Full Steam Ahead for Costa Cruise Line Expansion
September 20, 2005
Costa Cruise Line has officially announced the name of its newest cruise ship. The line's colossal new vessel, the Costa Serena, will join her sister ship, the Costa Concordia, which is also currently under construction, as the largest Italian-flagged cruise ship in the world upon her debut in May of 2007.
Costa Cruise Line, whose U.S. corporate headquarters is located in Hollywood, Florida, is the largest cruise operator in Europe and South America, with a heavy presence in the Caribbean, and boasts one of the biggest and most innovative cruise ship fleets in the industry today.
The name "Costa Serena" was chosen by Costa Cruise Line to signify serenity between the many people of different nations and nationalities that the ship will welcome aboard once completed. The naming announcement came just moments after the ship's first building block was laid at the Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente shipyards in Genoa, Italy. This initial block, which is about 55 ft in length and 72 ft wide, weighs in at a whopping 500 tons, and is part of Costa Serena's massive aft end section.
Like her sister ship Costa Concordia, which is due for delivery in July 2006, the Costa Serena will gross an imperial 112,000 tons, with a length of 951 feet. Costa Serena and Concordia will also boast an impressive 1,500 of some of the most spacious and luxurious staterooms at sea today, giving each ship a total guest capacity of more than 3,700.
Costa Cruise Line has invested more than $1.2 billion into the building of the Costa Serena and the Costa Concordia. A similar investment was made by the cruise line for the construction of the Costa Fortuna and Costa Magica, the current flagships of the Costa Cruise Line fleet, which both took to the sea from the Fincantieri Sestri Ponente shipyards in November of 2003 and November of 2004.
Costa Cruise Line currently operates a fleet of eleven world-class cruising ships, sailing to destinations throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, South America, and the Caribbean, departing from a number of convenient ports on all three continents and in the U.S. For more information on Costa Cruise Line, Costa Serena, Costa Concordia, or to make your Costa Cruise reservation, call 888-267-1232 today to speak with a certified Cruise Network cruise specialist.
