NEW Costa Neo-Romantica

Costa Romantica is sheduled for major renovation in October in Genoa. This ship, that entered service in 1993, has contracted Tillberg Design, a Swedish company that has designed the interiors of approximately 130 luxury yachts and cruise ships over the last 40 years to renew the interiors of the 53,000 tons and 1,697-guest Costa Romantica. The line is investing approximately €90 million in this major refit.

The restyling is to be carried out between October 2011 and January 2012. During the renovation two new half-decks, similar to the appearance of Norwegian Epic, will be added along with 120 new cabins and suites with private balconies will be created. Total capacity will increase from 1,697 to 1,800, while the number of cabins will increase from 678 to 789. The ship’s total gross tonnage will increase to approximately 56,000 GTs.

COSTA NEOROMANTICA

New areas on the ship will include a wine bar with 100 different labels and a wide selection of cheeses from around the world, a coffee and sweets bar, a show lounge bar with dance floor, a cabaret, a nightclub and also the Costa Samsara Spa, an area with gym, a thalassotherapy pool, treatment rooms, sauna, Turkish bath, spa cabins, six suites, and a special spa restaurant.

When the refit is complete the new Costa neoRomantica will be positioned on the Mediterranean sailing to the Canary Islands and during the summer season, the ship will be positioned in northern Europe.

Costa Cruises has also ordered Fincantieri Shipyard a unit of 132,500 tons with capacity for 4928 passengers in 1854 cabins based on the Concordia Class ships. This new ship will be the biggest ship ever built for Costa Cruises and will be finished in 2014.
They have also announced the construction of two 125.000 GT ships for AIDA Cruises (entering service in 2015-16). These two ships will not be built in Papenburg as Aida Sol and Aida Mar.
Bad news are that Costa Cruises sold Costa Marina, which will be taken off service in november