Costa Cruises' latest LNG-powered ship Costa Toscana started sea trials on Monday, October 11, according to Turku Finland-based shipbuilder Meyer Turku.
Assisted by tugboats, the newbuild left Meyer Turku's shipyard.
During the sea trials, the equipment and the operations of the ship will be tested for over a week.
Toscana's construction started in 2020 with a steel-cutting ceremony back in July 2019. The state-of-the-art ship will be completed this autumn, as per her original schedule. However, due to the ongoing COVID crisis, Costa announced that Toscana would make a delayed debut in the Mediterranean in March 2022, instead of the originally scheduled inauguration in December 2021.
The new boat will sail on 7-day voyages in the Western Mediterranean with visits to Savona (Italy), Marseille (France), Barcelona (Spain), Valencia (Spain), Palermo (Sicily Italy), and Civitavecchia-Rome (Italy).
Costa Toscana voyages (originally scheduled from December 18, 2021, to March 2022) will be operated by Costa Luminosa, which had to cancel her Mediterranean winter program because of Israel's travel restrictions.