Costa Firenze Dubai cruise plans altered as Carnival Corp delays new ship deliveries

Costa Cruises has announced changes to its cruise itineraries for new ships Costa Firenze and Costa Toscana as parent company Carnival Corporation moves to delay new ship deliveries, impacting scheduled Dubai cruise in 2021.

Costa Firenze a sister ship to Carnival Corporation’s Vista-class, was set to be delivered in 2020 , while Costa Toscana was due to homeport in Europe for her maiden season in 2021, Costa Firenze was going to cruise via Dubai to China this year.

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The cruise line has now announced that Costa Firenze will instead spend the balance of 2021 in Europe after her delayed delivery, sailing the itineraries meant for Costa Toscana, the delivery of which will be pushed back into 2022.

Costa Firenze will cruise a Western Mediterranean seven-day program, according to a presentation on Costa Cruises’ plans to resume cruising. A set date wasn’t confirmed.

With Costa Toscana now predicted to enter service later in 2021 or 2022, Costa Firenze is expected to move to China in time for the 2021-2022 winter and 2022 cruise seasons, meaning she will now likely cruise from Dubai during the 2021 season instead of this year.

The delayed delivery of the two ships are the first to be confirmed since Carnival Corporation, parent company of Costa Cruises, announced that it was going to hold off on the introduction of four out of nine new ships scheduled to enter service in 2020 and 2021.

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Further delays to new ship deliveries are expected to be announced for 2022 and 2023 as well, but Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation, which owns nine cruise lines, ruled out any outright cancellations of new ships.

“We are not in discussions about cancelling ships,” said Donald. “We are in discussions with the yard about timing and deliveries.”

The company expects two to three new ships to be delivered on a yearly basis going forward, with the delivery of at least 16 new cruise ships to be delayed.

Instead of cancelling the construction of its new tonnage, Carnival Corporation has instead indicated that several older cruise ships in the fleet will be retired in 2020 and 2021, representing around 9% of its current capacity.