Genoa – Costa Cruises is announcing some important updates related to its 2022-23 programs, regarding two of the newest and most innovative ships in its fleet: the Costa Venezia, which entered service in 2019, and the Costa Toscana, currently under construction.
Starting in May 2022 Costa Venezia will offer cruises to Turkey, departing from Istanbul, an absolute and exclusive innovation. Costa Venezia will further strengthen Costa’s offer in the Mediterranean, where it will also operate Costa Toscana from March 2022.
“Waiting for the return of cruises to Asia, we have decided to bring the Costa Venezia back to the Mediterranean to offer a truly unique, never-before-seen cruise program, that will only be available with Costa. The heart of this new product is Turkey, with Istanbul, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. In line with our plan to gradually resume operations, we have also decided to move the entry into service of our new flagship, Costa Toscana, to March 2022” – stated Roberto Alberti, Chief Commercial Officer of Costa Cruises.
Costa Venezia’s new program in Turkey includes three different itineraries, all with embarkation and disembarkation in Istanbul. They are designed to provide for longer stopovers in the ports, which allow guests to fully enjoy some of the most beautiful experiences of each destination, visiting cities rich in history, ancient ruins, UNESCO World Heritage sites and wonderful beaches.
From May 1 to November 13, 2022, Costa Venezia will offer two one-week itineraries dedicated to Turkey and Greece, alternating with each other, which can also be combined into a single 15-day “super tour” with 8 port calls of more than 10 hours. The first itinerary includes a two-day, one-night stopover in Istanbul, the beautiful Turkish destinations of Izmir and Bodrum, the island of Mykonos and Athens in Greece. The second itinerary includes two two-day, one-night stops in Istanbul and Kusadasi, Turkey, before heading out to explore Rhodes and Heraklion, Greece. In winter 2022-23, the Costa Venezia will offer a third 12-day itinerary in Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Cyprus, which will visit Istanbul, with a stop of two days and one night, Bodrum, Limassol, Haifa, again with a stop of two days and one night, Alexandria in Egypt and Kusadasi.
The shore excursions portfolio designed for Costa Venezia cruises will allow guests to live special experiences, to be remembered, such as Ephesus by night with a private concert in a Roman amphitheater, admiring the lights of the Bosphorus by night, sleeping in houses carved into the rock in the lunar landscapes of Cappadocia, discovering the natural pools of Pamukkale, but also the Parthenon in Athens, the beaches of Mykonos and Rhodes, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
Costa Venezia’s new itineraries, which include “flight&cruise” packages from all major European countries, will be available for booking from the first half of October.
The new flagship Costa Toscana, the Costa brand’s second LNG-powered ship, will be delivered as scheduled in December 2021, entering service on March 5, 2022. The itinerary the ship will offer from that date will remain unchanged, with week-long cruises in the Western Mediterranean visiting Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Valencia, Palermo, Civitavecchia/Rome. The Costa Toscana cruises originally scheduled from December 18, 2021 until early March 2022 will instead be operated by Costa Luminosa, which will therefore cancel its program of long winter cruises in the Mediterranean due to the restrictions currently in place in Israel. The company is in the process of informing guests and travel agents affected by these changes.
