On May 6, 2012, Savona will be the venue for the naming ceremony of the new flagship Costa Fascinosa, currently being built at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard. Costa Fascinosa will be the 16th member of Costa Cruises fleet; together with her sister ship Costa Favolosa, she will be the largest cruise ship flying the Italian flag.  In 2011 record number of  about 1 million cruise passenger movements  from Costa ships at the Palacrociere.

On the occasion of the Costa Favolosa’s first call at Savona, Costa Crociere S.p.A. Chairman & CEO Pier Luigi Foschi declared that the Costa Fascinosa will be named in Savona on May 6, 2012.   She will be the first cruise ship to be inaugurated in the Ligurian port city.  The naming event will be staged with the support of the Port Authority of Savona, the local Chamber of Commerce, the Municipality of Savona, the Savona Provincial Administration and the Liguria Regional Administration. The event will take place during the first vernissage cruise of the ship, departing from Venice on May 2, 2012.

Costa Cruises invested around 510 million euros for the construction of the Costa Fascinosa.  After the Costa Fascinosa, Costa fleet expansion plans include another cruise ship to be built in the Marghera yard; the new building, which will be 132,500 gross tonnage and carry 4,928 total Guests, is scheduled for delivery in October 2014.  Since 2000, Costa Cruises has ordered a total of 10 new ships from Fincantieri’s Italian shipyards, with a total investment worth over 5 billion euros. 

To support the resulting increase of ships and Guests arriving in Savona, Costa Cruises continued to invest in the growth of the Savona Palacrociere cruise terminal, which has been managed directly by the Italian company since 2003.  January 2012 will mark the start of building work on the second terminal, with an investment worth around 9 million euros. The new terminal building is expected to be ready by March 2013.

In 2011 Costa cruise passenger movements at the Palacrociere reach the record number of about 1 million, a 35% growth compared to 2010.  In 2012, 14 of the Costa fleet’s 16 ships will be calling at least once at the Savona Palacrociere.  A total of around 230 calls are scheduled next year with more than 1 million cruise passenger movements.

The presence of Costa’s ships generates an important economic impact on the local area. According to a study carried out by MIP, the Milan Polytechnic Business School, in 2010 Costa Cruises generated a direct economic impact of more than 5.5 million euros in the Port of Savona and of 230 million euros in the Liguria Region.

In addition to the naming of the Costa Fascinosa, the Savona Palacrociere will be the starting point for two other upcoming major events already announced by Costa Cruises.  On December 28, 2011, the Costa Deliziosa will set sail on the historic “round-the-world” cruise, for so long a highlight of the Italian line’s operations spanning more than 6 decades.  A 100-day world voyage:  from Savona to Los Angeles via the Caribbean and the Panama Canal; from Los Angeles to Singapore with stopovers in San Francisco, Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia; and from Singapore to Savona via Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, the Red Sea and Egypt. Guests embarking on the Costa Deliziosa “round-the-world” cruise will be about 2,300, coming from all over the world.

Meanwhile, on February 20, 2012, the Palacrociere will welcome the first cruise of the Costa neoRomantica (www.costacruise.com/neoromantica), the result of the refit of the Costa Romantica; this radical refurbishment is being carried out at the San Giorgio del Porto and T. Mariotti yards in Genoa, with a total investment of 90 million euros.  The 11-day itinerary includes Spain, Morocco, the Canary Islands and Madeira. In spring 2012, the Costa neoRomantica will offer 15-day cruises to the magical Atlantic capitals, while in summer 2012 the Costa neoRomantica will be operating in Northern Europe offering 15-day cruises that for the first time will bring together the best  destinations of the Fjords and  Baltic Capitals and 2 cruises to Spietzbergen Islands. The stylish ambience of the Costa neoRomantica will also be the setting for the Grand Cruise,  from Italy to Australia and New Zealand, via the finest and most fascinating places in the eastern hemisphere, departing on September 19 from Savona. 

Costa’s ships began calling at Savona in November 1996 with the arrival of the Costa Riviera, the first cruise ship to dock there.  The Palacrociere, which Costa co-financed with an approximately 3.6 million euro investment, opened on November 24, 2003. Conceived by the Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill, the Palacrociere is specially designed and built to provide hospitality for cruise Guests, guaranteeing them high quality services.  Thanks to its innovative architecture the terminal is able to reduce waiting time to a minimum, while combining the utmost comfort with maximum security.  The Savona Palacrociere received from RINA the B.E.S.T. 4 (Business Excellence Sustainable Task), which is an integrated voluntary scheme certifying corporate compliance with the highest international standards in the areas of Social Accountability (SA 8000, issued in 2001), Environment (UNI EN ISO 14001, 2004), Safety (OHSAS 18001, 1999) and Quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, 2000).