Costa Cruises sails into Chinese market

The 135,000 tonne Costa Venezia is part of an expansion plan that includes seven ships being delivered to the Costa Group by 2023 for a total investment of over €6bn. At 323m long and catering for more than 5,200 guests, she was built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone and has a range of features designed to showcase Italian culture and lifestyle, including an interior inspired by the city of Venice and gondolas made by Italian artisans.

Michael Thamm, group chief executive of Costa Group and Carnival Asia, said: “Costa Venezia will help us to further develop the cruise market in China, which has a great unexplored potential.”

“Currently, 2.5 million Chinese people a year choose to go on a cruise vacation, which is less than 2% of the total number of Chinese people who travel abroad,” he added.

The ship has a theatre inspired by the Venetian ‘La Fenice’ theatre, the main atrium is reminiscent of St. Mark’s Square and the main restaurants recall the traditional architecture of Venetian alleys and squares.

The naming ceremony is planned for 1 March in Trieste and the first cruise, for invitees only, will depart from Trieste on 3 March bound for Greece and Croatia. The ship’s inaugural cruise of the Mediterranean, Middle East, South East Asia and the Far East begins on 8 March.

After Costa Venezia, the group’s next ship to come into service, in October 2019, will be Costa Smeralda, the new Costa Cruises flagship and the first ship for the world market to be powered by LNG.