Costa Cruises Announces Another Delay for Debut of New Ship

Costa Cruises announced that issues with the Finnish shipyard building the cruise line’s newest vessel have resulted in a second delivery delay.

Officials from Costa Cruises revealed Meyer Turku informed the cruise line that “the delay is due to the high complexity and the sheer size of the ship project.” The delivery of the new LNG-fueled Costa Smeralda has now been pushed back to December.

While the delivery of the Costa Smeralda was originally scheduled for the end of October, the delays at the shipyard initially pushed the delivery date into November. The second delay announced Tuesday would move the delivery date back another month.

The new ship is now scheduled to depart on its first cruise from Savona on December 21, 2019, on an itinerary that will be repeated until May 16, 2020. The voyages will feature six destinations, including Savona (Saturday), Marseilles (Sunday), Barcelona (Monday), Palma de Majorca (Tuesday), Civitavecchia (Thursday) and La Spezia (Friday).

A spokesperson for Costa Cruises released an official statement about the changes:

Costa Cruises is sincerely sorry for what has happened and is informing the travel agencies and guests booked on the Costa Smeralda cruises from November 30 to December 20, 2019, which can no longer take place.