One of the newest ships in the Costa Cruises fleet, Costa Firenze, made its debut in Genoa today. The Vista-class cruise ship had been acquired by the cruise line back in 2019 but only sailed with guests for the first time in July of last year.
The cruise ship will call in Genoa during her one-week cruises that call in several Mediterranean ports. Highlights such as Barcelona and Palermo. Genoa will be one of the most important ports for Costa Cruises; besides Costa Firenze, there will be calls by Costa Luminosa every Sunday, with a total of 45 calls in 2022 between both ships. In 2023, Costa Toscana will also be sailing to Genoa every Friday.
Costa Returns to Mediterranean Cruises Without Mandatory Tours
Costa Firenze made her return to service today after an absence of several months due to the second pause in operations. She will be sailing from the northern Italian city of Genoa on seven-day cruises calling in several of the European highlights in the Western Mediterranean.
In Italy, the ports include Marseille in France, Barcelona in Spain, and Cagliari, Palermo, and Civitavecchia in Italy.
“We are proud and honored to host the debut of this marvelous cruise ship in Genoa: today Costa Cruises sails again from Genoa – said the President of the Liguria Region, Giovanni Toti – This event, after the very difficult period we experienced with the health emergency, also marks the restart of the entire sector, in which Liguria is a leader.
Costa Cruises’ return to service is looking a little brighter this summer now the need to book a tour to get off is no longer there. While bringing Costa Firenze back to service is a highlight for the cruise line, more importantly, the cruise line is re-instating free shore leave.
Since Costa Cruises resumed operations as one of the first cruise lines globally in 2020, it had been unable to permit guests to leave the ship, except for going on a so-called bubble tour. From April 1, those tours will no longer be a necessity, and guests will be able to explore on their own in all ports that Costa Firenze calls in.
“After a two-year pause, we are finally returning regularly with our cruises to Genoa. We are doing so with a new-generation ship, Costa Firenze, and an even richer product that will allow to explore our destinations in the best possible way” – said Mario Zanetti, President of Costa Cruises.
Costa Firenze
Built at the Marghera-based Fincantieri shipyard from 2016 until 2019 is a Vista-class cruise, more well known from sister brand Carnival Cruise Line and sister ships Carnival Panorama, Carnival Vista, and Carnival Horizon. As with all Costa Cruise ships, she represents a particular area or era in Italy, in this case, the Renaissance.
The 135,000 gross tons cruise ship has space for 5,260 guests in 2,136 guests cabins, and 1100 crew members. With 13 different restaurants and 8 bars, the food and wine experience will be amongst the widest on offer in the Costa Cruises fleet. There is also a waterpark onboard for the kids, an adventure park, spa, swimming pools, and much more.
Costa Firenze made her maiden voyage from Savona on July 4 of last year and is the second Vista-class cruise ship in the Costa fleet. Costa Venezia and Firenze were custom-built for the Chinese market, but both ships have been sailing in the Mediterranean since the Asian cruise market is slow to allow cruises to start again.
The cruise ship will call Genoa home this summer until November 2022. Between November 2022 and April 2023, Costa Firenze will be based in Brazil, sailing between Santos and Salvador de Bahia.
