Costa Serena Takes Shape in Italy

Costa Crociere announced the name of its new ship, which will join the fleet in May 2007. The ship was named Costa Serena during a ceremony of the laying of the first building block for the ship in the dock at Fincantieri’s Sestri Ponente shipyards in Genoa. This first block, an aft section, measures 55.7 ft. (17 m) long and 72 ft. (22 m) wide, weighing around 500 tons. Like sister ship Costa Concordia, which is currently under construction at Sestri Ponente and is due for delivery in July 2006, Costa Serena will be Italy’s largest cruise ship: 112,000 gt, 951 ft. (290 m) long with 1500 cabins for 3780 passengers. Costa Crociere has invested more than $1 billion on the building of the Costa Serena and Costa Concordia.