Costa sending second Vista class ship Costa Firenze to Dubai in 2020

Costa Cruises has announced that it’s upcoming new Vista-class cruise ship will be named Costa Firenze and will cruise from Dubai in 2020, like her sister ship Costa Venezia did this year.

Costa Firenze will homeport in China alongside Venezia and is named after the Italian city of Florence, just as Venezia was named after Venice.

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More details about her on-board features and amenities will be announced in the coming months, Costa Cruises said, but in renderings released with a press release, it appears that the ship will at least boast an impressive pool area and magrodome.

Unlike Venezia, however, Firenze will sail a longer initial European season before she is repositioned to China.

“Given the success of the inaugural cruises of Costa Venezia, we have decided to keep Costa Firenze in the Mediterranean for a whole month before its positioning in Asia,” said Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises.

“Costa Firenze is part of an expansion plan for the Costa Group that includes a total of seven new ships being delivered by 2023, for a total investment of over 6 billion euros. The next ship to come into service, in October 2019, will be Costa Smeralda, a real tribute to Italy’s finest and our excellence,” he added.

Costa Firenze will be delivered in October 2020 and her inaugural cruises are now open for booking, including five- to seven-day cruises in Europe and the 51-day positioning cruise to China.

The Costa Firenze’s first cruise will sail from Trieste to Savona, departing on October 1^st, 2020, calling at Bari, Barcelona and Marseilles.

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On October 8^th, 2020, the ship will leave Savona for a short cruise to Marseilles, Barcelona and Savona.

On October 12^th, 19^th and 26^th, she’ll sail three one-week roundtrip cruises from Savona, calling in Naples (replaced by Civitavecchia for the October 19 cruise), Messina (replaced by Palermo for the October 19 cruise), Valencia, Barcelona and Marseilles.

Costa Firenze will depart Savona bound for Dubai on November 2^nd, 2020. Dubai will be the key turnaround port on the 51-day grand voyage to Hong Kong, with passengers able to book both legs, or a single cruise (Savona to Dubai or Dubai to Hong Kong).

Like its sister ship Costa Venezia, Costa Firenze will offer a series of innovations designed specifically for the Chinese market, where Costa Cruises was the first to operate in 2006.

“Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze are the proof of Costa Cruises’ long-term commitment to the China market,” said Mario Zanetti, President of Costa Group Asia. “Costa Cruises is also dedicated to bringing the Italian aesthetic lifestyle to Chinese guests while delivering Italian culture and experience to them.”

“Together with Costa Venezia, the arrival of Costa Firenze will help boost the development of Chinese cruise industry,” he added.