Costa Cruises, the Italian contemporary market unit in the Carnival Corporation & plc group, has appointed New York based hospitality designer Adam D. Tihany as Creative Director for the two new ships, powered with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), scheduled for delivery in 2019 and 2020, the company said in a statement.
Costa has used Joe Farcus, the Miami based designer, to work on its ships since since the introduction of Costa Atlantica in 2000. Under the leadership of Tihany, who has worked for Carnival group’s Holland America Line and Seabourn brands, Costa Cruises will assemble a group of designers to execute the vision for the next generation of ships inspired by “Italy’s Finest.”
“It is a rare honor to narrate a design story from the director’s chair,” Tihany said. “The fact that this opportunity creates a partnership with Costa Cruises is all the more extraordinary. The phrase “Italy’s Finest” not only describes the design concept, but wholly embodies the Costa brand.”
The layout of the new ships will reflect comments and suggestions from Costa guests, creating a more efficient use of the ships’ space and ultimately an enhanced onboard experience for guests.
The Costa ships will be the first in the cruise industry to be powered at sea by Liquefied Natural Gas, together with the two new ships ordered for Aida Cruises, which is the German brand belonging to Costa Group. To be built by Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland, each of the new Costa ships will exceed 180,000 gross tons, offering more than 2,600 passenger cabins for a total of 6,600 passengers onboard.
Tihany, who has worked on many luxury hotels, most recently brought his design concepts to the majority of the public spaces on the new Pinnacle class Koningsdam of Holland America, launching April 2016. Also launching later this year is Tihany’s first complete cruise ship design on Seabourn’s newest vessel, Seabourn Encore.
