''Costa Firenze'' is a constructed 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 ...

for

Costa Cruises Società per Azioni, 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, Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily ca ...

, a subsidiary of

Carnival Corporation & plc Carnival Corporation & plc is a British-American cruise operator with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies – Panama-incorporated, US-headquartered Carniv ...

, and sister ship to ''

Costa Venezia ''Carnival Venezia'' is a operated by Carnival Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Originally intended to serve the Chinese market, she debuted as ''Costa Venezia'' for sister brand Costa Cruises in Shanghai on 18 May 201 ...

. Costa Firenze'' is scheduled to be transferred to

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

in 2024 under the new Costa by Carnival concept''.'' It is to be renamed ''Carnival Firenze.''

History

Planning and construction

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 ...

entered a strategic agreement with

in March 2015 for five cruise ships for delivery between 2019 and 2022. On 30 December 2015, Carnival Corporation and Fincantieri signed a memorandum of agreement for four cruise ships, with two then-unnamed ships for Costa Asia among the four. This announcement coincided with Carnival Corporation's unveiling of its plans for the expansion of the Costa Asia fleet, which would consist of two vessels at each, with a guest capacity of approximately 4,200 passengers per vessel. The contracts for the two newbuild vessels were finalized in April 2016. The two ships, comprising a new class of vessels in Costa's fleet, were designed to be

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s and continue carrying Costa's Italian-style interior designs and features while hosting an Asian clientele. On 6 May 2019, Costa Cruises announced that the second of the two vessels built specifically for the Chinese market would be named ''Costa Firenze'', named after

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, and have interior features inspired by Florentine history and culture. The ship was floated out from the shipyard on 6 November 2019.

Interiors

Delivery

''Costa Firenze'' was scheduled to be delivered on 30 September 2020 and postponed to a time later in 2020, but the delivery took place on 22 December 2020.

Operational career

Carnival Corporation announced on 6 May 2019 that ''Costa Firenze'' would initially spend her first month sailing in the Mediterranean, calling in ports in Italy, Spain, and France. Her maiden voyage was scheduled for 1 October 2020, departing from Trieste and calling in

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, Barcelona, and Marseille, before arriving in

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 ...

. Then, she was to depart from Savona on 2 November to begin a 51-day cruise to Hong Kong, arriving on 22 December. However, in late-August 2019, Costa Cruises announced changes to ''Costa Firenze''s maiden deployments. These changes scrapped the maiden voyage and her month of Mediterranean sailings that were planned and the ship will, instead, head for Singapore immediately following her delivery and debut for Chinese customers on 20 October. But on 13 July 2020, it was reported that Costa will revert to deploying ''Costa Firenze'' to Europe, scheduling her to sail weekly itineraries in the Mediterranean after being delivered, and also operate all cancelled sailings of ''

Costa Toscana The Excellence class, including the sub-classes Helios class and XL or Excel class, is a class of cruise ships ordered by Carnival Corporation & plc for its subsidiary brands AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line. The ...

'' through 2021 due to the ship's delayed delivery. On 22 June, 2022, it was announced that ''Costa Firenze'' would sail under the Carnival brand in 2024, from Long Beach, California. With Carnival and Costa debuting a new concept, Costa by Carnival. The ship will be renamed ''Carnival Firenze'' and have a new Carnival Italian style livery. It will be staffed and operated by Carnival Cruise Line, and will enter dry dock before sailing from North America. Details on itineraries are being finalized and will be announced soon. Costa Firenze's sister ship

will also debut under the Carnival brand in 2023, and will sail from New York City,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

References

{{Costa Cruises Firenze Ships built by Fincantieri 2019 ships