Two Costa cruise ships are getting ready to set sail again and offer guests holidays with enhanced health and safety protocols. The restart is scheduled for March 27, with the departure of the flagship Costa Smeralda, sailing guests to beautiful Italian destinations, with 3- and 4-day mini-cruises or alternatively a 7-day cruise, calling at Savona, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, Naples, Messina and Cagliari.

From May 1, Costa Smeralda will return to offer one-week cruises in the western Mediterranean, with stops to Italian ports (Savona, Civitavecchia and Palermo), Marseille in France and the popular Spanish destinations Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.

From May 2, Costa Cruises will deploy a second ship, Costa Luminosa departing from Trieste, Italy, and the following day from Bari, confirming its program of one-week cruises in Greece and Croatia.

Costa is working with national and local authorities of the countries included in the itineraries of its ships outside Italy to define the details of the restart of cruise operations, with enhanced health and safety measures through the implementation of the Costa Safety Protocol.

The protocol contains operational measures related to all aspects of the cruise experience, both on board and ashore, which were implemented in the past months of cruise operations.  Such measures include limited capacity, swab tests for all guests and crew, temperature checks when disembarking and re-embarking the ship, protected shore excursions, physical distancing on board and at the cruise terminals, new ways of using on-board services, enhanced sanitation and medical services, and use of protective face masks when necessary.

Details of the itineraries, with related booking options, will soon be available on the Costa Cruises website and at travel agencies.

All other cruises scheduled until the end of May, and not included in the program updated today, will be cancelled. Costa is in the process of informing travel agents and customers affected by changes.