Costa Cruises will offer the first-ever round-trip world cruise from China in 2014. Departing Shanghai March 22, Costa Atlantica will sail an 83-day journey that spans five continents and three oceans, and calls at 23 destinations in 16 countries.
The 2,680-guest, 85,700-ton Costa Atlantica will first stop at Vietnam, then take a westerly course to Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean before journeying north to Egypt and Europe for calls at Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. Costa Atlantica will then sail a trans-Atlantic crossing to New York before heading south to Miami, Fla., and Central America, transiting the Panama Canal to enter the Pacific Ocean and continue on to the Hawaiian Islands and Guam, Marianas Islands. Eighty-three days after its departure, Costa Atlantica will return to Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal June 13, 2014.
Costa Cruises will partner with Shanghai Airline Tours on the world cruise, a division of China Eastern Airlines Corporation that engages in touring, travel and transportation.
At a press conference today in Shanghai a contract-signing ceremony between Costa Cruises and Shanghai Airlines Tours was held. Participants included Xu Baoan, deputy director-general of Shanghai Tourism Bureau; Pier Luigi Foschi, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation Asia; Buhdy Bok, VP Pacific Asia and China for Costa Cruises; Dong Bo, marketing director of China Eastern Airlines Corporation and Shen Dayi, GM of Shanghai Airlines Tours.
With the arrival of Costa Atlantica May 3 at Singapore, Costa Cruises now has two cruise ships deployed in Asia. The line has operated the 2,394-guest Costa Victoria year-round from Shanghai since May 2012. With the addition of the 2,680-guest Costa Atlantica, Costa has a combined total guest capacity of 5,074 — a 67 percent increase — serving the Asia region.
From May to June Costa Atlantica will sail three- and four-night cruises to Thailand and Malaysia from Singapore. In June, the ship will homeport at Keelung, Taiwan, for two five-night cruises to Japan and South Korea. From July until year's end, Costa Atlantica will sail from Shanghai on four- and five-night cruises to Fukuoka, Cheju, Kagoshima and Kobe, Japan, and Pusan and Incheon, South Korea.
On its maiden call at Singapore, Costa Atlantica hosted 300 guests, including government and industry officials, local dignitaries and VIPs, for an onboard dinner reception marking the opening of Carnival Corporation & plc's Far East office. The regional headquarters house Carnival Asia, which oversees the company's Far East operations, led by Carnival Asia Chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi.
In 2011 Costa Crociere S.p.A. established the cruise industry's first wholly owned foreign enterprise (WOFE) in China. The company is located in Shanghai, Costa's homeport city in China, and offers commercial and financial services such as marketing, ticketing and collection to local travel partners and cruise guests.
For more information, visit www.costacruises.com.