Costa Cruises are now considering repairing Costa Allegra (1969/28,597gt) and returning her to service. Additionally, Costa Magica (2004/102,587gt) is no longer scheduled to spend the forthcoming winter in South America, but will instead replace Costa Classica (1991/52,926gt) in the Mediterranean fleet, allowing that ship to join Costa Atlantica (2000/ 85,619gt) in Dubai. With a greater emphasis on European, and in particular year-round Mediterranean cruising, the company will build a second terminal at its hub port, Savona in Italy.
At the beginning of May the company took delivery of its latest ship, the 114,500gt Costa Fascinosa, a sister to Costa Favolosa, delivered last year, and a near-sister to Costa Concordia. Elsa Gnudi, daughter of Italy’s minister of tourism was the godmother for the new ship in a decidedly low-key event. Costa have just one more ship on order, a 132,500gt vessel that is due to be delivered in 2014.
Meanwhile, the 80-tonne rock which is currently wedged in the hull of CostaConcordia will be removed during the salvage operation and will become a permanent monument on the island of Giglio to the 32 people who died in the incident.
