Costa Cruises, the Italian line owned by Carnival Corporation, plans to resume service in September 2020, with a series of sailings on two ships exclusively for residents of Italy.
Costa Deliziosa will depart on September 6 for the first of four sailings from Trieste. The journeys are set to include stops at five boutique destinations in Southern Italy, including Bari and Brindisi, Corigliano-Rossano, Siracusa, and Catania.
Next up on September 19 will be Costa Diadema, currently scheduled to sail a single cruise from Genoa, bound for Rome (via Civitavecchia), Naples, Palermo, Cagliari, and La Spezia.
Who Will Be Allowed to Board the Ship?
These five voyages will be open only to Italian residents, and the ships will only visit ports in Italy in order to help ensure a responsible and safe restart of operations.
As part of the Costa Safety Protocols implemented by the cruise line, guests will only be able to disembark the ships while on a protected shore excursion organized by Costa. Additionally, the Safety Protocol mandates online check-in, reduced occupancy on the ship, required face masks in public areas of the ship, hand sanitizer available onboard, social distancing in restaurants, entertainment venues and other areas.
READ MORE: Cruises Kicked Off Ship For Violating Protocols
If conditions allow, Costa intends to continue ramping up service in October with additional sailings on an increasing number of ships. This same slow-but-steady approach to resumption of service is also being discussed by several U.S. cruise lines, although it is still up in the air as to when that will be able to begin.
Costa worked with flag state authorities, regional governments in Italy, local and regional health experts, and port authorities to develop this plan to safely restart cruises on these two ships.
Costa’s plan to resume sailing follows MSC Cruises’ resumption of operations this week aboard MSC Grandiosa. The MSC Magnifica is expected to do its first sailing since the industry-wide shutdown on August 29, 2020.
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