''Costa Diadema'' is a owned by

Carnival Corporation Carnival is a Catholic Church, Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgy, liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (o ...

and operated by

Costa Crociere S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1854 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to the Italian cruise ...

. The ship was ordered in October 2012 and was delivered to Costa on 25 October 2014. At her time of delivery, ''Costa Diadema'' was the largest vessel to fly an Italian flag and Costa's largest vessel to date; she is currently Costa Crociere's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

Design and engineering

''Costa Diadema''s 11 kV electrical generation system is provided from six generators, six aft/

bow thruster Manoeuvering thruster (bow thruster or stern thruster) is a transversal propulsion device built into, or mounted to, either the bow or stern, of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow thrusters make docking easier, since they allow th ...

electrical motors, HV main switchboard and distribution transformers, propulsion transformers, synchro drives, and motors from

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

. The ship is also equipped with six Wärtsilä 12V46 engines that produce an output of . ''Costa Diadema'' features a total of 1,862 cabins that can accommodate a maximum of 4,947 passengers and 1,253 crew members and also has an outside promenade extending over . The ship includes three swimming pools, three dining areas, a 4D cinema hall, and a

Saṃsāra ''Saṃsāra'' (Devanagari: संसार) is a Pali/Sanskrit word that means "world". It is also the concept of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental belief of most Indian religions. Popularly, it is the c ...

spa across four decks.

Construction and career

Costa Cruises ordered the ''Dream''-class vessel in October 2012, making her the largest ship to be ordered and built for Costa. The ship cost

US$739 million to build. She was ordered and built to replace , which sank earlier in the year. ''Costa Diadema'' had her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

laid on 10 December 2012 at

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

's shipyard in

Marghera Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera. Etymology The name Marghera is said in popular myth to come ...

, marking the beginning of her hull assembly. She was launched on 15 November 2013, with an official ceremony performed by Franca Grasso, the ship's madrina at her launch. She was delivered on 25 October 2014 and performed a "Vernissage Cruise," from

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

on 1 November. Her naming ceremony was held on 7 November 2014 at the

Port of Genoa The Port of Genoa it is one of the most important seaports in Italy, in competition with the ports of Marseille and Barcelona in the Mediterranean Sea. With a trade volume of 51.6 million tonnes, it is the busiest port of Italy after the port of ...

, where she was officially christened by Italian travel agent, Carolina Micelli. ''Costa Diadema'' spent her inaugural season and subsequent seasons cruising the Western

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

until she was redeployed to

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

in November 2018 to begin cruising the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

for the winter season. As of 2019, she rotated between the Mediterranean in the spring and summer months and the Persian Gulf in the fall and winter months. On 24 March 2020, the ship docked at

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

, Cyprus, and a crew member suspected of suffering from the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

was taken to hospital. Several other crew members were also reported to be ill. ''Costa Diadema'' was sailing from Dubai to

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

, Italy, without passengers.

References

External links

Official site
{{Costa Cruises Ships built in Venice 2013 ships Cruise ships of Italy Ships built by Fincantieri Ships of Costa Cruises