Costa Cruises, Europe’s number one cruise company, has announced that the naming ceremony for new flagship, Costa Fascinosa, will take place in Savona on 6 May 2012.

The 16th member of Costa Cruises’ fleet, (114,500 gross tonnage and 3,800 total guests), is currently being fitted out at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard. Together with her sister ship, Costa Favolosa, she will be the largest cruise ship flying the Italian flag.

The announcement was made by Costa Crociere S.p.A. Chairman & CEO Pier Luigi Foschi during Costa Favolosa’s first call at Savona. Costa Fascinosa will be the first cruise ship to be inaugurated in the Ligurian port city, and the event will take place during Costa Fascinosa’s first vernissage cruise of the ship, departing from Venice on 2 May 2012. The naming event will be staged with the support of the Port Authority of Savona, the local Chamber of Commerce, the Municipality of Savona, the Savona Provincial Administration and the Liguria Regional Administration.

Costa Cruises has invested around €510 million in Costa Fascinosa.  After Costa Fascinosa, Costa Cruises plans to add another cruise ship to their fleet, to be built in the Marghera yard. The new ship (132,500 gross tonnage and 4,928 total guests), is scheduled for delivery in October 2014. Since 2000, Costa Cruises has ordered a total of 10 new ships from Fincantieri’s Italian shipyards, with a total investment worth more than €5 billion. 

To support the resulting increase of ships and guests arriving in Savona, Costa Cruises has continued to invest in the growth of the Savona Palacrociere cruise terminal, which has been managed directly by the Italian company since 2003. January 2012 will mark the start of building work on the second terminal, with an investment worth around €9 million. The new terminal building is expected to be ready by March 2013.

In 2011, Costa Cruises’ passenger movements at the Palacrociere reached a record one million people, a 35% growth compared to 2010. In 2012, 14 of Costa’s 16 ships will be calling at least once at the Savona Palacrociere. A total of around 230 calls are scheduled next year with more than one million cruise passenger movements.

The presence of Costa’s ships generates an important economic impact on the local area. According to a study carried out by MIP, the Milan Polytechnic Business School, in 2010 Costa Cruises generated a direct economic impact of more than €5.5 million in the Port of Savona and of €230 million in the Liguria region.

In addition to the naming of Costa Fascinosa, the Savona Palacrociere will be the starting point for two other major events.

On 28 December 2011, Costa Deliziosa will set sail on the historic round-the-world cruise, which has long been a highlight of Costa’s itineraries. The 100-day world voyage departs from Savona before porting at Los Angeles via the Caribbean and the Panama Canal, from Los Angeles to Singapore with stopovers in San Francisco, Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia and from Singapore to Savona via Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, the Red Sea and Egypt. About 2,300 guests from all over the world will embark on Costa Deliziosa’s round-the-world cruise.

On 20 February 2012, the Palacrociere will welcome Costa neoRomantica’s first cruise following the radical €90 million refurbishment of Costa Romantica, currently being carried out at the San Giorgio del Porto and T. Mariotti yards in Genoa. The 11-day itinerary includes Spain, Morocco, the Canary Islands and Madeira. In spring 2012, the Costa neoRomantica will offer 15-day cruises to the magical Atlantic capitals, while in summer 2012 the Costa neoRomantica will be operating in Northern Europe, offering 15-day cruises that will bring together the best destinations of the Fjords and Baltic Capitals for the first time, as well as two cruises to the Spietzbergen Islands. The stylish ambience of the Costa neoRomantica will also be the setting for the Grand Cruise, departing on 19 September 2012 from Savona to Australia and New Zealand, via the finest and most fascinating places in the eastern hemisphere.
     
Costa’s ships began calling at Savona in November 1996 with the arrival of Costa Riviera. The Palacrociere, which Costa co-financed with an approximately €3.6 million investment, opened on 24 November 2003. Conceived by the Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill, the Palacrociere is specially designed and built to provide hospitality and high quality services for cruise guests. Thanks to its innovative architecture, the terminal is able to reduce waiting time to a minimum, while combining the utmost comfort with maximum security. Over the years, RINA has awarded the Savona Palacrociere with various accolades from the B.E.S.T. 4 (Business Excellence Sustainable Task), an integrated voluntary scheme certifying corporate compliance with the highest international standards in the areas of Social Accountability (SA 8000, issued in 2001), Environment (UNI EN ISO 14001, 2004), Safety (OHSAS 18001, 1999) and Quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, 2000).