Feb. 23 saw the staging in Dubai of the inauguration ceremony for the Costa Deliziosa, the new diamond of the Costa Cruises fleet. The Costa Deliziosa has a 92,600 gross tonnage and a total guest capacity of 2,826. She was built at Fincantieri’s Venice-Marghera yard in Italy with the labor of around 3,000 people, comprising both the shipyard’s own employees and those of about 500 contracted suppliers, most of which are Italian firms, with a total investment worth $609m. During winter 2009/10 and 2010/11 the Costa Deliziosa and Costa Luminosa – Costa’s top of the range offer – will be offering 7-day cruises in the Arabian Gulf with departure from Dubai and stopovers in Muscat (Oman), Fujairah, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and Bahrain.
