Wednesday morning, September 16, Costa Cruises' flagship and the group's first LNG-powered ship, Costa Smeralda, entered Port Savona Italy, after months of forced absence due to the pandemic. City's Mayor Ilaria Caprioglio welcomed the liner on all major social networks.
Smeralda, which was recently moored in Marseille France, arrived at 8:04 am to make the necessary preparations for the scheduled for October 10 departure.
Beginning on October 10, 2020, and for the entire 2020-2021 winter season, Costa Smeralda will call at Savona weekly (on Saturdays) as a part of a new Western Mediterranean itinerary. The definitive itinerary will be announced in the coming weeks. According to the ship's current schedule, call ports include Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Spain), Palermo Sicily and Civitavecchia-Rome.
The planned activities are related to the implementation of the Costa Safety Protocol (developed together with scientific experts) which contains new operational measures adapted to the needs of the COVID situation and compliant with the relevant provisions defined by the Italian and European authorities.
Among the innovations introduced by the new protocol are the tests for all boarding passengers and the visit of destinations only with protected shore excursions.
Costa Smeralda is not the only Costa's ship to arrive in the north-western Italian region of Liguria. On Monday morning, September 14, Costa Diadema also moored at Andrea Doria Bridge (Genoa-Milan Italy) and will leave for her first voyage on Saturday, September 19, with a week-long itinerary to discover some of the most beautiful Italian and western Mediterranean destinations.