Kvaerner Masa-Yards Delivers Costa Mediterranea

M/S Costa Mediterranea, newbuilding 502, for Costa Crociere S.p.A., was delivered today at Kvaerner Masa-Yards' Helsinki shipyard. The Costa Mediterranea is the fifth ship in a series of Panamax size cruise ships of a new type for Costa Cruises and Carnival Cruise Lines, and is the second ship in this series built for Costa Crociere. Costa Atlantica was delivered in June 2000. Compared to earlier cruise liners of Panamax-size, the relative number of outside passenger staterooms and staterooms with balcony is very high; 80% of all the 1,057 passenger staterooms face the sea and 70% are fitted with a balcony. This is achieved, compared to the Panamax-ships built in the 1990's, by adding one passenger cabin deck to a more narrow superstructure. After the delivery, Costa Mediterranea will leave the yard for a European presentation tour. After two inaugural special cruises in June, the ship will operate weekly cruises from Genoa in the Western Mediterranean calling at Naples, Palermo, Tunis, Palma de Majorca, Barcelona and Marseilles. The order was placed in August 2000. The start of hull assembly took place in June 2001, and the vessel was launched in September 2002 from the Panamax-size covered newbuilding dock at the Helsinki yard. The sea trials took place in April 2003.