Costa Cruises, Carnival Corp.'s Italian company, celebrated the float-out of its new flagship, the 5,204-passenger Costa Toscana, at the Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland.
The 185,000-gross-ton Costa Toscana is powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), an advanced fuel technology designed to reduce emissions at sea and during port calls.
During the float-out ceremony, Costa Toscana officially touched the sea for the first time, with the flooding of the basin where it has been built in recent months. Now interior work begins. The ship is scheduled to enter service in December 2021 in Brazil, a return to the South American market for the line.
"Despite the current challenging scenario, Costa Group is confirming its investment in fleet expansion," said Mario Zanetti, chief commercial officer of Costa Cruises and president of Costa Group Asia. "We are confident in the recovery of our industry, and we are excited about the arrival of new ships like Costa Toscana, which embodies the elements we want to focus on for the future. First of all, it is an excellent and innovative ship, attractive for new customers, which is going to be fundamental, especially when people will be able to freely travel again and will have a great desire for holidays.
"Looking beyond the pandemic, the second element we are focusing on is to complete the transformation of our fleet and operations into a sustainable model," Zanetti continued. "In addition to LNG technology, we are developing other innovative solutions, such as shore power and batteries, as we continue to work towards achieving zero emissions over time."
Costa took delivery of the 5,200-passenger, 135,000-gross-ton Costa Firenze ship in December.
Costa Toscana has been designed to be a traveling "smart city," designed to reduce environmental impact. The use of LNG will help to virtually eliminate emissions of sulfur dioxide particulate matter into the atmosphere, while also significantly lowering emissions of nitrogen oxides and CO2.
On board, desalinization plants will process seawater to meet water supply requirements, and energy consumption will be reduced with an intelligent energy efficiency system. In addition, the ship will separate and recycle all materials such as plastic, paper, glass and aluminum.
The new flagship is a tribute to Tuscany. All the furnishings, lighting, fabrics and accessories are made in Italy. Themed bars will operate in collaboration with major Italian brands while 16 restaurants include one for families with children and another will feature cooking classes.
The heart of the ship will be the Colosseo, a showroom in the center of the ship spread over three decks. A large stairway on three decks facing back has an open-air balcony on the top deck with a crystal floor. There will be four swimming pools, one indoors with salt water, and a new beach club.
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