Costa Deliziosa, Costa Cruises’ newest ships, will be named in Dubai on Feb. 23 in an event organized by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) together with Costa. The naming ceremony will take place during the ship’s Grand Inaugural cruise, departing from Savona (Italy) on Feb. 5 and calling at Dubai from Feb. 23 to 26.
Costa Deliziosa, the 15th ship in the Costa fleet, will be the first cruise ship to be named in an Arabian city. More than 3,000 guests are expected to attend the event, including about 2,000 passengers.
Sailing out of Dubai alongside the Costa Luminosa for the winter season, Costa said it expects a 40 percent increase in passengers over last year.
In 2009, Dubai hosted 100 cruise ship calls that brought 260,000 passengers. This year, Dubai will be hosting 120 calls with more than 325,000 passengers after the new Dubai Cruise Terminal gets ready. The terminal is expected to receive 135 ship calls with 375,000 passengers in 2011, followed by 150 ship calls with 425,000 passengers in 2012, 165 ship calls with 475,000 passengers in 2013 and 180 ship calls with 525,000 passengers in 2014 and 195 ship calls with 575,000 passengers in 2015.
The new terminal spanning an area of 3,450 square meters will have the capacity to handle four ships simultaneously. The terminal will have facilities like money exchange, ATM machine, post office outlet, duty free shop, souvenir shops, business centre and VIP Majlis.
Costa Deliziosa naming event in Dubai will be under the patronage of the Italian Embassy in the UAE, the Italian Consulate in Dubai, the ICE (Italian Institute for Foreign Trade) and supported by Alpha Tours, Dnata, Emirates, Grand Hyatt, Gulf Venture and RHS (Raiss Hassan Saadi Group).
The 92,600-ton, 2,826-passenger Costa Deliziosa is currently being completed at Fincantieri’s Marghera (Venice) shipyard and will be delivered on Jan. 29. Together with her sister ship, the Costa Luminosa, which entered service last summer, the Deliziosa will be the most exclusive and innovative ship in the Costa Cruises fleet and will become the “top of the range” of the Italian company.
The ship delivers an experience of “sheer pleasure” that will last the entire length of the cruise vacation. This is readily apparent in her cutting-edge design and use of premium materials such as various types of marble and granite, stucco applied by spatula using the technique known as “spatolato veneziano” and other decorative interior finishes including “parchment scroll” lamé, refined Zebrano wood and Wenge timber, Murano glass, and stylish polished and glazed.
