Costa News
March , 2005

Costa will deploy its entire 10-ship fleet in Europe for the April to November 2005 sailing season. They'll visit 91 ports on some 67 itineraries. The brand new 2720-passenger Costa Magica will begin its inaugural season with seven-day cruises to Italy, Spain, and Tunisia from the port of Rome... Costa's "Cruising Italian Style" returns to the Caribbean this winter from Fort Lauderdale. Two of the line's newest ships, the 2114-passenger Costa Mediterranea and 2112-passenger Costa Atlantica, will sail through April every Sunday on alternating seven-day cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

An intriguing new booking option is being introduced on Costa this season. Passengers will be able to choose their type of accommodation and sailing date from a slate of dates offered by the line. Then, about 14 days before sailing, Costa will assign the ship, Caribbean itinerary, and stateroom according to availabilities on the line's various ships. The line says that rates will be less than for traditional bookings.

A name has been selected for Costa's future flagship. It's the Costa Concordia. The 951-foot long ship will have a capacity of 3800 passengers. It's 112,000 tons. It will enter service in the summer of 2006... Cruise documents should be better organized starting this season under a new Costa document structure. Cruise ticket packages will be preimprinted with passenger information and will contain an itinerary, sailing map, transfer-hotel-flight vouchers when applicable, shore excursion information, insurance information, embarkation forms, credit card forms, personalized bag tags, and a general information section.

July 23,2004

Costa Magica began sea trials this week in the Mediterranean. The vessel is nearly complete and will be delivered to Costa at the beginning of November in Genoa. Following a preview presentation Magica will host a charity concert by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Costa Magica is one of two sister ships ordered by Costa from Fincantieri at a cost of more than 1 billion euros. Sister ship Costa Fortuna is the line's flagship and the largest passenger ship built for an Italian company to date. At 105,000tons and a capacity of 2,720 guests, Costa Magica will contain a total of 1,358 cabins - 857 oceanview, 522 with verandas, and 58 spacious suites with Jacuzzi bathtubs. Facilities include 11 bars, 4 restaurants, a three-deck theater, four swimming pools, casino, disco, ballroom and a gym. The on board design by Joe Farcus pays homage to Italian destinations - Positano to Portofino and Capri to Grado as well as Bellagio, Sicily and Vicenza. The pre-inaugural voyage is scheduled for November 10, 2004, an eight-night sailing from Savona calling at Naples, Messina, Venice, Dubrovnik and Corfu. The maiden voyage on November 18, 2004, is an 11-night itinerary calling at Naples, Alexandria, Limassol, Rhodes, Marmaris, Piraeus (Athens) and Katakolon. For the rest of the 2004/2005 winter season, Costa Magica will sail from Savona on 11-night Eastern Mediterranean cruises as well as two eight-night cruises to Greece, Malta and Tunisia.
 

Carnival Corporation's Costa Crociere Unit orders Two New 105,000-Ton Vessels
October 2, 2003

GENOA, Italy, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Costa Crociere S.p.A., a unit of Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL), today announced that it has signed a letter of intent with Italian shipyard Fincantieri Cantieri Navali S.p.A. for the construction of two 105,000-ton vessels for delivery in late 2004. The 2,720-passenger ships, which will be built at Fincantieri's Sestri shipyard in Genoa, will cost approximately 850 billion lira for each vessel (approximately $400 million US at current exchange rates). "It's very exciting to be building these vessels in our hometown of Genoa where Costa Crociere is based, and furthering our contribution to its economic development," said Pier Luigi Foschi, Costa's chairman and CEO. "Carnival Corporation has enjoyed a long and productive relationship with Fincantieri throughout the years, and we're pleased to continue to work with the shipyard." This latest agreement renews the association between Costa and Fincantieri, which began with the construction of the Costa Classica and Costa Romantica in 1992 and 1993, respectively. "We are particularly pleased with this agreement with Costa Crociere which will allow Fincantieri to resume building large passenger ships at Genoa Sestri, a historic yard which built the Rex in the 1930s and the last Italian liner Michelangelo in the 1960s," said Corrado Antonini, Fincantieri's executive chairman. "The signing of the letter of intent represents Carnival's continuing strategy of expanding its cruise business in Europe," said Micky Arison, Carnival Corporation chairman and CEO. Carnival recently completed the purchase of the remaining 50 percent of Costa that was previously owned by Airtours plc. "Costa is the largest cruise company in the fast-growing European market and these new ship orders will further strengthen Costa's leadership position with the newest and most modern cruise fleet in Europe," Arison added. Costa Crociere has an international fleet of seven ships that span the globe offering cruises of seven nights and longer throughout the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, South America and Caribbean. Costa's recently delivered Costa Atlantica has received rave reviews from travel agents, guests and the European press. In July, Costa confirmed an order for the sister ship to the Costa Atlantica for delivery in early 2003. With this new letter of intent, Costa's order book is at three vessels. Carnival Corporation now has 16 ships on order, for its various cruise line brands, representing an estimated value of $7 billion.

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