The Costa Smeralda, Costa’s first LNG-fueled ship, will now start her inaugural cruise program at the end of November, with construction delays cited.

Commenting on the news, Costa Cruises President Neil Palomba said: “Our priority is always to offer our guests a unique vacation experience that exceeds their expectations. Unfortunately, the Meyer Turku yard needs more time to ensure that Costa Smeralda will do just that and this is absolutely crucial as far as we’re concerned. At the same time, I would stress that Costa Smeralda is a totally innovative project in terms of both technology and product. In particular, the use of LNG propulsion, which we were the first to invest in, epitomizes Costa’s vocation for ground-breaking, responsible innovation by greatly reducing emissions, thus laying down a marker for the cruise industry as a whole.

“We deeply regret this delay and apologize for the inconvenience caused to all our guests who’ve already booked a cruise on Costa Smeralda sailing prior to November 30. In any case, we trust that we’ll be able to welcome them on board our new flagship and we’ve already made the necessary arrangements so as to offer them a new choice of departure dates.”

The Costa Smeralda’s first cruise will now be departing from Savona on November 30, 2019.

Meyer Turku, in a prepared statement, said: “With its new cruise ship LNG propulsion system and many sophisticated rooms with stage and audio/video equipment the complexity and sophistication of the ship is very high in order to create a unique Costa-style passenger experience. Aside from its unique design features also its size of 180 000 GT is impressive and much larger than the recently built ships at Turku shipyard.

“In getting this all to work together with many involved persons and companies, Meyer Turku had a slower progress speed than needed, despite counter-actions. Meyer Turku apologizes to all that are affected by this change.

“With the new time frame, Meyer Turku is going to deliver a highly sophisticated cruise ship in the usual high Meyer Turku quality.”