Tomorrow, January 13 2017, will mark the fifth anniversary of the sinking of the cruise ship Costa Concordia near Giglio Island in which 32 people lost their lives. The youngest among the victims was a 5-year-old girl Dayana Arlotti who died together with her father William Arlotti.

Few hours after departing from the port of Split, Croatia, the cruise ship Costa Mediterranea turned back due to medical emergency.

The 20 year-old Italian student, Nicole di Mario lived to win a beauty pageant prize this week after her latest brush with death – escaping the earthquake in central Italy, four years after surviving Costa Concordia. When the earthquake struck central Italy on Wednesday, Nicole was sleeping in a family house in Borbone, 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the village of Amatrice which was wiped out by the quake killing hundreds of people.

The Regional Secretariat for Tourism and Transport in Madeira announced that the arrival of two cruise ships in Funchal was canceled due to the situation with the wildfires that occurred last week on the island. The cruise ship operated by AIDA cruises, AIDACara scheduled to arrive on 15 of August, and the Italian cruise ship Costa Magica scheduled to stop on 16 of August are canceled. First to divert the cruise schedule was the British cruise ship P&O Azura on August 11, when the wildfires were most intense. Instead the arrival in Funchal, Azura spend a day at sea.

The owner of the funeral company Costa, Natalino Costa, wanted to "fool around" with the similar names between his firm and the name of the Italian cruise company Costa Cruises. As a sponsor of local festival in Italy, Natalino printed the slogan “Costa Cruises One way trips” on the aprons worn by the waiters. Many people offended by this slogan with bad sense of humor reacted to the message reminding them of the terrible tragedy of Costa Concordia where 32 people lost their lives. Evidently, the owner of the funeral firm has not come to terms with the sensitivity of his action.

In a major operation conducted by the Italian authorities 17 members of the organized criminal syndicate Ndrangheta were arrested. Among them was the boss Gaetano Tomaselli who was arrested on a cruise ship. The police boarded the cruise ship during a stop in Cagliari on August 4, before the passengers could get off, and arrested Tomaselli. The special antiterrorism squad of the Guardia di Finanza of Reggio Calabria on the night of July 30, planned to arrest Tomaselli at his home. However one day before, he boarded on cruise ship with his family in Civitavecchia.

Genoa, 12 July 2016 – Onboard Costa Diadema, flagship of the Costa Cruises fleet, was presented Pepper, the first robot in the world able to recognize main human emotions and proactively interact with the surrounding environment. Starting from today, five Pe pper robots will be operative on all 7-day cruises of the Costa’s flagship in the Western Mediterraneean: their task will be to entertain guests, making their on board experience even more unique and unforgettable.

A French passenger sailing onboard Costa Fascinosa cruise ship died yesterday morning during an emergency evacuation by a Sea Rescue helicopter. The 77 year-old passenger suffered heart attack when the ship was about 50 miles from Mallorca, Spain. The tragic event happened when the man danced with his wife on the ship at around eleven o'clock at night. The onboard medical team quickly responded to the scene by providing emergency treatment. Spanish coastguard was alerted to carry out urgent transfer to the nearest hospital, and a helicopter was mobilized.

Letter from a crew member

I was hired to work as a third party in Costa Cruises.