By
Alice Chambers |
Costa Cruises is continuing its gradual cruise restart plan for 2022 with Costa Toscana’s departure from Sanova, Italy, on 5 March.
The cruise line’s entire fleet will have resumed operations by summer 2023 with all four of Costa’s new ships, including Costa Toscana, Costa Smeralda, Costa Firenze and Costa Venezia, having been delivered.
Costa’s upcoming programme includes a total of 1,800 cruises between spring 2022 and winter 2022-2023, visiting 179 destinations around the world and covering a variety of itineraries lasting from three to 127 days.
Following Costa Toscana, Costa Favolosa will begin operating on 28 April with ‘mini cruises’ in the Mediterranean, while Costa Venezia departing for Istanbul, Turkey, on 1 May and Costa Smeralda operating a one-week itinerary in the Western Mediterranean from 7 May.
Costa Pacifica will then resume operations on 4 June, followed by Costa Luminosa and Costa Fortuna, which will operate in the Canary Islands and Northern Europe respectively later in June.
Winter 2022-2023 will also see Costa travelling on the Arabian Sea, with Costa Firenze providing week-long cruises to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman. Costa Toscana, Costa Favolosa and Costa Fortuna will also be repositioned to South America.
Costa Deliziosa will offer an ‘Around the World’ cruise, departing from Venice or Savona, Italy, on 6 and 11 January 2023 respectively. Additionally, Costa Luminosa will travel from the Mediterranean to Tierra del Fuego off the coast of South America and back, sailing up the Amazon River towards Manaus, Brazil.
Following the completion of the restart programme, Costa Cruises will visit destinations across the globe, including in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey, Greece and Northern Europe, across the Baltic Sea.
“We are seeing the growth in demand for holidays, and I am sure that this trend will increase further in the coming weeks,” said Roberto Alberti, senior vice president and chief commercial officer at Costa Cruises. “Our rich itinerary programme suits for every need and includes some great new features, such as cruises to Turkey. Our cruise experience has been profoundly enriched and will allow guests to discover destinations in an authentic way, also thanks to extended stops in some ports. Furthermore, our guests will be able to enjoy their vacations on a fleet with latest generation ships, which combine sustainable innovation with entertainment, hospitality and well-being.”
Costa Serena’s schedule to resume cruising in Asia in 2022 is yet to be announced.
“In 2021 we safely recorded on our ships more than 1.5 million passenger movements, achieving a truly unique and exceptional record considering the context in which we operated,” said Alberti. “I am confident that the return to free shore excursions, which we are planning for next summer and which we hope can be anticipated as early as next spring, will be an extra incentive to choose a Costa cruise.”