''Costa Favolosa'' is a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

operated by Italian

cruise line A cruise line is a company (law), company that operates cruise ships that operate on Cruising (maritime), ocean or River cruise, rivers and which markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from Passenger ship, passenger lines whic ...

Costa Crociere Società per Azioni, S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1948 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to ...

, ordered in October 2007. Based on the design, ''Costa Favolosa'' was laid down by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

Marghera Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy, Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera. Etymology The name Marghera is said in popula ...

shipyard on 5 November 2009 and launched on 6 August 2010. Part of a five-ship expansion of the Costa Crociere fleet, the vessel entered service in July 2011.

Design and description

The vessel is based on the design already in service with Costa Crociere. At , she can carry up to 3,800 passengers in 1,506 cabins; six more than previous ''Concordia''-class ships.

Construction and career

''Costa Favolosa'' and

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

were ordered in October 2007 as part of a

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2.4 billion expansion of the Costa Crociere fleet, with five ships entering service between 2009 and 2012 to increase the company's passenger capacity by 50%. ''Costa Favolosa'' cost

510 million to build. The names of the two ships were selected via competition. The first phase saw 16,000 pairs of names submitted by

travel agent A travel agency is a private Retailing, retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related Service (economics), services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel supply chain, suppliers to offer different kin ...

s and their customers from around the world, after being asked to suggest names. These names were to evoke the idea that the ships were magical and glamorous places. 25 name pairs were shortlisted and placed on the company's website, where over 42,000 visitors voted on their favourite. ''Favolosa'' (Italian for "fabulous") and ''Fascinosa'' ("fascinating" or "glamorous") were selected as the winning name pair. Costa Favolosa Diamanti Bar 1

The first section of the cruise ship was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

shipyard on 5 November 2009. The ship was launched from the builder's dry dock on 6 August 2010. ''Costa Favolosa'' is the fifteenth ship in service with Costa Crociere.

COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the ship departed from

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

. Six of the disembarked occupants of the ship tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. On 26 March, as the ship stopped offshore from

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, Florida, the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

reported the evacuation of seven sick crew members, out of the 1,009 who stayed aboard. An update by

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on 3 April stated that the ship was then docked near Miami. Seven crew members and the sick passengers had been evacuated. Other passengers had disembarked in Guadeloupe. On 8 April an Indian crew member died from the disease after the ship was disembarked and was sent into Miami Hospital on 29 March. On 8 May it was reported that four of the 78 Belgian nationals who were vacationing on the ship had died.

References

External links

Official website
{{Concordia class Ships of Costa Cruises 2010 ships Cruise ships involved in the COVID-19 pandemic