Want to see what the Costa Concordia looked like in her six years of life on the seas before her January 14, 2012 demise? No problem. The Concordia was the first of five nearly identical Concordia Class ships in the Costa Cruises fleet. The other four can be found playing follow the leader in the Mediterranean.
Costa Serena
Serena came into service for Costa in 2007, a year after the Concordia. Like all Concordia Class ships, the Serena was built by Fincantieri on the northern Adriatic in Italy. The dimensions of the Concordia Class ships vary slightly but are all around a gross tonnage of between 114,000 and 115,000. Each has a length of around 290 metres or 950 feet. Each has a passenger capacity of between 3,700 and 3,800 with a crew of around 1,100. Each ship has 14 decks accessible to passengers.
It’s a pretty basic work schedule for the Costa Serena over the next year. She will remain in the Mediterranean, mostly running seven night itineraries. Serena will either embark from Savona, Italy; Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy; Marseille, France or Barcelona, Spain. If the ship is not embarking or disembarking from one of those locations, she’s stopping there over the seven days.
In addition to those four stops, the Serena will also make port calls in Naples, Italy and Palma de Mallorca.
Costa Pacifica
The Pacifica has been in service since 2009 and is configured for nearly 3,800 passengers. Until April, 2014, she’ll be running the same Mediterranean route as Serena. Over the summer months, Pacifica moves to Kiel, Germany and will run a variety of cruises into the Baltic/Scandinavia region and Northern Europe. Cruise lengths vary from ten to 16 nights. Costa Pacifica returns to the Mediterranean routine in September, 2014.
Costa Favolosa
The Favolosa came into service 2011. She is currently running seven night Mediterranean cruises, continuing to near the end of November. Favolosa rotates three points of embarkation while in the Mediterranean: Naples and Savona in Italy and Barcelona in Spain.
On November 25, 2013, Costa Favolosa leaves Savona for a 20 night Trans-Atlantic repositioning cruise to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Along the way, she stops in Northern Africa and Brazil.
Until March, 2014, Favolosa will run nine night South American itineraries, alternating embarkation from Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ship makes stops in Brazil and Uruguay.
Favolosa returns to Savona, leaving Buenos Aires on March 21 for a 20 night cruise. Back in the Mediterranean, she continues to base out of Naples, Savona and Barcelona while being the only one of the Concordia Class to include Valletta, Malta and Palermo, Italy as ports of call.
Costa Fascinosa
The baby of the family, Fascinosa was put in service in 2012. This ship is nearly an exact twin of the Favolosa.
Fascinosa is in the Mediterranean until mid November but with a completely different itinerary than the others. She is based solely out of Venice, Italy and does seven night cruises to the Adriatic, Greek Isles and Istanbul, Turkey.
On November 29, 2013, Fascinosa leaves Savona, Italy for a 19 night journey to Santos, Brazil. Once in Brazil, Fascinosa will remain based out of Santos, running South American cruises of varying lengths.
She returns to Venice, departing Santos on March 16 for a 22 night journey across the Atlantic. Fascinosa will then continue where she left off with seven night cruises out of Venice to the Adriatic coast, Greece and Turkey.
Costa Cruises (Costa Crociere)
Costa was founded in 1854 as a shipping line. The company is now under the control of Carnival Corporation. Costa currently has 14 ships on the open seas with two more on the way over the next year.
