Close your eyes and imagine an immense sea. Now, you see a ship with a yellow funnel. You are probably thinking of Costa Cruises, and I can't think about something more iconic to recognize a cruise line. Having a symbol or color that identifies your brand is a top achievement for any company. During the last years, though, the image of Costa has been evolving without renouncing its essence.
During multiple decades of sailing, Costa has always been the most excellent ambassador of Italian style at sea. From their first cruise ship, "Anna C", until the most recent ones like Costa Smeralda, there have been changes in many ways. One of the most significant ones was the acquisition of the company by Carnival. The extravagant style of Joe Farcus, a designer of that cruise line, was brought to ships like Costa Magica or the old Costa Concordia. Baroque Venues filled with color and with thousands of crystals and masterpieces showed up in the fleet. With names like Favolosa, Fascinosa, or Diadema, the vessels of Costa of that period have a unique dazzling and fantastic look, resembling a fairytale scenario.
With the arrival of the most recent ships like Venezia or Smeralda, Costa took a new direction back to their roots: Italian hospitality. Leaving back glamorous names, they are a tribute to the most beautiful cities and regions of Italy. The ultimate example is the current flagship, Costa Smeralda, a much-refined proposal inspired by the magnificence of places like the Colosseo or the Piazza di Spagna of Rome. It redefines a new design language for the future of the fleet.
Soon, they redesigned their website, and so were cabin cards and the graphic style in general. These last days, Costa presented a new minimal rebranding with a renewal of their logo, inspired by the union of sea and land, and new gastronomic and excursions experiences.
From now on, Costa pushes forward the Mediterranean culture with the incorporation of the awarded French chef Hélène Darroze and the Spanish admired Chef of the Sea, Ángel León, who join Bruno Barbieri in the confection of destination menus onboard. We will be offered dishes inspired by the upcoming ports of call, created by those chefs.
Also, a new restaurant aboard Costa Smeralda has arrived: "Archipelago". It is inspired by the sea and sustainability, and other ships of the fleet will get it too in the future. There, we will be able to taste one of the three menus of the mentioned chefs, which we will discover in detail soon in the blog.
Another of the upcoming changes is excursions. Costa promises the arrival of longer stays in ports to make destinations more enjoyable (for example aboard the next Summer cruises aboard Costa Venezia), as well as a new excursions pack, MyExplorations, which includes two short excursions and an all-day one. Also, a partnership with National Geographic is coming too. We will be revealing more details as soon as we discover them.
Costa has also announced a more flexible way of dining with longer opening hours and some other news for Spanish cruisers like some additions of the Spanish gastronomy and new entertainment options with Spanish comics, José Corbacho, Edu Soto, and El Sevilla.
To sum up, Costa Cruises renews their offer in one of the best moments to innovate, getting back to the Italian style, refining the experience, and giving a higher value to destinations. The new fresh and elegant branding definitely looks great and matches the style of the newest fleet, which redefines the direction of Costa for the following years.