Costa Cruises is expanding its presence in Genoa by opening new offices for about 185 employees.

The Italian Company signed a contract for the acquisition of new premises on the first floor of the Carmonte building in Piazza Piccapietra, next door to the present headquarters at the “Palazzo Costa”.

Costa Crociere S.p.A. CEO Michael Thamm commented:  “The new office space is highly significant.  It is directly linked to the forecast growth we will have thanks to the arrival of the Costa neoRiviera and Costa Diadema.  Genoa, which has been our hometown for some 65 years, will play a leading role in this development project.  Now we will all be able to work together in the one head office, in Piazza Piccapietra, with the objective of enhancing the quality of the service and assistance for travel agencies and customers.”

The new offices will be open for business in late spring 2014. They will be the workplace for employees in the commercial area as well as those in charge of tour operations for cruisers; these staff are currently employed in the offices in Via De Marini, in another part of Genoa.

At the same time, the new premises meet the need for new space to support the future growth of Costa Cruises, which will be able to count on two additional fleet members.

The first is the Costa neoRiviera, deployed from November 24 this year and throughout the winter on 7-day cruises out of Dubai, and subsequently part of the “Costa neoCollection”, the new “slow cruise” collection featuring itineraries off the beaten track, with longer port calls.

The second addition to the fleet is the new flagship Costa Diadema, under construction at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard with an investment of 550 million euros.  Her technical launch is scheduled for later this week – November 15 – and her delivery date is October 30, 2014.