Centrale de Bespreking van de cruise

MIAMI, 16 Mei - Costa Serena, het nieuwe vlaggeschip van Costa, Nummer Één van Europa de Lijn van de Cruise, werd geleverd gisteren door Fincantieri bij zijn scheepswerf van Sestri Ponente in Genua, Italië. Als haar zusterschip, is Costa Concordia, die de dienst in Juli 2006 inging, Costa Serena het grootste passagiersschip de Italiaanse vlag vliegen en het grootste Europese schip die in termen van capaciteit. Het schip is 114.000 brutoton, 292 meters in lengte en eigenschappenaanpassingen voor maximaal 3.780 Gasten in 1.500 cabines.

De „levering van Costa Serena vult ons met grote trots en tevredenheid - zij is een innovatief schip en een showcase van scherp-randtechnologie dat verder Costa nog behalve andere reisexploitanten,“ bovengenoemde Pijler Luigi Foschi, Voorzitter & CEO van SpA van Costa Crociere zullen plaatsen. Met de aankomst van Costa Serena, is de vloot van Costa Crociere nu sterke 12, toelatend ons om onze merkleiding in de snel uitbreidende Europese markt te consolideren. Wij nu naderen het één miljoen teken, dat onze reeksdoelstelling voor het eind van dit jaar was. In de eerste vijf maanden van 2007, hebben wij reeds het 880.000 boeken, evenarend het volledige volume van Gasten die in 2006 worden vervoerd. Met drie meer reeds bevolen schepen en allen gepast voor levering tegen 2010, vergt een andere verslag-brekende mijlpaal voor het merk van Costa Crociere reeds vorm in het feit dat wij 1.5 miljoen reserves tegen 2010.“ ontwerpen

Costa investeerde ongeveer 450 miljoen Euro in de bouw van Costa Serena, die hoogst innovatieve eigenschappen aanbiedt, die omvatten:

• Samsara Spa, één van grootste spas op zee (meer dan 23.000 vierkante voet). Spa schept 99 revolutionaire cabines Samsara met directe toegang tot spa, met inbegrip van 12 reeksen op.
• Four swimming pools, two of which are enclosable via a magrodome, making it the largest enclosable pool deck on a ship and allowing for enjoyable poolside activities at any time of the year.
• An authentic Grand Prix race car driving simulator, the most accurate representation of Grand Prix driving.
• Menus in the Costa Serena’s “Club Bacco” a la carte restaurant were created by the Italian culinary innovator Ettore Bocchia, executive chef at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio and a Michelin restaurateur, with culinary delights based on the finest Italian gastronomic tradition with an accent on the use of fresh ingredients of the highest quality.
• The interiors of the Costa Serena are designed by the ingenious American architect Joe Farcus with a central theme of Greek and Roman mythology. This is also the theme of the many artworks onboard (5,990 works, including 440 originals), contributed by 34 international artists including Omar Galliani, Aldo Spoldi, Nicola Salvatore and Stefano Pizzi, among many others.

The delivery of the Costa Serena brings the number of ships in the Costa fleet, Europe’s largest and most advanced, to 12, with total capacity of approximately 23,200 berths in double occupancy cabins. Costa has commissioned three more ships, all from Fincantieri, including a third sister ship to the Costa Concordia and Costa Serena, due for delivery in Spring 2009; two 92,700 gross tonnage sister ships, one to be named the Costa Luminosa and due to enter service in Spring 2009 and the other in March 2010. Since 2003, Costa has invested a total of 3.5 billion euros in Italy, placing orders with Fincantieri for seven new ships as part of a fleet expansion and upgrading program worth almost 4.5 billion Euros, which was launched by the Italian Company in 2000. By 2010, when the last of the new builds is delivered, the Costa fleet will be 15 strong and have a total capacity of over 30,800 passengers (in double occupancy cabins).

The inaugural ceremony for the Costa Serena will be held on May 19 in Marseille with the beautiful and talented French actress Marion Cotillard as the ship’s godmother. The inaugural festivities, entitled “Mediterranean Serenade,” will be open to the entire city and feature the ship in a playful “dialogue” of color and light with Marseille’s main monuments. Together, with the actual inaugural itself, there will be a parallel “virtual” event as the new Costa flagship makes her debut on “Second Life,” the 3D Internet-based virtual world. The over 6 million “inhabitants” of “Second Life” will be able to board the ship and discover all the innovations offered by the Costa Serena.

When the Costa Serena is inaugurated in Marseille on May 19, the 114,000-ton ship will be simultaneously inaugurated in a “virtual” setting via “Second Life,” a three- dimensional virtual community. This reproduction of the inaugural ceremonies for Costa’s twelfth ship aims to offer all Second Life “residents” a virtual experience of the Costa Serena inaugural fête. All users who register at www.secondlife.com/ will have the opportunity to take part in the virtual inaugural ceremony, complete with entertainment, a treasure hunt and fireworks display. The inaugural will be held at 1 p.m. EDT. In addition, Second Life residents will have the unique opportunity to board the ship, stroll its outer decks, enjoy the ambience of the main atrium, visit the Samsara Spa (one of the largest spas at sea) as well as take a look at the ship’s Grand Prix race car driving simulator first-hand. These virtual passengers will also be able to interact with virtual hostesses ready to answer all of their questions about the new ship in five different languages: Italian, French, English, Spanish and German.

The Costa Serena’s Inaugural cruise will depart from Venice on May 26 with an eight-day itinerary to Greece, Turkey and Croatia. Every Sunday from June through November 2007, the Costa Serena will depart from Venice on seven-day cruises calling on Bari (Italy) Olympia (Greece), Izmir and Istanbul (Turkey), and Dubrovnik (Croatia). In winter 2007/2008, she will offer 10- and 11-day cruise vacations to the Canary Islands with departures from Savona.

In addition to its presence on “Second Life,” Costa currently has an Internet presence in the form of a “business-to-consumer” Web site, www.costa.it, which is diversified for 17 markets in over 11 languages, ensuring localization of the global brand’s product range. For those who are not yet “residents” of Second Life, Costa has developed a microsite completely dedicated to the Costa Serena www.costaserena.net to allow them to view the ship, interact via a blog, and enter a competition to win a cruise aboard the ship. A winner will be selected according to the most original answer to the question “What makes you feel like a god on a cruise?” This theme is in line with the ship’s design inspiration based on classical Roman and Greek mythology. For reservations or more information, contact a travel agent, call (800) GO-COSTA or visit www.costacruises.com/.

Categories: Cruise News
Tags: Costa Cruises, Costa Serena, cruise ship building, cruise ship christening