Costa Cruises to serve up oldest coffee roastery in Italy fleet wide

Costa Cruises and Caffè Vergnano, the oldest coffee roastery in Italy, have partnered up to serve its coffees across the fleet.

Costa will serve Caffè Vergnano espressos and its coffee-based delicacies on all its ships, while Costa Smeralda and Costa Toscana will feature Caffè Vergnano 1882-branded outlets.

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These will be the first Caffè Vergnano 1882 branded cafeterias on board a cruise ship, with the first debuting aboard Costa Smeralda, and in late 2021 aboard her sister ship Costa Toscana, which is currently under construction.

Caffè Vergnano was founded in 1882 and the historic Piedmontese company is still run by the Vergnano family.

The collaboration between Costa Cruises and Caffè Vergnano will focus on sustainability, and Costa Smeralda and her sister ship Costa Toscana are the first ships in the fleet to run on LNG, the cleanest available marine fuel, producing more than 90% fewer emissions than conventional marine diesel.

Additional details of the partnership’s commitment to sustainability, such as packaging, sourcing and recycling were not announced.

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“As a cruise company flying the Italian flag, our mission has always been to be ambassadors of Made in Italy in the world, and we are pleased to follow this path by bringing the quality of Caffè Vergnano’s Italian espresso on board all our ships,” said Mario Zanetti, President of Costa Cruises.

“It is a new, important partnership with a historic company, which shares our same values of promoting Italian excellence and paying attention to environmental and social sustainability,” he added.

“Here at Caffè Vergnano we are very happy about this new agreement, and we can’t wait to get on board,” said Carolina Vergnano, CEO of Caffè Vergnano 1882.

She added that the company wants “to look to the future from a global point of view, to talk to enthusiasts of travel and discovery, to those who appreciate the beauty of diversity, to those who know how to turn a trip into an adventure.”

Costa’s brand partnership with Caffè Vergnano follows Norwegian Cruise Line’s closer collaboration with Starbucks, which will see the coffee chain made available throughout the fleet, either through kiosks or full-service coffee shops.

Fellow Italian cruise line MSC Cruises features Venchi Cioccogelateria outlets aboard its new Meraviglia and Meraviglia-Plus class cruise ships, while P&O Cruises serves Costa Coffee aboard its fleet.