Time.news – Costa Smeralda, Costa Cruises’ flagship, set sail from the port of Savona for a one-week cruise, strictly in Italy. It is the first ship of the Italian company to leave again in 2021; the summer season will see a total of four Costa ships cruising the Mediterranean.
The restart was celebrated in the presence of the general manager of Costa Cruises, Mario Zanetti, and the local authorities: the mayor of Savona Ilaria Caprioglio, the president of the Western Ligurian Sea Port System Authority, Paolo Emilio Signorini and the captain’s commander of Port of Savona, Francesco Cimmino.
A symbolic date, Zanetti underlined: “On the day of the Labor Day our company starts again, celebrating the work it resumes, for us and for all the related industries. And we are happy to start again from a Ligurian port, in the region that is our home for over 70 years “.
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Costa Smeralda
The first Costa Smeralda cruise will also make stops at Civitavecchia / Rome, Naples, Messina, Cagliari and La Spezia. Guests had the opportunity to choose whether to make the entire itinerary, for a one-week vacation, or split it into three and four-day mini-cruises, to experience a shorter vacation.
Health and safety procedures have been strengthened, with the adoption of the Costa Safety Protocol, a protocol developed by the company together with scientific experts and the Italian authorities, which contains operational measures relating to all aspects of the cruise experience, both on board and ashore.
Among the measures envisaged are:
- the reduction in the number of guests;
- swab test for all before boarding and mid-cruise;
- swab tests for the crew before boarding and regularly during the period of stay on board;
- temperature control every time you get off and back on the ship and every time you enter the restaurants;
- visit destinations only with protected excursions;
- physical spacing on board and in the terminals;
- new ways of using on-board services;
- strengthening of sanitation and medical services;
- use of the protective mask when necessary.
Today’s restart is an important signal for the sector, severely affected by the pandemic: “Before the Covid emergency, our company generated an annual induced amount of 3.5 billion euros nationwide, with over 17,000 direct jobs and indirectly, working with about 5,000 suppliers – recalled Zanetti – We hope today’s restart will be the sign of a return to a new normality “.
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