Costa Cruises has confirmed the redeployment of the cruise ships Costa Smeralda and Costa Fascinosa for the 2021/22 Brazilian season. Besides the good news for the Brazilian cruise lovers, that Costa Cruises will travel around the country with two cruise ships, the additional happy moment to celebrate the confirmation is the launching of the cruises with special benefits for Christmas and New Year aboard Costa Smeralda embarking from Santos and the Costa Fascinosa, from Rio De Janeiro.

Brazil returns on the cruise map with the long-awaited popular cruises for the 2021/2022 season. So far two cruise lines have confirmed deployment of seven cruise ships arriving in November 2021. The ships expected for 2021/22 are Seaside, Splendida, Preziosa, Sinfonia, from MSC Cruises, and the cruise ships Smeralda and Fascinosa, from Costa Cruises.

Costa Cruises has revealed the new logo of the iconic “C” revealing the next chapter in the company’s history. The presentation of the new logo as well as the vision into the future was presented onboard Costa Smeralda by Mario Zanetti, General Manager of Costa Cruises.

Several passengers tested positive for Covid-19 onboard the ship Costa Smeralda during a cruise to the Mediterranean. Costa Cruises announced, six members of two families tested positive on the ship, which docked in Marseille, France yesterday.

The Italian cruise company Costa Cruises is organizing a Digital Recruiting Event, which will take place on the 1st and 2nd September 2021. This online event is aimed at recruiting crew on Costa cruise ships in the catering, hotel, hospitality and entertainment departments.

Costa Cruises crew members began getting their COVID-19 shot this morning at the Port of Savona, Italy. According to our source, Costa Firenze arrived today in Savona to vaccinate 1040 crew members currently onboard the ship. With the assistance of the local government, the crew received the jab at the Costa Cruises passenger terminal Palacrociere.

During the past year, the crew was not allowed to go out in ports and most of them haven’t step foot on land for the entire length of their contract. However, with the recent developments and vaccination of the shipboard employees, things are slowly starting to move in the right direction. I spoke with my fellow crew members to find out if the crew is allowed to go out in ports and if the cruise lines organize protected shore excursions for them. 

No doubt the internet is one of the most important things for crew working onboard the cruise ships. The net is the window to the outside world, connecting the crew with their loved ones back home.

This month three cruise ships are scheduled for regular stops at the port of Venice. The return of the cruise liners after a long 17 months ban saw the first ship MSC Orchestra sailing to the lagoon to pick-up about 650 passengers on Saturday, June 5. MSC Orchestra will make regular stops in Venice each Saturday during her 7-day Mediterranean voyages this summer.

Spain will reopen ports to international cruise ships from June 7, 2021 the government announced, citing improving pandemic situation and the vaccination rollout. The news was announced in a resolution by the General Directorate of the Spanish Merchant Navy, tweeted by the Spanish government ministry of transport. The government announcement on Saturday said that ships must follow the Ministry of Health's regulations for the safety of passengers and communities they visit.