News

Costa Cruises to name its next China-bound newbuild Costa Firenze

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 06 May 2019 06 May 2019

Costa Firenze is the new Costa Cruises ship due to come into service in October 2020. Currently being built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera (Italy), Costa Firenze is a 135,500 gross tons ship with capacity for over 5,200 guests; she is the sister ship of Costa Venezia, which was launched in Trieste on March 1 this year.

Costa Firenze and Costa Venezia are the Italian company's first ships specifically designed for the Chinese market. Before being positioned in Asia, Costa Firenze will spend a whole month in the Mediterranean, in October 2020, thus allowing all of Costa's customers in Europe and around the world to be the first to experience a truly unique vacation on board the new ship. Cruises will be available for booking starting from tomorrow: there will be five 5-to-7-day cruises and one 51-day positioning cruise to China.

“Given the success of the inaugural cruises of Costa Venezia, we have decided to keep Costa Firenze in the Mediterranean for a whole month before its positioning in Asia” – says Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises - “Costa Firenze is part of an expansion plan for the Costa Group that includes a total of 7 new ships being delivered by 2023, for a total investment of over 6 billion euros. The next ship to come into service, in October 2019, will be Costa Smeralda, a real tribute to Italy’s finest and our excellence”.

Costa Firenze's first cruise will sail from Trieste to Savona, departing on October 1, 2020, calling at Bari, Barcelona and Marseilles. On October 8, 2020, the ship will leave Savona for a short cruise to Marseilles, Barcelona and Savona. On October 12, 19 and 26, Costa Firenze will depart from Savona for three 7-night cruises including Naples (replaced by Civitavecchia for the October 19 cruise), Messina (replaced by Palermo for the October 19 cruise), Valencia, Barcelona and Marseilles. The final cruise available will be the positioning cruise to China: a 51-night itinerary starting from Savona on November 2, 2020 and ending in Hong Kong on December 22, 2020. The journey will be a discovery of a host of different cultures, landscapes and flavours. From the Mediterranean, the ship will sail to Dubai, through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, calling at Naples, Messina, Greece, Israel, Jordan and Oman. From Dubai to Abu Dhabi, futuristic cities built in the desert, the ship will continue to India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia. The final part of the cruise will be devoted to the Far East: Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and finally China. The itinerary can also be subdivided into three separate legs, Savona-Dubai (19 days), Dubai-Singapore (20 days) and Singapore-Hong Kong (14 days), which can also be combined with each other.

Like its sister ship Costa Venezia, Costa Firenze will offer a series of innovations designed specifically for the Chinese market, where the Italian company was the first to operate in 2006 and is currently the leader, allowing guests to discover Italian culture and lifestyle.

“Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze are the proof of Costa Cruises’ long-term commitment to China market,” stated Mario Zanetti, President of Costa Group Asia, and continued: “Costa Cruises is also dedicated to bringing the Italian Aesthetic lifestyle to Chinese guests while delivering Italian culture and experience to them. Together with Costa Venezia, the arrival of Costa Firenze will help boost the development of Chinese cruise industry.”

The ship is inspired by the city of Florence, representing centuries of Italian culture and history. During the Costa Firenze cruises, guests together with their families and friends will have a chance to immerse themselves fully in Italian beauty and aesthetic, which will take shape in various aspects of life on board: from interior design to dining, from entertainment to hospitality.

Comment – Capacity constraints in greatest of natural harbours

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 03 May 2019 03 May 2019

There is something paradoxical about the fact that the cruise industry continues to experience problems with land based infrastructure in Sydney, Australia.

Sydney is one of the greatest natural harbours in the world: a huge and sheltered bay that has several miles of shoreline and it has deep water too.

However, local authorities have preferred to dedicate the shoreline for housing rather than shipping. Moving cargo handling away from city centres, with all the associated noise and traffic, is a trend that has taken place in Sydney and in many cities around the world, and for good reasons.

But when cruise ships have nowhere to dock in the centre of a city, the experience that passengers have changes. Instead of walking down the gangway to enjoy the destination, it becomes necessary to take a bus or a taxi. The bigger the ship in question, the more traffic there will be on the roads.

True, Sydney has retained its iconic Circular Quay terminal, which is right in the centre of the city, near the famous harbor bridge. But facilities at Pyrmont on the other side of the bridge and Woolloomooloo near the Garden Island base of Royal Australian Navy have vanished. Media reports say that turnaround calls have taken place by using tenders.

Sydney’s problems are neither new nor unique. However, as tourism is being looked at with increasingly critical eyes in many cities – such as Amsterdam that imposed a tax on e.g. cruise passengers – problems arising from access to convenient terminals refuse to go away.

Instead, they pose a major concern for the cruise industry that is probably going to deepen in the years to come.

Infrastructure woes sharply slowed down Australian market growth last year

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 03 May 2019 03 May 2019

Problems with land based infrastructure particularly in Sydney contributed to a sharp slowdown in the growth of the Australian cruise market last year, CLIA Australasia figures show.

In 2018, a total of 1.35 million Australians took a cruise, which was just 0.9% more than in the previous year. In 2017, the year on growth had been robust 4.4%.

The number of passengers starting their cruise in an Australian port rose by just 0.1% last year as a result of capacity constrains on land. Local cruising accounted for 1.03 million passengers last year, while fly cruises to destinations further afield attracted 315,000 passengers, an increase of 3.4%.

“While the local industry faces growth constraints caused by a shortage of cruise infrastructure in Sydney, the construction of a new International Cruise Terminal in Brisbane and other cruise related projects announced in Cairns, Eden and Broome are expected to reignite growth in the homeport market,” CLIA Australasia said.

“Cruise lines have already announced significant new vessel deployments in this region beginning from 2020/2021. At the same time, smaller older vessels will be replaced with newer larger ships to cater to Australian passenger demand while a solution to the Sydney infrastructure constraints is developed.”

“Although the reduced growth trend may continue in the short term into 2019, the future outlook for the Australian ocean cruise passenger market remains positive. As government and local stakeholders recognise the potential for the industry to offer an even broader and more frequent range of domestic itineraries, this will increase the contribution the industry is able to deliver to Australia’s national and regional economies<” CLIA Australasia said.