Costa Cruises, Italy’s largest tourism group and Europe’s no. 1 cruise company, has opened a new communication channel in Italy on the worldwide web: “blog.costacrociere.it”.

The purpose of the company’s new blog is to open a direct channel with guests on Costa’s ships and with all web users through an immediate and two-way communication space, keeping them constantly updated and involved with all the latest innovations in the Costa world, stimulating active relationships, an exchange of ideas and word-of-mouth interaction.

blog.costacrociere.it can be used to share information, curiosities and feelings about Costa cruises and ships through texts as well as photos, video clips and music. All this starts with Costa’s two new ships, the Costa Luminosa and the Costa Pacifica, which will be christened together in Genoa on 5 June 2009 during an extraordinary and “record-breaking” event.

Blog users can comment on posts and submit their own contributions, also thanks to the use of some popular functions, such as sharing links and posts by e-mail and on the main Italian “social media” (Facebook, MySpace, Delicious).

Costa Cruises’ new blog, that can be accessed directly by visiting “blog.costacrociere.it” or through the Internet site www.worldofcosta.com, the new virtual square to share experiences about dream cruises that have already been taken, received about 30,000 hits in slightly more than 2 months, publishing 1000 experiences with photographs along with 500 dream cruises. In the wake of its opening in Italy, the blog will also soon open in Spain and Germany.

The new blog also represents another important part of Costa Cruises’ communication strategy on the occasion of the christening of the Costa Luminosa and the Costa Pacifica. In fact, two Internet sites dedicated to the new ships have been online for the last few months: surfers can get a sneak preview of these ships by visiting www.luminosa.costacrociere.it and www.pacifica.costacrociere.it.

Costa Cruises’ blog is also part of the wide range of online initiatives with which Costa puts its customers in the spotlight, using all the potential offered by new technologies to allow web surfers to experience all the thrill of a Costa cruise vacation. Some of the most recent projects launched on the web include: Costa Web TV, channels on You Tube, the F.A.Q. videos and the virtual cruise assistant. Costa Cruises has already successful tested the blog experience. In fact, two blogs were opened in 2007: one linked to the launching of the new flagship, the Costa Serena, and the other to the film “Natale in Crociera”, which was shot on board the ship.