Costa Cruise Line’s construction of the 92,700-ton Costa Deliziosa is continuing at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard in the Province of Venice. Over the last few days, the keel of the new ship was laid, which includes the first section. The keel was built in Fincantieri’s Ancona shipyard and towed to Marghera. The Costa Deliziosa will be the 15th member of the Costa fleet when she comes into service in Spring 2010 and will be able to carry up to 2,828 guests. She is the sister ship to the Costa Luminosa.

Fincantieri is currently building three new Costa ships in its yards. In addition to the Costa Deliziosa, the Italian ship builder is presently completing the Costa Luminosa and the 114,500-ton Costa Pacifica. These are respectively the 13th and 14th members of the fleet and are being fitted out in Marghera and Genova-Sestri Ponente. Both ships will be delivered in Spring 2009.

Costa’s fleet expansion program includes the introduction of five new ships by 2012, all built in Italy by Fincantieri for a total investment worth 2.4 billion euros. In addition to the Costa Pacifica, Costa Luminosa and Costa Deliziosa, two sister ships of the Costa Pacifica will enter service in Spring 2011 and 2012. The Costa Cruises fleet will then be 17-strong and able to carry some 46,400 guests, an increase of 50% from present capacity.

Costa Cruises is Italy and Europe’s number one cruise line. For the past 60 years its ships have sailed the world, offering the best in Italian style, hospitality and cuisine and providing dream vacations with the best in fun and relaxation. In 2007 over 1.1 million guests chose to cruise with Costa, a record for the European cruise industry. The company’s 12 fleet members, each with her own distinctive characteristics and unique style, all fly the Italian flag and sail each year to 250 destinations in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean, South America, the United Arab Emirates, the Far East and the Indian Ocean.

Five more vessels have been commissioned and will enter service by 2012. Costa Cruises has been certified by RINA (Italian Shipping Register) with the BEST4, an integrated system of voluntary certification of corporate compliance with the highest standards governing social accountability (SA 8000, issued in 2001), environment (UNI EN ISO 14001, 1996), safety (OHSAS 18001, 1999) and quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, 2000). All Costa’s ships have been awarded RINA’s voluntary “Green Star” notation based on the highest environmental protection standards. Costa Cruises is also an official partner of the WWF for the protection of the marine ecoregions of the Mediterranean, the Greater Antilles and Brazil.