Will Costa give up on North America?

[RMS Olympic]

First let me say I use to love the old Costa before the purchase by Carnival Corp. Sailed the Carla, the Riviera, the Classica and Romantica and Victoria.All it took was one sailing on the newly introduced Atlantica and I gave up on Costa. To me it was a Carnival ship with a Costa smoke stack. Gone was the Italian style I loved; the European flavor of the product.

Now many years later I am seeing a change in design away from the loud Farcus interiors and I am considering a return.

What I cant figure out is that Costa is keeping only one ship in the US on a seasonal basis. In the meantime MSC has contracted a 3 year weekend slot in Miami and plans to replace the newly arrived Divina with a bigger ship once the next new ship is completed. MSC is really investing in the US market. I expected Costa to leave the Luminosa here year round to compete with MSC, but they have not.

Is Costa going to concentrate on Europe and compete with MSC in their own back yard and slowly die in the US market?

Any opinions or info suggesting a change in course would be appreciated.

[AnonymousCruiser69]

costa (like all lines) goes where the money is. the best thing about costa for me is the unusual itineraries.

 

maybe CCL (the parent company) doresn't want them competing with carnival here in US waters. as you say, they are pretty similar anymore.

[Dancer Bob]

Is MSC actually making money in the Caribbean? It's a tough, highly competitive market with a huge amount of discounting.

I'm going to try Divina in January, before my Luminosa trips, in order to compare, so I'll be able able to offer a more informed opinion soon.

[cruisetrail]

Costa ship to compare with the Divina is being built (Diadema).

You can compare the Luminosa with the Poesia, not with the Divina.

 

Post #2 is the answer.

[kfowinst]

I really enjoyed the Luminosa on a recent trip in the med. the interiors are quite elegant and the drinks package is such a bargain for the quality of cocktails, I would consider this ship instead of its competitors in the Caribbean for this reason alone.

[cjknox]

First let me say I use to love the old Costa before the purchase by Carnival Corp. Sailed the Carla, the Riviera, the Classica and Romantica and Victoria.All it took was one sailing on the newly introduced Atlantica and I gave up on Costa. To me it was a Carnival ship with a Costa smoke stack. Gone was the Italian style I loved; the European flavor of the product.

Now many years later I am seeing a change in design away from the loud Farcus interiors and I am considering a return.

What I cant figure out is that Costa is keeping only one ship in the US on a seasonal basis. In the meantime MSC has contracted a 3 year weekend slot in Miami and plans to replace the newly arrived Divina with a bigger ship once the next new ship is completed. MSC is really investing in the US market. I expected Costa to leave the Luminosa here year round to compete with MSC, but they have not.

Is Costa going to concentrate on Europe and compete with MSC in their own back yard and slowly die in the US market?

Any opinions or info suggesting a change in course would be appreciated.

 

Like the second respondent stated it may cause a potential "clash of interests" between Carnival and Costa. The caribbean is to Carnival as the Mediterranean is to Costa, each cruise line performs its strongest in those areas. Thats why Carnival generally speaking stays out of the Mediterranean and vise versa.

 

I think MSC will have a difficult time here in the Caribbean and will eventually position Divina elsewhere, but its too early to say and time will tell....

[NYCcruiser86]

Like the second respondent stated it may cause a potential "clash of interests" between Carnival and Costa. The caribbean is to Carnival as the Mediterranean is to Costa, each cruise line performs its strongest in those areas. Thats why Carnival generally speaking stays out of the Mediterranean and vise versa.

 

I think MSC will have a difficult time here in the Caribbean and will eventually position Divina elsewhere, but its too early to say and time will tell....

 

The answer probably is within this response. Carnival will deploy ships based in the strength of the brand and it's target demographic/passenger. Costa seasonally deploys 2/3 ships in South America from dec to april-ish because the brand is strong there. We did a costa cruise many years ago in the Victoria and as Americans were greatly in the minority. This didn't bother us a bit as my mother is Italian but some of the other Americans felt out a tad out of place.

 

All of that being said I would happily do another costa cruise of I could find a ship I liked but a lot of the Farcus ships are just awful.

 

J

[Bill B]

They certainly have a different pricing structure for people from the Americas (no matter where the cruise).

 

I booked two cruises (W & E Med.) on Costa's Asia/Pacific website for about half of what I could on their Americas website (or through U.S. online TAs). With the single supplement, I'm paying approximately USD $150/day for a Balcony Premium on the Fascinosa and $100/day for an Inside Premium on the neoRomantica in Jan. 2015. This makes cruising solo affordable.

 

P.S. The Farcus ships' decor is so gaudy it makes me want to throw up -

"Honest... I'm not seasick"... LOL.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Bill B

[RMS Olympic]

I could not agree more. He thinks his design style is Italian....I think not. When Costa created the Classica (maiden voyage) I was so impressed. On the Atlantica I almost got sick. The redesign of the Romantica (Neo) I think is stunning. I will give Farcus credit for some of the materials he chooses, but the combinations leave something to be desired. With the slow change in designs with the last few builds it almost appears that Farcus is choosing the materials with someone else designing the application. Just look at the fascinosas dinning room, Farcus reflective surfaces but the overall design looks post modern and not Farcus .

I look forward to seeing the neo Riviera to see her redesign, maybe along the lines of the Romantica.

Now if only a shift towards what MSC is doing design wise.

As for MSC, I think that they will eventually succeed here in the US. It will cost them a lot for this start up period, but I expect a second ship here in either late 2015 or 2016. It might mean filling their ships with European cruisers, but if they refine the on board experience I have hopes they will succeed. Costa, I hope they stay here and go back to their roots.....cruising Italian style and not what Carnival thinks is Italian. I liked Costa before and would like to sail them again in the future.