Costa Crociere cruises off Dubai, to double ships for winter

The majority of guests came from Europe (mainly Italian, German, Austrian, French, English and Spanish), but reservations came also from the United States and Asia.

The Costa Classica departed from the port of Dubai on a spectacular 16-day cruise to come back to the Italian port of Savona. The departure of the ship will officially close the first season of the Italian company Costa Crociere SpA in the Arabian Gulf.

Costa Crociere, the market leader in Europe and South America, was the first company in the world to offer regular cruises from Dubai in the global cruise industry.

During the new 2006/2007 winter season, from December to April, the Costa Classica (53,000 gross tonnage and total guest capacity of 1680) left from Dubai every Saturday on a 7-day itinerary includes two nights in Dubai and one-day stopovers in the ports of Muscat, Fujairah (United Arab Emirates), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and Bahrain.

Costa Crociere will double its cruise ships in Dubai for the 2007/2008 winter season with the Costa Romantica (53,000 gross tonnage and total guest capacity of 1697) and the Costa Europa (55,000 gross tonnage and total guest capacity of 1830) to substitute Costa Classica.

There will be a total of 25 calls (15 on the Costa Romantica, 10 on the Costa Europa) with 70,000 Guests (40,000 on the Costa Romantica, 30,000 on the Costa Europa). The 2 ships will be deployed on the same itinerary already marketed by Costa in winter 2006/2007.

The Costa Romantica will set sail on Saturdays from December 21, 2007 to March 30, 2008; and the Costa Europa will depart every Sunday from December 22, 2007 through February 25, 2008.