Carnival Corp.’s Costa Cruises is restarting operations in the Mediterranean market this weekend, putting it back into competition with rival MSC, which has already resumed service. The 2,800-passenger Costa Deliziosa will offer weekly domestic cruises out of Trieste, Italy beginning on Sunday, visiting five Italian ports of call – Bari, Brindisi, Corigliano-Rossano, and Siracusa and Catania in Sicily. On September 19, Costa Diadema will depart Genoa for ports on Italy’s western coast, Sicily and Sardinia, including Civitavecchia, Naples, Palermo, Cagliari and La Spezia. For now, only Italian passengers will be permitted to board. The vessels will be implementing a comprehensive set of prevention protocols to keep the risk of coronavirus infection to a minimum, including new policies on crew health and safety, booking, activities, entertainment, dining and embarking and disembarking operations. The requirements include COVID-19 testing for all guests prior to embarkation.
