Costa Atlantica daily program distributed among guests caused major uproar  among Limassol local authorities while the ship visited Cyprus. On the ships daily program was written
“Dear guest welcome to Turkey wishing you a most enjoyable stay on our forthcoming call at Limassol.”

This is considered big insult for citizens of Cyprus knowing that they are quite sensitive and territorial when it comes to their national identity.  All Greek and Cyprus media reported about this news. Savvas Stouppas, Limassol’s deputy mayor together with the municipality delegation, were so furious that they canceled their ships visit in protest. Captain and the ships officers repeatedly apologized saying that it was typographical mistake because the ships next stop was in Turkey.

“It’s incomprehensible what happened because we’re an EU member country and our national sovereignty is not negotiable,” said Stouppas.

In a news conference following the event Chairman of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation Alecos Orountiotis, describing this as a “tragic mistake” said “There was an apology from the captain who came down and spoke to the municipal councillors and the media, and he apologised for the mistake which was clearly a misprint… the company would be very foolish to do it deliberate.”