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A second major cruise line will resume operations on September 6th in Italy after pausing global operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carnival corporation owned Costa Cruises will depart this Sunday from Trieste, Italy.
The first sailing will be on the Costa Deliziosa which has a maximum capacity of 2828 passengers.
Costa Cruises will launch two ships in September.
Costa Deliziosa will offer weekly cruises from Trieste starting on on Sept. 6 and will visit five destinations in Southern Italy.
- Bari
- Brindisi
- Corigliano-Rossano
- Siracusa
- Catania
Costa Diadema will follow on Sept. 19 from Genoa visiting 6 ports in the Western Mediterranean.
- Civitavecchia
- Rome
- Naples
- Palermo
- Cagliari
- La Spezia.
The ships were originally scheduled to call on Greek ports but have since changed the itineraries to only visit Italian destinations.
Passengers will undergo enhanced health screenings including the following protocols.
- Temperature scans
- COVID-19 PCR swab tests
- Health declarations
All shore excursions will be organized by Costa and passengers will not be allowed to disembark the ships on their own at port stops.
The organized shore excursions ensure that passengers stay within a ‘health bubble' and that tour companies are following enhanced health protocols.
Carnival Corp. owned AIDA cruises is scheduled to resume operations as well on November 1st.
The German cruise line originally announced that it would relaunch from ports in Germany but has now moved its sailings to depart from the Canary Islands starting with two ships.
Two additional ships will depart from United Arab Emirates and the Western Mediterranean beginning in December 2020.
“Our highest responsibilities and top priorities are always compliance, protecting the environment, and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, the communities we visit and our crew,” said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation in a press release.
“We are engaged with a large number of medical experts and scientists around the world, and they are providing us with extremely valuable insight that we are using to develop new and enhanced protocols that are in the best interest of our guests, crew and overall public health. In areas of the world where community spread is largely mitigated and authorities are supportive of a gradual return to service over time, we look forward to again welcoming guests on board.”
The first major cruise line to restart operations was MSC back in the middle of August. The first sailing was a success on the 2500 passenger MSC Grandiosa.
It completed its 7 day itinerary without any confirmed cases of COVID-19.
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