The christening event of Costa Diadema, the new flagship of Costa Cruises, will be held in Genoa on November 7th 2014.

Genoa, where Costa Cruises was founded and has its headquarters, will host local dignitaries, industry representatives plus Costa Diadema guests who will be able to book their participation at the event and either the vernissage cruise, departing from Trieste on November 1st, or the official inaugural cruise, departing from Savona on November 8th.

The christening event of Costa Diadema reasserts Costa’s attachment to Genoa, where the company is expanding its presence by opening new offices for about 250 employees in Piazza Piccapietra, close to the present headquarters of Costa Crociere. 

The new offices will be open for business in summer 2014.

Costa Diadema is currently being built at Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera (Venice) and will be delivered on October 30th 2014.

The flagship’s debut will last one month and include the vernissage cruise on November 1st, the christening event on November 7th and three inaugural cruises on November 8th, 15th and 22nd.

The new flagship will be exclusively sailing within the Mediterranean as Costa’s ‘Regina del Mediterraneo’ (Queen of the Mediterranean).

The vernissage cruise will start on November 1st from Trieste, where the ship will stay until 13:00 the following day, and then call at Dubrovnik, Corfu, Malta, Naples and finally Genoa on November 7th in time for the Christening event.

After the vernissage, from November 8th Costa Diadema will depart for three seven-day inaugural cruises in the western Mediterranean Sea which will include stopovers at Savona, Marseille, and Barcelona with additional calls at Palma de Mallorca, Naples and La Spezia with the chance to visit two of the most popular Italian cities in a single cruise – Florence and Naples.
 
Costa Cruises has invested a total of around €550 million in the construction of Costa Diadema at the Finantieri shipyards in Marghera.

The project is employing approximately 1,000 shipyard workers plus another 2,500 employees of allied industries.

The benefits in terms of employment extend beyond the yard, particularly with regards to the fitting-out of the ship’s interiors by around 400 contracted suppliers, most of which are Italian firms.