The continuing tensions between China and South Korea due to the installation of US missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korean have escalated. In response to the crisis, the Chinses government placed a travel ban to South Korea. Several South Korean cruise ports will be affected by the ban since most of the passengers sailing on the major cruise lines are Chinese. Costa Serena was the first cruise ship to be affected by this ban.

We are deeply saddened to share with you the death of Costa Magica crew member. The 27-year-old male dishwasher from India which is yet to be named was found dead in his cabin. According to Antigua Observer, the crew member was found by his roommate just before 2 pm.

Costa Group announced the appointment of CEO Michael Thamm as chief executive of Carnival Asia. Mr. Thamm will oversee operations in China and the region as part of his expanded role. He will be CEO of Carnival Asia in the future, assuming responsibility for the Asian business of Carnival Corp.

The following analysis shows how many cruise destinations will be visited by Costa Cruises entire fleet of cruise ships in 2017. Costa Cruises statistics shows how many ports will be visited and the top destinations by the cruise company. Please note, this is unofficial statistics created by the Crew Center team and is intended for informative use only. As a base for creating this analysis, cruise itineraries provided by a third party was used.

Costa Cruises has announced the deployment for the summer season 2017 - 2018 of their cruise ship Costa Fascinosa to Montevideo as a home port of embarkation. Costa Cruises inaugurated the summer season 2016-2017 in Argentina with the arrival of Costa Pacifica, with 11 departures from the port of Montevideo, marking an important presence and commitment in the cruise market in Uruguayan.

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.