Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has held a float-out ceremony of Costa Venezia, the first Costa cruise ship designed and built specifically for the Chinese market.
The ceremony was held on June 22 at the shipyard in Monfalcone, where the ship is being built for Costa Cruises, the Italian company of Carnival Corporation.
At a length of 323 meters and measuring 135,500 gross tons, Costa Venezia will enter service in March 2019, once the interior fittings have been completed.
With a capacity of more than 5,100 guests, Costa Venezia will be Costa largest ship operating homeport cruises from China.
“As our first ship built specifically for the Chinese market, Costa Venezia marks a new era not just for Costa Cruises and Fincantieri but for the Chinese cruise industry as a whole,” Mario Zanetti , president of Costa Group Asia, said.
Before arriving to China next May, Costa Venezia will set sail for two cruises, both departing from the Italian port of Trieste. On March 3, 2019 the vernissage cruise to Greece and Croatia, followed on March 8 by a 53-day inaugural cruise, making its way through the Mediterranean, the middle east, Southeast and East Asia, before arriving at Tokyo.
Starting from mid-May 2019, Costa Venezia will be dedicated to Chinese guests, with homeport in Shanghai.
Costa Venezia will also be followed by the launch of its sister ship in 2020, being built by Fincantieri at Marghera shipyard. These two new ships for Asia will bring to 14 the total number of Costa ships built by Fincantieri in Italy, for a total investment of over EUR 6 billion.
Overall, the Costa Group currently has seven new ships on order by 2023. Costa Venezia will be followed by Costa Smeralda, the new flagship of Costa Cruises, scheduled for delivery in October 2019.
Image Courtesy: Fincantieri