Costa Cruises has just announced its cruise programs for the Summer season 2006.Here is a summary report taken from www.cybercruises.com
2006 PROGRAMS
Instead, there are lots of innovations concerning both ships and itineraries. After having already announced the winter 2005/06 programs, Costa Crociere presents its 2006 spring-to-autumn itineraries.
From March to the end of November 2006, Costa Crociere will propose a total of 270 cruises, concentrated in the Mediterranean (230 cruises) and in the North European seas (40 cruises).
The new flagship, the Costa Concordia, currently under construction in the Sestri Ponente (Ge) shipyards, will be positioned in the Mediterranean, while the Costa Magica and the Costa Classica will join the Costa Atlantic in North Europe, increasing cruise availability by more than 40%.
1. Mediterranean Cruises
In the summer of 2006, with the introduction of the new home port of Trieste, Costa Crociere will provide Italian and European guests who would like to spend their vacation on one of its ships with another embarkation/disembarkation point. This increases the number of Costa Crociere's home ports in Italy to 10: Savona, Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Palermo, Catania, Messina, Bari, Ancona, Venice and Trieste.
The itineraries and departures for some of the main Italian home ports are listed here below:
From Civitavecchia (Rome)
In the port of Rome, where Costa, along with other companies, manages both the terminal and cruise operations, Costa ships will make 71 landings in 2006. The following ships will depart on itineraries from spring to autumn 2006:
Costa Concordia - The largest Italian passenger ship will set sail on its maiden voyage on 14 July from Civitavecchia (Rome): on this 9-day itinerary the ship will call on Savona, Barcelona, Alicante, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Cadice and Malaga, and return to Civitavecchia on 23 July. From this date until 19 November 2006 the Costa Concordia will complete a total of 18, 7-day cruises, with calls to Civitavecchia (Sunday), Savona (Monday), Barcelona (Tuesday) and Palma (Wednesday), Tunis (Thursday), Malta (Friday) and Palermo (Saturday).
Costa Romantica - From May to October 2006, the ship will depart every Monday for two different and alternating 7-day itineraries. The first one is an absolutely new cruise for Costa Crociere: Catania (Tuesday), Tunis (Wednesday), Gabes (Thursday), Tripoli (Friday), Malta (Saturday) and passage through the Aeolian Islands on Sunday. On the second itinerary, the ship will sail to the Eastern Mediterranean, calling on Catania (Tuesday), Patmos and Mykonos (Thursday), Izmir (Friday) and Santorini (Saturday).
From the Palacrociere in Savona
In 2006, a total of 173 Costa ships will call on the Savona cruise terminal, which is managed directly by Costa. From spring to autumn 2006, 10 ships will sail from the Palacrociere, including:
Costa Concordia, the new flagship.
Costa Fortuna - From April to the end of October 2006, the Costa Fortuna will set sail every Sunday on a 7-day itinerary including landings in Naples (Monday), Palermo (Tuesday), Tunis (Wednesday), Palma de Majorca (Thursday and Friday), Barcelona (Friday) and Marseilles (Saturday).
Costa Europa From April to November 2006 - after a substantial refurbishment - the Costa Europa will depart on 10 and 11-day cruises to Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Libya, the Black Sea and the Canary Islands.
These ships will be joined by the Costa Magica, the Costa Atlantica, the Costa Classica, the Costa Romantica, the Costa Marina, the Costa Mediterranea and the Costa Victoria, that in the spring and the autumn will depart from Savona for short and extended cruises in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands.
From Venice
In 2006, the following Costa ships will make 70 calls to Venice:
Costa Mediterranea - From May to November 2006, the ship will depart every Sunday on 7-day cruises to Bari (Monday), Olimpia (Tuesday), Izmir (Wednesday), Istanbul (Thursday) and Dubrovnik (Saturday).
Costa Victoria - From March to November 2006 the ship will depart every Monday on 7-day cruises to Bari (Tuesday), Olimpia (Wednesday), Santorini and Mykonos (Thursday), Rhodes (Friday) and Dubrovnik (Sunday).
From Trieste, Costa Crociere's new home port
The home port of Trieste is one of Costa's biggest surprises for 2006. From 18 June to 24 September, the Costa Marina will depart every Sunday from the Venezia Giulia port on a 7-day itinerary that includes calls to Ancona (Monday), Santorini and Mykonos (Wednesday), Athens (Thursday), Corfu (Friday) and Dubrovnik (Saturday). There will be a total of 15 calls in Trieste, with an expected flow of approximately 20,000 cruise passengers. Furthermore for the second consecutive year Ancona will be Costa's home port in the Centre and South of Italy.
With the departure of the new itinerary from Trieste, the Costa Marina will complete its programs dedicated exclusively to the German-speaking market.
2. North Europe
In the summer of 2006, Costa will establish a real milestone when it simultaneously positions the Costa Magica and the Costa Classica in the North seas, along with the previously established Costa Atlantica. Along with a significant increase in cruises (more than 40%), Costa also guarantees increasingly better quality for its cruise guests. In particular, the Costa Magica and the Costa Atlantica will offer a wide range of cabins with private balcony overlooking the sea.
Costa Magica - The spring 2006 programs will begin with a spectacular transatlantic cruise. The ship will depart from Fort Lauderdale (Florida) on 5 May, call on New York for no less than 3 days (8-10 May), cross the Atlantic and arrive in Copenhagen (Denmark) on 21 May. From Copenhagen, the Costa Magica will set sail for cruises in the northern seas for the first time since it came into service: every Sunday up to 3 September, 7-day itineraries to the Norwegian fjords or the Baltic capitals.
Costa Atlantica - will operate in North Europe for the third consecutive year. But, for the first time, it will depart from Amsterdam on 10 to 14-day cruises to the Baltic capitals or the Norwegian fjords, calling on Iceland, the Shetland Islands, Cape North and the Spitzbergen Islands. In particular, the Costa Atlantica will be the largest ship to call on Norway's Spitzbergen Islands, slightly less than 1,000 kilometres from the North Pole.
Costa Classica - After completing 11-day cruises to Egypt, Libya and the Canary Islands in the winter and the spring, the Costa Classica will leave the Mediterranean in May and be repositioned in its new destination in Kiel, Germany, where it will depart on 6 to 14-day cruises to the Baltic Sea, Norwegian fjords, the Spitzbergen Islands and Cape North. The Costa Classica's new positioning in Kiel is Costa's way to offer its German guests a convenient embarkation/disembarkation point, while always welcoming reservations from guests of all other nationalities.
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As you can see there are many important changes.
Costa will not have anymore a ship dicated to the german cruise market:
COSTA MARINA will return to the international cruise markets, while COSTA CLASSICA, even if departing from the german port of Kiel, will be marketed internationally.
As you can clearly see from the report COSTA ALLEGRA doesn't appear in the schedules. Her fate is unclear: I can just suppose that she could open a new market. Costa has already showed interest to operate in the Far East. Allegra with her small dimensions and attractive interiors will be the right ship there.
There is another possibility about Allegra: she could be dicated to the french cruise market. Costa Cruises has a great interest to develop this market, that currently isn't growing faster as the british, spanish, german and italian ones.
[ 08-02-2005: Message edited by: Italian Cruiser ]