On 13 September, Carnival Corporation’s Coast Cruises held a steel-cutting ceremony for Costa Smeralda, the brand’s first ship powered by LNG, at the Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland.
The new Costa Cruises ship will be the world’s first cruise ship to be broadly marketed to consumers from multiple countries throughout Europe. The ship is part of a strategic plan from Carnival to build seven LNG-powered ships for its 103-ship fleet, starting in fall 2018.
Costa Smeralda will enter service in October 2019. A second ship, sister to Costa Smeralda, will be delivered by Meyer Turku in 2021.
The two new ships will be powered both in port and on the open sea by LNG, the world’s cleanest burning fossil fuel. LNG will be stored in special tanks on board ships and will be used to generate 100 percent of the energy required for navigation and onboard services, thanks to dual-fuel hybrid engines.
Commenting on the ships, Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises, said: “They will be among the first cruise ships powered by LNG, spurring the development of this green technology, especially in the Mediterranean area, and they will be the world’s first LNG-powered ships that will be marketed to consumers from multiple countries, including
Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland.”
Costa Smeralda will be offering cruises in Western Mediterranean, which will be on sale beginning the first few months of 2018.
