Costa Venezia to leave Istanbul for North America, replacement to be announced

Carnival Cruise Line and Costa Cruises have announced they’re teaming up to create a new concept for Carnival’s North American guests with COSTA by CARNIVAL.

The new combination of the two cruise lines will debut in the spring of 2023 with Costa Venezia sailing from New York as part of the Carnival Cruise Line fleet.

Costa Firenze will then join her, but sailing from Long Beach, in 2024. Both cruise lines are part of Carnival Corporation, and it is understood that the two vessels will remain under Costa ownership, but will be crewed and operated by Carnival Cruise Line.

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 The move is a creative way for Carnival Corporation to shift capacity given the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in place in China, where both vessels were due to be deployed for the coming season.

The move also means that Costa Venezia will no longer be cruising roundtrip from Istanbul’s new Galataport cruise terminal. Costa Cruises has said that a replacement ship will be announced in the coming weeks.

In a statement, Carnival said it will operate the ships, which will marry the service, food and entertainment that Carnival’s US guests enjoy with Costa’s Italian design features.

“Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze will bring Carnival’s guests the ambiance and beauty of Italy,” said Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line. “We’re going to invite our guests to Choose Fun with Carnival, Italian Style!”

“This is an exciting opportunity for us to operate two additional beautiful Vista class ships in the U.S. and bring a unique experience to those who love the culture, food and vibe of Italy,” she added. “There are lots of ways we plan to create an immersive fun experience for our guests who choose to sail on these ships, which have beautiful Italian-design elements, dining and retail that will deliver Carnival fun leveraging the spirit of Italy from our sister line Costa Cruises.”

Costa Venezia and Costa Firenze are sister ships to Carnival Vista, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Panorama.

Deployment and itinerary plans are being finalised, with itineraries for Costa Venezia coming soon given the spring 2023 launch date, according to a statement.