Carnival Corporation’s Italian brand Costa Cruises will resume sailing this Sunday, September 6, when the Costa Deliziosa departs from Trieste.
The Costa Deliziosa will offer weekly cruises from Trieste on September 6, 13, 20 and 27, visiting five destinations in southern Italy, including Bari and Brindisi in Puglia, Corigliano-Rossano in Calabria, and Siracusa and Catania in Sicily. Costa Diadema will follow on September 19 from Genoa, calling at Italian ports in the western Mediterranean, including Civitavecchia/Rome, Naples, Palermo, Cagliari and La Spezia. The one-week itineraries are being reserved exclusively for Italian guests.
In a statement, August 25, Costa Cruises said that it would perform antigenic Covid-19 swab tests for all passengers prior to embarkation as part of its recently announced health and safety protocol, which will also include health screenings and temperature checks at every access and exit to the ship, as well as physical distancing, reduced capacity and the wearing of masks in public spaces.
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Costa Cruises Protocol
Passengers that test positive with the rapid antigen test will be referred for a molecular PCR test. Passengers testing positive for the PCR test will be denied embarkation to the voyage.
The protocol is similar to that adopted by MSC Cruises, which resumed sailing last week with seven-night cruises in the Meditteranean aboard the MSC Grandiosa.
“Our highest responsibilities and top priorities are always compliance, protecting the environment, and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, the communities we visit and our crew,” said Carnival CEO Arnold Donald. “We are engaged with a large number of medical experts and scientists around the world, and they are providing us with extremely valuable insight that we are using to develop new and enhanced protocols that are in the best interest of our guests, crew and overall public health. In areas of the world where community spread is largely mitigated and authorities are supportive of a gradual return to service over time, we look forward to again welcoming guests on board.”
Carnival’s AIDA Cruises to resume operations in November
Another Carnival brand, Germany-based AIDA Cruises will resume sailing with two of its ships, departing from the Canary Islands in November 2020, followed by an additional two ships departing from the western Mediterranean and United Arab Emirates beginning in December 2020.
The first of the brand’s cruises is set to begin November 1, with seven-day voyages to and departures from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, with AIDAmar, followed by sailings from Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife with AIDAperla on November 7.
In December, AIDA Cruises will resume sailing operations in the Western Mediterranean with AIDAstella departing on seven-day cruises from Palma, Mallorca, beginning December 12. Additionally, AIDAprima will offer seven-day cruises from Dubai starting December. 11 and from Abu Dhabi beginning December 15.
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