Spirit of Discovery was delivered in mid-June ahead of her inaugural cruise from Dover in July. Departing from Dover on July 10th, the new ship’s first voyage is aptly named British First, circumnavigating the UK and adding calls to Ireland.
All Saga Discovery ship’s 540 staterooms have private balconies, which also means that the ship has no Inside cabins. Cabin categories include Standard Balcony, Deluxe Balcony, Mid-ship Suites and larger Panorama Suites. 100 single cabins are specifically designed for solo travellers (can be booked with single-occupancy rates and without single supplement), which is approx. 20% of ship’s total capacity.
Le Dumont d’Urville will be the fourth in Ponant’s six-ship Explorer-class of expedition vessels. Named after the French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia. The Dumont d’Urville scientific station in Antarctica is named after him.
Featuring innovative and environmentally-friendly equipment, elegantly designed staterooms, spacious suites with large windows, and lounge areas that open onto the outside, this new limited-capacity yacht boasting just 92 staterooms and suites will offer you a truly unique cruising experience. the ship will have reinforced hulls for when sailing in polar regions and an aft marina for when it’s in tropical destinations.
Standout features on Le Dumont d’Urville will be an aft marina and the underwater Blue Eye Lounge. The marina, located at the back of Deck 3, gives cruisers easy access to the ship’s fleet of Zodiacs, as well as for entering the water (conditions permitting) for swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding.
Named after the Australian mountaineer, the “Greg Mortimer” is a modern, purpose-built vessel designed specifically for expedition cruising, and is the first polar expedition vessel in SunStone Ships’ INFINITY series. Being constructed the CMHI yard in Shenzhen China. Four firm contracts have so far been signed, and six options. The INFINITY Class vessels are 104.4 m long and 18.4 m wide. They have a passenger capacity of 130-200, and a crew capacity of 85-115, and are built to the ice standard PC5, Cat B. The most striking feature is the X-BOW®, an inverted bow which results in smoother sailing and increased efficiency. Rather than rising over and then dropping onto waves like a traditional ship, the X-BOW® pierces through them, splitting the wave’s energy.
Constructed by the Uljanik Group in Croatia “Scenic Eclipse” is a six-star, ultra-luxury mega yacht developed by Australian river cruise operator Scenic. It is the first ocean cruise ship for the company, which specialises in luxury river cruises. The yacht will carry 228 guests (restricted to 200 in Polar Regions) in 114 all-veranda suites. It will carry a crew of 172 for normal regions and 182 for Polar Regions.
The Magellan Explorer was constructed in Chile and will be primarily used for fly-in voyages, with a maximum of 100 passengers it will be sail with 73 passengers for the season, which is the exact number of seats the company has on its plane that flies to King George Island. The ship features comfortable and spacious cabins, with twin, queen or king-size beds. The ship also features dedicated single cabins. All cabins except the Porthole category feature a private balcony and separate sitting area.
The 230-passenger cruise ship Hanseatic Inspiration is the second of three identical ships under construction by Norwegian company VARD Holdings Ltd (a subsidiary of Fincantieri) at Tulcea shipyard (Romania). The vessel has ice-class PC6 (highest for passenger ships) and offers 5-star premium hotel service and amenities, gourmet cuisine, large staterooms, and public spaces. The HANSEATIC inspiration will be an international ship, with all cruises conducted in both English and German.
The second of carnivals groups Excellence-Helios class ships is currently under construction at Meyer Werft, Turku shipyard in Finland. Costa Cruises will take delivery its new LNG powered flagship in October. Costa Smeralda’s itinerary program is based on 7-day Western Mediterranean cruises sailing round trip from the Italian homeports Rome-Civitavecchia, Savona, Barcelona, and Marseille. To be able to handle the large cruise liner, Port Savona’s terminal had to be modified. In 2020, two other Carnival brands will take delivery of the same class of ships as Carnival Mardi Gras & Iona enter service.
Sky Princess is the fourth Royal-class vessel all of which have been constructed by the Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri at its Monfalcone Shipyard. The class offers a unique glass-enclosed walkway over the ocean known as the SeaWalk. There are 1539 staterooms in 38 categories. 36 are the wheelchair-accessible rooms. The ship will also debut the new and innovative Princess Sky Suites. After a three-day preview cruise from Port Everglades, the new ship launches alternating seven-day Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale Dec. 7, 2019 – April 4, 2020.
Norwegian Encore is the fourth and final ship in Norwegian Cruise Line’s Breakaway plus Class. Currently under construction at the Meyer-Werft shipyard in Papenburg, and is the 13th ship built for NCL at Meyer Werft. Norwegian Encore will feature a two-level race track that is larger than the go-“karts at sea” tracks featured on Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Joy. After her debut in Miami, the Encore will head to Seattle in 2021, sailing seven-day cruises to Alaska.
The first of MSC’s MSC Meraviglia-plus class MSC Grandiosa is under currently construction at Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint Nazaire. She is able to accommodate 6334 passengers with 75% of all staterooms featuring private balconies. MSC Grandiosa deck plans feature “cluster cabins” (up to 3 connecting staterooms for families) allowing up to three rooms to be interlinked for max capacity 10 guests. The vessel will spend her inaugural season in the Western Mediterranean. The ship will offer a seven-night sailing calling in Genoa, Civitavecchia, Palermo, Valletta, Barcelona and Marseille, with its first cruise sailing from Genoa on November 16, 2019.
Carnival Panorama
Image: Fincantieri
Cost: $780,000,000
Capacity: 4,000 Guests
The third Vista class ship for Carnival Cruises was originally ordered for P&O Cruises Australia, but in December 2016 was changed to Carnival. She is being constructed by Fincantieri at its Marghera shipyard in Italy. As with the previous sister ships Carnival Panorama features 1965 cabins, of which 48 percent of the staterooms on board have balconies. For the first time in its history, the cruise line announced that the ship would feature a female cruise director with British-born Emma Nixon taking the role. The ship will sail from Long Beach, California, offering seven-day Mexican Riviera itineraries. She will be Carnival’s first new ship homeport on the West Coast in more than 20 years.
Currently under construction at the Brodosplit Shipyard in Croatia, the ‘Flying Clipper’, is 162 meters long and 18.5 meters wide with a deadweight of 2000 tons. The ship will have five masts and sails with an overall surface of 6.347 square meters, making it the largest sailing ship in the world. Flying Clipper has five decks, with accommodation for 450 persons, of which 300 are passengers in 150 luxury cabins, and 74 crew cabins for 150 crewmembers.
In keeping with maritime tradition, a keel-laying ceremony was held yesterday at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, for Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras, which is set to debut in August 2020.
The ceremony, which dates back hundreds of years, was highlighted by the placement of coins placed on top of a 750-ton keel block called 3C signifying good luck for the ship and the official start of construction.
Carnival’s Senior Vice President of Newbuilds Ben Clement and Mardi Gras CaptainGiuseppe Giusa, Chief Engineer Ferdinando Ruocco and Hotel Director Pierre Camilleri joinedMeyer Turku CEO Jan Meyer at the festivities.
Mardi Graswill be a stunning expression of the Carnival holiday experience offering a variety of ground-breaking innovations, including BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea; the first seagoing restaurant by legendary chef Emeril Lagasse; and six themed zones with a wide range of culinary, beverage and activity choices. Mardi Graswill also be the first cruise ship in North America to be powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), part of Carnival Corporation’s “green cruising” platform.
“This is a historic day for Carnival – the official start of construction of the spectacular Mardi Gras which will usher in an exciting new chapter for our company and introduce so many guest-pleasing innovations,” said Clement.
“We have been very excited to design and now finally to start assembling Carnival Mardi Gras. All these different features onboard require a lot of engineering and design expertise which we have been happy to provide to our customer,” CEO of Meyer Turku Jan Meyer states.
Mardi Grasis set to debut in Europe on 31st August 2020, then reposition to New York for a series of voyages before shifting to Port Canaveral for year-round Caribbean departures.
Image: Carnival Cruise Line
To learn more about Carnival Cruise Line, visit www.carnival.com. For reservations, call 0808 234 0680. Carnival can also be found on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
About Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival Cruise Line, part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), is “The World’s Most Popular Cruise Line®” with 26 ships operating three- to 24-day voyages to The Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, New England, Bermuda, Cuba, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia. The line currently has three new ships scheduled for delivery – Carnival Panorama™ in 2019, Mardi Gras in 2020 and an as-yet-unnamed ship in 2022.
With world wide emphasis on the protection of the oceans and the cruise industries continued efforts on protecting the environment it is a real shame to report on the recent development involving Carnival Corp and Princess Cruises in the USA.
Earlier this week it was announced that Carnival Corp. will pay $20 million after its subsidiary, Princess Cruises, admitted to violating the terms of its probation from a 2017 conviction for improper waste disposal. This additional fine follows the original $40 million penalty which was the largest ever for deliberate vessel pollution.
A secret pipe on the Caribbean Princess cruise ship was used to discharge waste into British waters Image: Princess Cruises
A court filing submitted on Monday said Carnival released food waste and plastic into the ocean, failed to accurately record waste disposals, created false training records, and secretly examined ships to fix environmental-compliance issues before third-party inspections without reporting its findings to the inspectors.
Monday’s settlement requires Carnival to pay $20 million within seven days, receive additional ship inspections, devote more resources to ensure compliance with its probation, reduce the number of single-use plastic items on its ships, and establish teams to improve waste management. If Carnival does not meet deadlines to revamp its compliance process, it will have to pay additional penalties of $1 million to $10 million a day.
“Carnival Corporation remains committed to environmental excellence and protecting the environment in which we live, work, and travel,” a Carnival representative said. “Our aspiration is to leave the places we touch even better than when we first arrived.”
In 2017, Princess Cruises pleaded guilty to illegally releasing oil into the ocean and deliberately hiding the practice, and it was ordered to pay $40 million. Carnival has since been on a five-year probation, during which it must allow a third-party inspector to examine its ships.
According to a report from an environmental-compliance inspector, Carnival violated environmental laws in the first year of the probation. The inspector found over 800 violations of its probation between April 2017 and April 2018, though they were accidental and disclosed by Carnival, the Miami Herald reported.
According to papers filed in court during the 2017 case, the Caribbean Princess had been making illegal discharges through bypass equipment since 2005, one year after the ship began operations. The discharge on Aug. 26, 2013, involved approximately 4,227 gallons, 23 miles off the coast of England within the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. At the same time as the discharge, engineers simultaneously ran clean seawater through the ship’s overboard equipment in order to create a false digital record for a legitimate discharge.
US Government diagram of the standing pipe method of bypassing used in 2013
Caribbean Princess used multiple methods over the course of time to pollute the seas. Prior to the installation of the bypass pipe used to make the discharge off the coast of England, a different unauthorized valve was used. When the Department of Justice investigative team conducted a consensual boarding of the ship in Houston, Texas, on March 8, 2014, they found the valve that crew members had described. When it was removed by Princess at the department’s request, it was found to contain black oil.
In addition to the use of a magic pipe to circumvent the oily water separator and oil content monitor required pollution prevention equipment, the U.S. investigation uncovered two other illegal practices which were found to have taken place on the Caribbean Princess as well as four other Princess ships – Star Princess, Grand Princess, Coral Princess and Golden Princess. One practice was to open a salt water valve when bilge waste was being processed by the oily water separator and oil content monitor. The purpose was to prevent the oil content monitor from otherwise alarming and stopping the overboard discharge. This was done routinely on the Caribbean Princess in 2012 and 2013. The second practice involved discharges of oily bilge water originating from the overflow of graywater tanks into the machinery space bilges. This waste was pumped back into the graywater system rather than being processed as oily bilge waste. Neither of these practices were truthfully recorded in the oil record book as required. All of the bypassing took place through the graywater system which was discharged when the ship was more than four nautical miles from land. As a result, discharges within U.S. waters were likely.
Additional: Announcement from the US Department of Justice: (June 2019)
Princess Cruise Lines and its Parent Company Plead Guilty to Environmental Probation Violations, Ordered to Pay $20 Million Criminal Penalty
Today, Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. (Princess) and its parent, Carnival Cruise Lines & plc (together “Carnival”) were ordered to pay a $20 million criminal penalty and will be subject to enhanced supervision after admitting to violations of probation attributable to senior Carnival management in a case in which Princess had already paid $40 million.
Princess was convicted and sentenced in April 2017, after pleading guilty to felony charges stemming from its deliberate dumping of oil-contaminated waste from one of its vessels and intentional acts to cover it up. While serving 5 years of probation, all Carnival related cruise lines vessels eligible to trade in U.S. ports were required to comply with a court approved and supervised environmental compliance plan (ECP), including audits by an independent company and oversight by a Court Appointed Monitor. Numerous violations have been identified by the company, the outside auditor, and the court’s monitor during the first two years of probation, including “major non-conformities” as defined by the ECP.
Carnival admitted it was guilty of committing six violations of probation. Two of the violations involved interfering with the court’s supervision of probation by sending undisclosed teams to ships to prepare them for the independent inspections required during probation. When this was first discovered in December 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Seitz directed that the practice cease and ordered additional inspections as a consequence. However, without seeking court approval, a second undisclosed program was started shortly thereafter. Documents filed in court showed that a purpose of the vessel visit programs was to avoid adverse findings during the inspections.
“This case demonstrates the importance of identifying and correcting compliance problems at their source. Carnival sought to avoid the discovery of problems during the audits rather than learn from them. Carnival’s deliberate deception undermined the court’s supervision of probation,” said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “I want to take this opportunity to thank and commend the Office of Probation and the Court Appointed Monitor for the close attention that they have devoted to this important matter post-conviction.”
Carnival’s Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer attended the hearing pursuant to court’s order and were asked to personally pledge their commitment to correcting the company’s compliance issues and corporate culture. In addition, senior management of each operating cruise line of Carnival Corporation & plc were present for the court proceedings.
The company admitted to other violations of probation today including:
Failing to establish a senior corporate officer as a corporate compliance manager with responsibility and sufficient authority for implementing new environmental measures required during probation;
Contacting the Coast Guard seeking to re-define the definition of what constitutes a major non-conformity under the ECP without going through the required process and after the government had rejected the proposal and told the company to file a motion with the court if it wanted to pursue the issue;
Deliberately falsifying environmental training records aboard two cruise ships; and
Deliberately discharging plastic in Bahamian waters from the Carnival Elation and failing to accurately record the illegal discharges. Prosecutors advised the Court that this particular instance was an example of a more widespread problem, identified by the external audits, in failing to segregate plastic and non-food garbage from waste thrown overboard from numerous cruise ships.
Under the terms of the settlement, Carnival will do the following:
Pay a $20 million criminal penalty;
Issue a statement to all employees in which Carnival’s CEO accepts management’s responsibility for the probation violations;
Restructure the company’s corporate compliance efforts, including appointing a new chief Corporate Compliance Officer, creating an Executive Compliance Committee across all cruise lines, adding a new member to the Board of Directors with corporate compliance expertise, and train its Board of Directors;
Pay up to $10 million per day if it does not meet deadlines for submitting and implementing needed changes to its corporate structure;
Pay for 15 additional independent audits per year conducted by the third-party auditor and Court Appointed Monitor (on top of approximately 31 ship audits and 6 shore-side audits currently performed annually);
Comply with new reporting requirements, including notifying the government and court of all future violations, and specifically identifying foreign violations and the country impacted; and
Make major changes in how the company uses and disposes of plastic and other non-food waste to urgently address a problem on multiple vessels concerning illegal discharges of plastic mixed with other garbage.
The revised sentence imposed by Judge Seitz also requires that Princess remain on probation for a period of three years.
Cruises on the new ship, currently under construction at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera, will be available for booking starting from tomorrow. Before being positioned in Asia to serve the Chinese market, Costa Firenze will spend a whole month in the Mediterranean, offering 5 cruises from Trieste and Savona. These will be followed, on November 2, 2020, by a fantastic 51-day voyage from Savona to Hong Kong.
Genoa, May 6, 2019 – Costa Firenze is the new Costa Cruises ship due to come into service in October 2020. Currently being built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera (Italy), Costa Firenze is a 135,500 gross tons ship with capacity for over 5,200 guests; she is the sister ship of Costa Venezia, which was launched in Trieste on March 1 this year.
Costa Firenze and Costa Venezia are the Italian company’s first ships specifically designed for the Chinese market. Before being positioned in Asia, Costa Firenze will spend a whole month in the Mediterranean, in October 2020, thus allowing all of Costa’s customers in Europe and around the world to be the first to experience a truly unique vacation on board the new ship. Cruises will be available for booking starting from tomorrow: there will be five 5-to-7-day cruises and one 51-day positioning cruise to China.
“Given the success of the inaugural cruises of Costa Venezia, we have decided to keep Costa Firenze in the Mediterranean for a whole month before its positioning in Asia” – says Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises – “Costa Firenze is part of an expansion plan for the Costa Group that includes a total of 7 new ships being delivered by 2023, for a total investment of over 6 billion euros. The next ship to come into service, in October 2019, will be Costa Smeralda, a real tribute to Italy’s finest and our excellence”.
Costa Firenze’s first cruise will sail from Trieste to Savona, departing on October 1, 2020, calling at Bari, Barcelona and Marseilles.
On October 8, 2020, the ship will leave Savona for a short cruise to Marseilles, Barcelona and Savona. On October 12, 19 and 26, Costa Firenze will depart from Savona for three 1-week cruises including Naples (replaced by Civitavecchia for the October 19 cruise), Messina (replaced by Palermo for the October 19 cruise), Valencia, Barcelona and Marseilles. The final cruise available will be the positioning cruise to China: a fantastic 51-day itinerary starting from Savona on November 2, 2020 and ending in Hong Kong on December 22, 2020. The journey will be a discovery of a host of different cultures, landscapes and flavours. From the Mediterranean, the ship will sail to Dubai, through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, calling at Naples, Messina, Greece, Israel, Jordan and Oman. From Dubai to Abu Dhabi, futuristic cities built in the desert, the ship will continue to India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia. The final part of the cruise will be devoted to the Far East: Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and finally China. The itinerary can also be subdivided into three separate legs, Savona-Dubai (19 days), Dubai-Singapore (20 days) and Singapore-Hong Kong (14 days), which can also be combined with each other.
Like its sister ship Costa Venezia, Costa Firenze will offer a series of innovations designed specifically for the Chinese market, where the Italian company was the first to operate in 2006 and is currently the leader, allowing guests to discover Italian culture and lifestyle.
“Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze are the proof of Costa Cruises’ long-term commitment to China market” –
stated Mario Zanetti, President of Costa Group Asia – “Costa Cruises is also dedicated to bringing the Italian
Aesthetic lifestyle to Chinese guests while delivering Italian culture and experience to them. Together with
Costa Venezia, the arrival of Costa Firenze will help boost the development of Chinese cruise industry.”
The ship is inspired by the city of Florence, representing centuries of Italian culture and history. During the
Costa Firenze cruises, guests together with their families and friends will have a chance to immerse
themselves fully in Italian beauty and aesthetic, which will take shape in various aspects of life on board:
from interior design to dining, from entertainment to hospitality.
The Costa Group is the leading cruise company in Europe and China, headquartered in Genoa (Italy). The 28 ships of the
brands Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises and Costa Asia together have a total capacity of more than 85,000 berths. The fleet
will be further strengthened by 5 new vessels by 2023. The company has a global workforce of 30,000 employees working
onboard and in its 20 offices in 14 countries.
Ship Data
Name: Costa Firenza
Namesake: City of Florence
Owner: Carnival Corporation PLC
Operator: Costa Cruises
Shipyard: Fincantieri Marghera
Class: Vista Class
Cost: $676 million (reported)
Length; 321.56m
Decks: 14 (Passenger)
Passenger Capacity: 5,200
Speed: 18 knots
Gross Tonnage: 135,500
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TheCarnival Corporationis in hot water after a federal judge threatened to ban the company’s cruise ships from docking at ports in the United States after reportedly violating its probation period from another case.
According to theMiami Herald, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz said Wednesday that she would decide at a hearing scheduled for June whether the cruise company’s probation will be lifted and a heftier punishment levied for the violations.
During the hearing, Judge Seitz scolded Carnival chairman Micky Arison and president Donald Arnold for the actions of the company, but neither man was in attendance. Seitz requested that top executives attended the June hearing to answer questions on the matter.
“The people at the top are treating this as a gnat,” Seitz said in court. “If I could, I would give all the members of the executive committee a visit to the detention center for a couple of days. It’s amazing how that helps people come to focus on reality.”
The Carnival Corporation has been on probation for two years after it wasfined a record $40 millionfor illegally dumping oil into the ocean from its Princess Cruises ships and lying to authorities about the incidents.
While on probation, authorities claim the cruise company continued to pollute the environment and worked to not only avoid the long arm of the law, but also actively used its clout to change the terms of the settlement.
“It appears there were some mischaracterizations made by others to the court,”Carnival CorporationChief Communications Officer Roger Frizzell said in a statement. “We intend to fully address the issues raised at today’s court conference.”
“Our environmental responsibility has been and continues to be a top priority for the company. Our aspiration is to leave the places we touch even better than when we first arrived,” Frizzell continued. “This is only in the best interest of our guests, our company and the oceans upon which we travel.”
Cruise Ship Profiles 