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All text and photographs (unless stated otherwise) Đ Paul Timmerman Costa Crociere is owned by Carnival Corp. Carnival (for Carnival company history click here) wanted to expand its business in Europe and by purchasing Costa in 1997, they made an excellent move to do so. Costa is an old firm, having its roots in the emigrant trades to South America. However the company has switched to cruising in the early 1970's (for Costa company history click here). When Carnival acquired Costa, already many of its old ships had been sold of (Carla Costa, Eugenio Costa, Enrico Costa), leaving only the classic Costa Riviera to soldier on. At this time, the fleet consisted of Costa Marina and Costa Allegra, both conversions from container ships and the sister ships Costa Classica and Costa Romantica (newbuildings for Costa and delivered in 1991 and 1993 respectively). Their latest newbuilding was Costa's first and only mega cruise ship at the time; Costa Victoria (1996).
Costa's clientele is mainly European, as itīs ships sail mostly in European waters like the Mediterranean, the Baltic, the Fjords. Itīs ships are ideal for families as there are special kids-programs onboard, and as a consequence lots of children are found on board during the holiday season. Carnival acquired Costa in two steps, the first half of Costa was absorbed together with Airtours, a British tour operator. When Carnival took over Airtours as well, Costa came in Carnival's possession entirely. Click on thumbnail for larger image
As mentioned above, Carnival wanted to expand its business in Europe and so more ships had to be added to the Costa fleet, and a newbuilding program started. A new prototype was designed that could both be used for the Costa and the Carnival fleet. It was the 85.000 GRT 8000-series. The first vessel of this series was the Costa Atlantica. She is to be followed by two even larger ships of 105.000 GRT, to be built by Fincantieri and delivery dates for these vessels are set for 2003/2004. Costa received the first ship of the 8000-series. The other units will go to Carnival itself. An almost identical series of ships called the 9000-seies was designed for another Carnival affiliate, HAL Cruises. These ships will have the same basic hull form but some modifications must give them the "HAL-touch".
Club Atlantica, top level of atrium Carnival has, in order to expand the Costa fleet even before the arrival of the two 105.000 GRT newbuildings mentioned before, transferred their Tropicale to Costa (now renamed Costa Tropicale) and from the HAL-fleet, their Westerdam was switched to Costa and was renamed Costa Europa. In this way Costa's capacity could be boosted earlier in time. Costa Atlantica, although a large vessel still has a 'sleek profile'. Besides her enormous length, on the outside, on the top decks with the balconies, horizontal accentuated lines make her look less high.
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Bar Paparazzi, La Strada deck Continued on page 2.....
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