Cruise & Ferry Review - Spring/Summer 2021

1 5 8 All guests will be required to take a swab test before boarding Costa Cruises ships PL ANNER PERSPECTI VE Returning to the homeland Federico Bartoli tells Susan Parker why Costa Cruises is focusing on its long history with Italy as its primary route back to cruising C osta Cruises was one of very few cruise brands to successfully and safely resume operations in 2020. And, while the proverb “fortune favours the brave” may not quite encapsulate the Trojan effort the brand put into making this happen, congratulations are nevertheless due. For Federico Bartoli, the company’s itinerary planning director, the biggest task was to work out how to adapt its itinerary planning strategies in the face of Covid-19. “First of all, I must say that safety and security have always been the first pillar on which we base our itinerary planning, even before the Covid-19 emergency,” says Bartoli, adding that the other main pillars are guest satisfaction, nautical feasibility, accessibility, compliance, environmental protection, and the health and well-being of our guests, the people and places we visit and our crew. “The pandemic has obviously even more strengthened our focus on all aspects of safety and security. Our main strategy in the face of Covid-19 was to develop a new safety protocol in collaboration with a panel of experts, and in accordance with Italian authorities. This contains new operational measures in response to Covid-19 and deals with all aspects of the cruise experience, both on and off the ship.” Examples of the new measures include swab tests for all guests before embarkation, routine testing for crew, physical distancing, use of face masks whenever necessary, and requiring guests to take protected shore excursions when visiting destinations. Thanks to these new safety protocols, Costa was able to “responsibly and gradually” restart operations in Italy in September 2020. A few weeks later, the company also began calling at Greek ports. However, it was only able to do so for a limited period of time before the pandemic worsened and led to the introduction of new restrictions. “Since then, our work on itinerary planning has been almost exclusively focused on developing Italy-only itineraries to find solutions that fully meet our pillars,” says Bartoli. “Italy has been our home for 70 years and Photos: Costa Crociere