Check out the new Costa Cruises!

Costa Cruises has announced that it has added a range of new features to its cruise offerings, in addition to renewing its visual identity.
According to a press release, Costa’s new concept is based on “enabling guests to explore destinations through unique experiences, both onboard and ashore.” To build these experiences, the company has focused on three key areas – cuisine, tours, sustainability – with a new visual identity to communicate them.
Costa also says that the concept is in line with the principles of its “Manifesto for value-driven, sustainable and inclusive tourism,” the decalogue that outlines the company’s commitment to “grow together with local communities.”
Mario Zanetti, president of Costa Cruises said, “Now our ships are sailing again, we decided to completely renew our offer”, adding, “The innovations are so significant that we can talk about a whole new way of traveling with Costa”, and “We want everyone who holidays with us to enjoy unique, enriching experiences, discovering destinations in the most authentic, insightful, sustainable way possible”.
He added, “For more than 70 years Costa has been synonymous with cruise travel”, and “At this very important time for the recovery of tourism, we wanted to rewrite the future of cruises in a way that is more responsible and mindful of people and the planet, with the aim of steering the sector back to the constant growth it saw before 2020.”
Costa says that when it comes to cuisine, Costa worked with chefs Bruno Barbieri, Hélène Darrozeand Ángel León, with the chefs having explored authentic local recipes from the destinations visited by Costa ships, reworking them with their own personal know-how.
Costa also says it has created two new features: the Archipelago restaurant and Destination Dishes, with Destination Dishes individual recipes designed by the three chefs, interpreting the traditions and flavors of the places guests will be visiting the following day, all available in the main restaurants on all Costa ships and included in the price of the cruise.
Costa added that the new Archipelago restaurant, available only on  Costa Smeralda now, but coming soon to other ships in the fleet, gives guests three menus to choose from, one by each chef, with the menus offering five dishes created to explore each part of the sea route through its cuisine and with Archipelago featuring “island” tables for a more intimate experience, framed by a copper sculpture enclosing pieces of driftwood, installations made using wood salvaged from the shore.
According to Costa, the chefs’ menus were designed “with the greatest attention for the ingredients,” with most of them sourced from local producers, and the way the dishes are prepared created to prevent food waste.
The driftwood decorating the “islands” was salvaged as part of “Guardians of the Coast”, the environmental education program for the protection of the Italian coastline run by the Costa Crociere Foundation and for every dinner eaten at the Archipelago, Costa said it will donate part of the proceeds to Costa Crociere Foundation to support environmental and social projects.
The company says it has also rethought its entire range of tours, with itineraries redesigned to accommodate longer stopovers in ports, giving guests whole days to explore their destinations and make the most of their whole cruise, with Costa adding, “Costa tours become genuine experiences discovering the essence of each place, allowing guests to enjoy the most genuine traditions, flavors and colors, and creating value for local communities.”
As part of its transformation, Costa Cruises has decided to transform its logo too, with a new visual  identity, with the letter “C” in the logo, which has been accompanying Costa on seas worldwide for over 70 years, has been given a new look, which brings “two different motifs” together in a “sinuous, enveloping embrace,”
The two motifs are the earth, seen in yellow in the lower part of the logo, and the sea, in blue in the upper part, joined in the same experience thanks to cruises with Costa.
Costa’s latest innovations are already available on ships currently in service: the Costa Smeralda, the flagship powered by LNG, and the Costa Firenze, offering week-long cruises around the western Mediterranean; the Costa Luminosa and Costa Deliziosa, with week-long cruises around the eastern Mediterranean; the Costa Diadema, now running 10-day cruises to Spain and Portugal.
Innovations will then be extended to the next ships gradually returning to operate, including the new flagship Costa Toscana, the second LNG-powered ship in the fleet, in service from March 2022.
A report by John Alwyn-Jones, Cruise Editor.