CCL & Costa team up

CARNIVAL Cruise Line (CCL) will bring Costa Cruises’ Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze to the United States in 2023 and 2024 respectively to sail as part of its fleet.

The new concept, ‘Costa by Carnival’, will debut during next year’s northern spring, with Venezia to sail from New York City and Firenze to cruise from Long Beach.

The ships will continue operating their regular Costa itineraries until they are assigned to Carnival for dry dock work and deployment.

Itinerary plans are being finalised, with Carnival saying it expected to make the Venezia announcement soon given the looming launch date.

Carnival President Christine Duffy (pictured) said Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze will bring CCL’s guests the “ambience and beauty” of Italy.

“This is an exciting opportunity for us to operate two additional beautiful Vista class ships in the US and bring a unique experience to those who love the culture, food and vibe of Italy,” she said.

“There are lots of ways we plan to create an immersive fun experience for our guests who choose to sail on these ships, which have beautiful Italiandesign elements, dining and retail that will deliver Carnival fun leveraging the spirit of Italy from our sister line Costa.”

“We’re going to invite our guests to Choose Fun with Carnival, Italian Style!”

Mario Zanetti, Costa President added: “we are excited to see these iconic ships make their debut in the US under the leadership and operation of our sister brand.

“Costa providing the beautiful ship with its Italian design and Carnival delivering fun, Italian style!”

Zanetti said Costa will soon be informing its clients impacted by this news.

Venezia and Firenze are sister ships to Carnival Vista, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Panorama, accommodating up to 5,260 guests.

The news comes as Carnival last week returned to New York City for the first time since the pandemic, marking the cruise line’s restart in all 14 of its US homeports (CW 21 Jun).