By
Alex Smith |
Costa Cruises has launched new culinary and destination experiences, as well as updated branding.
“Now our ships are sailing again, we decided to completely renew our offer,” said Mario Zanetti, president of Costa Cruises. “For more than 70 years Costa has been synonymous with cruise travel. At this very important time for the recovery of tourism, we wanted to rewrite the future of cruises in a way that is more responsible and mindful of people and the planet, with the aim of steering the sector back to the constant growth it saw before 2020.
Costa has partnered with chefs Bruno Barbieri, Hélène Darroze and Ángel Leónto to create ‘Destination Dishes’ based on local recipes from the places visited by Costa ships. They will be available at main restaurants on all Costa ships, included in the price of the cruise.
The cruise line is also debuting a new restaurant, Archipelago, on Costa Smeralda and will then introduce it to other ships in the fleet. The restaurant will offer three menus to choose from, each designed by one of the three chefs. The menus will offer five dishes created to reflect each part of the sea route through its cuisine. The ‘island’ tables in the restaurant will be framed by copper sculptures enclosing pieces of driftwood salvaged as part of the Costa Crociere Foundation’s Guardians of the Coast environmental education programme. For every dinner eaten at the Archipelago, Costa will donate part of the proceeds to Costa Crociere Foundation to support environmental and social projects.
Guests will also now be able to take part in redesigned tours, which are now focused on allowing them to explore rarely visited locations. Itineraries have been updated to allow for the cruise line’s longest-ever stopovers in ports and give guests the chance to stay for longer in destinations.
The company has also updated its visual identity with changes to its logo. The ‘C’ element which has featured for 70 years in Costa’s logo will now be made up of a yellow lower section, intended to represent the earth, and a blue upper section, intended to represent the sea.
The new developments are already available on ships currently in service: Costa Smeralda, Costa Firenze, Costa Luminosa, Costa Deliziosa, and Costa Diadema. The updates will then be extended to the next ships gradually returning to operation, including the new flagship Costa Toscana, the second LNG-powered ship in the fleet, which is scheduled to begin service from March 2022.