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With a gross tonnage of 132,500, 4,928 total Guests and 1,854 cabins, she will be the largest Italian cruise ship. She will be built by Fincantieri at Marghera shipyards and will be delivered in October 2014. 

Genoa, 3rd August 2011 – Costa Crociere S.p.A., Italy’s largest tourism group and Europe’s no. 1 cruise company, announces that it has placed a new order with Fincantieri S.p.A. for the construction of a new cruise ship.

The new ship ordered today, with a gross tonnage of 132,500, 3,700 lower berths, 4,928 total Guests and 1,854 cabins, will be the largest Italian cruise ship and the 10th ship ordered from Fincantieri by Costa Cruises in the past 10 years. The new flagship in the Costa fleet and the Italian passenger fleet will be built at the Fincantieri shipyards in Marghera (Venice), for a total ship owner’s all-in cost of approximately €150,000 per lower berth. Delivery is planned for October 2014. The new ship will be an innovative evolution of the "Concordia-class” project, developed by integrating and improving the main features of the latest successful Costa ships entered into service. This new ship order is subject to financing.

At the same time Costa Crociere S.p.A. also announced  the sale of the Costa Marina, which has been in service for more than 20 years, and as of November 2011 will no longer be part of the fleet.

“This new order, the tenth in 10 years, not only consolidates the link between our Company and Fincantieri, but also demonstrates the leadership achieved by Costa Cruises in Europe and its ability to drive the cruise business and tourism in general, generating wealth for the country's economy. This innovative project will once again be a symbol of Italy's quintessential ability to create excellent products, in terms of design, technology and innovation, aimed at strengthening the best image of Made in Italy products around the world. While this new order will not lead to a significant increase in Costa Cruises’ capacity it is part of a plan that will make the fleet more efficient.”  commented Pier Luigi Foschi, Chairman and CEO of Costa Crociere S.p.A.

Fincantieri's CEO, Giuseppe Bono, commented:  “In a moment of significant crisis, such as the one the shipbuilding sector is experiencing at present, where a dramatic reduction in the number of orders has been seen worldwide, Fincantieri once again demonstrates its expertise and ability to keep its own, gaining a new and very important commission which only reconfirms and reinforces our leading role in this market. It’s true to say that such success is possible thanks to our partners, the Carnival Group and our friends at Costa, who encouragingly, despite the economic crisis, continue to invest and believe in the growth and development in the cruise ship market. Many thanks also to the Italian State which guarantees funding through its dedicated departments”.

The agreement was announced today, few days after the technical launch of Costa Fascinosa  (114,500 gross tonnage and 3,800 total Guests), another new Costa ship being built at Marghera shipyards, which is due to enter service in May 2012.

Since 2000 Costa Cruises has ordered a total of 10 new ships to Fincantieri Italian shipyards, for a total investment of over 5 billion euros.

Costa Cruises is Europe’s no. 1 cruise company (www.costacruise.com). For over 60 years its ships have plied the seas of the world, offering the best in Italian style, hospitality and cuisine and providing dream holidays with the utmost in terms of fun and relaxation.  Its fleet has a total of 15 ships, all flying the Italian flag, each with her own distinctive characteristics and unique style; together each year, they offer the chance to visit some 250 separate destinations in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean, South America, the United Arab Emirates, the Far East,  the Indian Ocean and the Round-the-World cruise. Two more new ships have been ordered from Fincantieri and will be delivered in Spring 2012 and October 2014. Costa Cruises has been certified by RINA (Italian Shipping Register) with the BEST4, an integrated system of voluntary certification of corporate compliance with the highest standards governing social accountability (SA 8000, issued in 2001), environment (UNI EN ISO 14001, 2004), safety (OHSAS 18001, 2007) and quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, 2008) (www.costacruise.com/Best4).  Costa Cruises has been an official partner of WWF Italia (www.costacruise.com/wwf) for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea since 2005.  All the ships in the Costa fleet have been assigned RINA’s Green Star notation certifying that they are operated in compliance with the highest environmental protection standards.  In the “Global Reputation Pulse” 2010 international study, Costa Cruises is in 1st place among Italian “service industry” companies; Pulse scores are a measure of the corporate reputation (in terms of trust, esteem etc.) of the 600 largest enterprises located in 32 countries worldwide.  Costa Cruises was awarded the “2010 Leonardo Prize for Italian Quality” by the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano, for promoting and enhancing the Italian excellence around the world.  With revenues of 2.9 billion euros and 2.15 million total Guests in 2010, Costa Crociere S.p.A. is the largest Italian travel group and comprises the brands Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises and Iberocruceros.  Costa Crociere S.p.A. is one of Italy’s top 10 most profitable companies and ranks 49th in terms of sales in Mediobanca’s 2010 survey of over 3700 Italian enterprises that recorded revenue of at least 50 million euros the previous fiscal year.  Costa Crociere S.p.A. is a member of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world’s largest cruise operator.

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