Work starts on Costa’s biggest ever ship
Work has begun on the construction on Costa Cruises’ future flagship – Costa Diadema.
It will be the cruise line’s largest ship, carrying 4,947 guests, 1,253 crew members and with 1,854 guest cabins.
The largest ships currently in the Costa Cruises fleet are Costa Fascinosa and Costa Favolosa which each carry 3,800 passengers.
The cruiseline said the larger Diadema had been planned since August 2011, almost four months before the sinking of the Costa Concordia in January this year.
It said the addition of the new ship would make the Costa fleet more efficient and allow it to introduce more extensive and exciting itineraries.
"As shipbuilding techniques are constantly advancing, it is common practice for many cruise companies to use these developments to build bigger ships," said sales and marketing director Bas Ruben.
Asked why Costa was building such a large ship given that the industry was criticised for building increasingly larger vessels following the Concordia tragedy he said: ""The safety of guests and crew has always been a top priority for Costa Cruises and we are committed to constantly updating our safety initiatives which go beyond current regulatory requirements.
"We implemented seven new initiatives this year to ensure that the highest safety standards are in place both before departure and during our cruises and also developed the new position of senior vice president maritime development and compliance to ensure that industry regulations and safety standards are continuously updated and adjusted on-board our ships."
The construction and fitting-out will continue until 30 October 2014, the ship’s scheduled date of delivery.
Costa has invested a total of around €550 million in the new flagship and promises "innovations in entertainment, technology and cuisine".
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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