While much of Costa Crociere’s focus, and international attention, is on the Concordia disaster, former chairman Pier Luigi Foschi is now in Asia where Costa, and Carnival Corporation as a whole, are moving new tonnage and discovering new challenges.

The 85,619-ton Costa Atlantica sailed to Asia in May, joining the 76,000-ton Costa Victoria already positioned in the region. In 2014, the Atlantica sails largely from Shanghai – and Taiwan in June – while the Victoria repositions to Singapore.

“In 2013, we more than doubled our capacity in Asia,” said Buhdy Bok, Costa’s senior vice president of Pacific Asia and China.

“The Costa Victoria was the largest ship Costa Asia brought into the region last year at 1,928 lower-berths, whereas the Costa Atlantica has 2,114 lower-berths. In 2014, we will increase our capacity by cycling through the addition of Costa Atlantica for a full year operation in Asia.”

>> Also in this section: In-depth analysis of every major Asia-Pacific cruise operator, a look at travel agent distribution, port options in China, and port news from the entire region, along with Malaysia’s potential as a cruise destination

Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Fall 2013