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Tag: Costa Cruises

  • Cruise Schedule Changes and Cancellations for Princess, Costa, and Virgin Voyages

    Cruise Schedule Changes and Cancellations for Princess, Costa, and Virgin Voyages

    Three cruise lines, Princess, Costa, and Virgin Voyages, have just announced some recent changes to their schedules for future cruises. Cruising is still in a very unsteady place, and there are growing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic getting more serious as winter comes. This just means that you should keep an eye out for more itineraries to be changed, moved around, and cancelled.

    Princess Cruises

    The last we heard about Princess’ plans to get back to sailing was back in August. At that point, they decided to extend their global pause of operations for all regions until at least December 15th, 2020. They have now announced that they will be extending this pause even further for their Australian and New Zealand itineraries due to strict lockdowns. They will now not be sailing to either of those regions until May 31st, 2021. Guests will automatically receive a 125% future cruise credit if they do not elect to get a cash refund via this form.

    Costa Cruises

    Costa has been making headlines recently due to its recent return to service. While it was looking like the company would be able to have a successful sailing season across Europe this winter, they are now making some changes to their plans. Costa Deliziosa and Costa Smerelda will sail across Italy and Greece until January 2021 and February 2021, respectively. Costa Diadema’s restart date has been pushed back to April 6th, 2021. Costa Favolosa will also begin sailing in April 2021 with some Mediterranean itineraries, as will Costa Diadema. Finally, Costa Deliziosa’s world cruise has been completely cancelled with no plans for rescheduling.

    Virgin Voyages

    Virgin really picked the wrong time to try to get their cruise line up and running. They had plans to have their maiden voyage back before the pandemic began, but complications have made them push this voyage back again and again. The date that they have now set for the first itinerary of their ship, the Scarlet Lady, has been set for January 3rd, 2021. Scarlet Lady will sail from Miami to the Bahamas.

    As always, if your itinerary has been cancelled, reach out to either your travel agent or the cruise line itself to find out details about refunds. It is highly likely that cancellations are going to continue coming throughout winter, so pay close attention to the cruise lines that you might be booked with!

  • A Small Outbreak of Coronavirus on Costa Diadema

    A Small Outbreak of Coronavirus on Costa Diadema

    There has been a small outbreak of coronavirus aboard the Costa Diadema recently as it sailed around Italy and the islands around Greece. This comes just a short bit after Costa has gotten back to sailing. The cruise line is one of the few currently operating right now (check out a list of others here), so this is definitely disheartening news. They were also particularly deliberate about their health measures. Let’s take a look at the details, as well as what might be next for Costa.

    The context

    The outbreak occurred on Costa Diadema, a ship which had been chartered by a French sailing organization for this particular cruise. One of Costa’s newest ships, Diadema has a max capacity of almost 5000 guests. Diadema had planned to sail from September 28th to October 12th. The beginning of the cruise went on without any incidents, suggesting that their new health measures were working. Of note is the fact that multiple shore excursions occurred during this itinerary. (Some cruise lines are currently trying out sailing without visiting any ports.)

    The outbreak

    A surprise came for those aboard the ship when seven guests tested positive for coronavirus on October 10th. Because of the measures in place, these guests were required to have a negative test before boarding. This means that it is likely that they got the virus on one of the shore excursions. These seven guests then got off of the ship at Palermo that same day. Further tests confirmed that the initial positive results were indeed true.

    Contact tracing

    Using new contact tracing technology aboard Diadema, Costa was able to find out if it was likely that these cases were able to spread further than these seven individuals. They determined that there was one other person with symptoms and tested this individual. They were confirmed positive and also left the cruise. They felt confident that no others had coronavirus, and rigorous testing proved that this was true. The cruise then returned to Genoa on October 12th before departing that same day for another two-week cruise. However, this cruise ended early due to France declaring a state of emergency in regards to coronavirus.

    The future

    It’s hard to determine a takeaway from all of this. It seems that cruises that have strict testing precautions can remain pretty safe, although shore excursions can complicate this. It is hopeful that the cases didn’t spread more, as that suggests that Costa’s health protocols might just be working. It doesn’t seem like this small outbreak is changing Costa’s plans for the future.

    While the situation in France might be making things more difficult for Costa, Carnival Corporation (who owns Costa) isn’t too concerned about the future. For them, this is just a bump in the road, and the response is just “part of the protocol that has been developed specifically for these situations.” We’ll have to see if Costa is able to continue sailing safely after this, but we have high hopes.

  • How One Cruise Line is Keeping Passengers Safe from Covid-19 Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

    How One Cruise Line is Keeping Passengers Safe from Covid-19 Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

    If you’re someone who loves travelling via cruise ship, you are probably dying to go on a journey to an exotic location right now. It can be tough to have patience and outlast the wanderlust, but it is important to be as safe as possible. In some areas of the world, however, cruising is making a slow return. But that’s not to say that these cruise lines and the nations they are from are being unsafe. In fact, increased safety measures have been the key to certain cruise lines getting back into business. Costa, one of the few cruise lines operating right now, has revamped their entire way of travel. Cruise Industry News sailed with them to see what has changed, and they reported on all of it. Let’s check it out!

    Testing procedures

    If you are going to sail during a pandemic, the most important step to ensuring safety is to make sure that no one onboard is sick. That’s a given, but it’s more complicated in practice than it sounds. Costa has developed a relatively rigorous screening process that they are currently using to avoid any coronavirus cases on their ships. Key to this is actually performing a rapid result coronavirus swab. All guests get one before getting onboard, and their tests come back within an hour. To prevent transmission between guests before getting tested, Costa has travelers sign up for boarding times online. This makes boarding a more staggered experience without as much exposure between guests. Additionally, travelers undergo an online health screening before even being swabbed.

    Life onboard the ship

    As you might expect, the experience of actually being on the ship has changed a good deal. Social distancing is enforced, and the rules mandate mask use in all indoor group spaces where this isn’t possible. Capacity for most venues has also been limited, including the elevators, which now only accommodate four individuals. There are also frequent stations that allow people to check their temperatures. Many of the typical onboard entertainment areas – such as spas, nightclubs, and games involving physical contact – have been shut down completely.

    New technology

    One thing that has contributed to the feeling of safety on Costa ships has been their implementation of new technology. Perhaps the most helpful of all is their new air conditioning. Rather than just circulating the same air throughout the ship all day, the air conditioning expels old air. Costa is also using credit card records to help keep track of the movement of guests, allowing them to more easily track cases if any were to occur.

    It may not be a perfect system that can guarantee no possibility of spreading the coronavirus, but it increases the safety of guests by far. We’ll have to wait and see if this approach is truly safe and sustainable, but it seems like it’s working so far.

  • Here are the Major Cruise Lines in Service as of October 2020

    Here are the Major Cruise Lines in Service as of October 2020

    A quick look at the cruise lines that are currently in service as of October 2020 seems to confirm that the cruise industry is still in a shaky spot. While many thought that ships would be sailing from the United States by now (or even far earlier than now), this has not been the case. Other countries around the world are still struggling to fully restart their respective cruise industries. With that said, there are still some cruise lines that have managed to restart services. Here’s a look at the current list.

    Dream Cruises

    After a few months of the coronavirus pandemic, many predicted that Asia would be the first continent to get back into sailing. This largely proved true when Dream Cruises, a subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong, started sailing a few months ago. As of now, however, they currently only have one active ship: Explorer Dream. The ship, which used to sail for Star Cruises, is currently running short itineraries to Taiwan, including cities such as Kaohsiung and Hualien.

    MSC Cruises

    MSC (which stands for Mediterranean Shipping Company, their parent company) is one of the biggest cruise lines in Europe. With a fleet of 17 ships, it was imperative for them to get back into business as quickly as possible to help offset their maintenance costs. MSC Grandiosa, a new ship for the company, was able to resume operations just a few weeks ago. They have plans to bring another ship, MSC Magnifica, back into business soon as well. The plan is for Magnifica to begin sailing 10-day itineraries starting on October 19th. These cruises will travel across Italy before heading to Malta and Greece.

    Costa Cruises

    Costa is only now easing into sailing again, but they have pretty big plans through October and the rest of the year. Costa Deliziosa and Costa Smeralda are both currently sailing around Italy, and Costa Diadema has plans to cruise again on October 28th. Two more ships will return in December: Costa Favolosa on December 6th and Costa Firenze on December 27th.

    TUI Cruises

    TUI recently had a bit of a scare with a slight coronavirus outbreak on one of their ships. It seems that this has passed without much trouble, though, and the cruise line has plans to keep sailing throughout October. Both Mein Schiff and Mein Schiff 2 are doing short itineraries without any shore excursions.

    These are just the major cruise lines that are currently sailing, but the list continues beyond them. Paul Gauguin, Ponant, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, CroisiEurope, Aranui Cruises, Variety Cruises, Red Sea Cruise Company, and True North Cruises are all sailing on a small scale. AIDA will also have a ship sailing on October 17th. We’ll have to wait and see what other cruise lines join in soon.

  • List of Ships that Carnival Corporation is Selling as of September 2020

    List of Ships that Carnival Corporation is Selling as of September 2020

    We recently learned that Carnival Corporation that they would be selling off a significant percentage of their current fleet. This came along with some other negative news, including massive third quarter financial losses. However, Carnival is promising to use this fleet restructuring as a chance to make their cruise lines more streamlined and efficient. Still, their initial announcement didn’t include exactly which ships would be sold. They have now detailed which 18 vessels will be leaving the Carnival Corporation fleet, which includes ships from Carnival subsidiaries Costa, Holland America, P&O, and Princess.

    Costa

    Costa will be selling a total of four of its current ships. Of these four ships, three of the sales had already previously been announced. Costa Atlantica was sold way back in 2018 and hasn’t been part of the Costa’s fleet since January 2020. Costa Victoria and Costa neoRomantica were sold more recently. Victoria is expected to be scrapped while neoRomantica has been sold to Celestyal. This leaves us with only one ship that we did not previously know was planned to be sold. This ship is the Costa Mediterranea. It is currently Costa’s smallest ship, as well as being tied for the cruise line’s oldest. Costa is expecting Mediterranea to leave their fleet at some point in early 2021. It will be transferred over to a new Chinese cruise line that is as of now unnamed. This will reduce Costa’s current fleet from 12 to 11.

    Holland America

    Much like the majority of the Costa sales, the Holland America sales are ones that have already taken place. Within the 18 ships being sold, Carnival Corporation has counted the already completed sales of Veendam, Maasdam, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. Fred. Olsen purchased Rotterdam and Amsterdam earlier this summer. Maasdam and Veendam, meanwhile, were sold to Seajets, a Greek ferry company.

    P&O

    P&O was another Carnival cruise line that made some deals with Seajets. They sold their Oceana to them in July. While this has already been completed, it is their P&O Australia branch that has a more uncertain future. Two of their ships, Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria, were set to be sold to CMV. However, CMV has since gone under, meaning that both ships are now looking for buyers.

    Carnival

    Carnival Corporation’s signature line, Carnival Cruise Line, has sold three of its ships and will sell one more. Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Imagination, and Carnival Inspiration are all set to be scrapped in Turkey, but a fourth ship, Carnival Fascination is still being sold. It is set to leave the fleet soon, so it is possible that it already has an undisclosed buyer.

    Princess

    Princess has sold two of its ships, with one of these sales just now being announced. The first to be sold was Sun Princess, which is now heading to a Japanese company called Peace Boat. The newly announced sale is of Sea Princess. The new owner has yet to be announced, but the ship is apparently set to leave Princess very soon.

    Carnival Corporation seems to still have high hopes for its company despite having to sell off a large portion of their fleet. We are hoping to see their more focused business model pay off.

  • Costa Cruises’ Pandemic Safety Protocol and the Future of Costa Cruises

    Costa Cruises’ Pandemic Safety Protocol and the Future of Costa Cruises

    Costa Cruises, like all other cruise lines on the planet right now, is planning out how they will be starting cruising again. There are obvious challenges in terms of health in light of the coronavirus pandemic. But a number of ideas have been floating around the industry about how to minimize the risk of transmission between guests. So what is Costa’s plan to be able to sail safely?

    Costa Safety Protocol

    The guidelines that they have been developing throughout the course of the pandemic have been released to the public under the name Costa Safety Protocol. It is their goal to have the Costa Safety Protocol function to protect both travelers and crew. The cruise line has been working with health experts, as well as global health guidelines, in order to ensure that the safety arrangements will allow them to travel to other countries.

    Guidelines for crew

    Of course, making the experience safe for everyone includes making sure that no one is boarding a ship where the crew is already infected. To deal with this, Costa will make every crew member get tested for COVID-19 two times before the ship embarks; they will also be tested before they return to Italy. Additionally, the temperatures of the crew will be regularly checked to make sure no one has a fever.

    Guidelines for guests

    While still careful, the guidelines for guests will ultimately be less strict. Guests will perform online health checks before leaving on their trip, and temperatures will be checked before entering or getting off the vessel. Masks will also be worn at all times while indoors, while social distancing without a mask is allowed outdoors. When social distancing isn’t possible, wearing a mask will be expected.

    Ship life

    Life on Costa ships will be different under these new rules. For one, capacity will be limited (which is a strategy we are seeing almost every cruise line either adopt or consider adopting). Social distancing will also be hugely emphasized, with group activities being carried out either individually or within smaller, more limited groups. Self-service dining and buffets will not be operational, and meals will instead be served by the staff.

    Sanitation

    As you might expect, the sanitation process is also receiving a huge overhaul with these new rules. Cleaning and disinfecting will be happening almost constantly on the ship, while new air filters have also been installed to help the ventilation systems be more safe. The medical team on the ship has also been trained specifically to deal with COVID-19.

    The idea of taking a cruise might be scary right now, but Costa is determined to make it as safe as possible. It seems like these changes will really make a difference!

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