''Costa Serena'' is a for the

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, Costa Crociere. The name Serena was intended to symbolize harmony and serenity. ''Costa Serena'' was constructed 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 ...

Sestri Ponente Sestri Ponente is an industrial suburb of Genoa in northwest Italy. It is part of the Medio Ponente ''municipio'' of Genoa. Geography It is situated on the Ligurian Sea four miles to the west of the city, between Pegli and Cornigliano. Its po ...

. She had an older sister ship, , launched in 2005. The ship, along with her three active sisters, was the largest and longest in the Costa Crociere fleet until being surpassed by the in 2014. Two sister ships and were launched in 2009 and 2011 with launched in 2012. ''Costa Serena''s godmother is

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Construction and career

19 May 2007 marked the day of ''Costa Serena''s inaugural event. The event was held in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

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, and featured fireworks and a laser show. At the same time as the actual inauguration, Costa held an inaugural event in the virtual world of ''

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''. In 2015, she re-positioned to Shanghai to sail year-round cruises from China visiting ports in Japan and South Korea. These sailings are catered for Chinese guests and are only bookable through Chinese travel agencies. ''Costa Serena'' currently sails in Asia

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

year-round from various homeports, ranging from Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

2020 COVID-19 outbreak

Fifteen passengers aboard ''Costa Serena'' on 24 January were suspected to have SARS-CoV-2. The ship arrived at its destination,

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, on 25 January. Quarantine officials boarded the ship to screen all passengers and crew member, and found 17 people with fevers. All tests returned negative later that day, and everyone was ordered to disembark and have their photographs and temperatures taken as an additional precaution.

2023 Ship restarting

Chartered for the entire 2023/2024 season, the Costa Serena is set sail from the port of Leam Chabang for a series of 4/5 day cruises, before moving on to Japan and South Korea in June 2023, offering a series of short cruises dedicated to the local market. Costa Serena is all set to debut in the India market starting November 4th 2023, and will be the largest ship in Indian waters.

In popular culture

In 2007 ''Costa Serena'' was used for the setting of the movie Natale in Crociera. In 2009 ''Costa Serena'' and her crew was featured in the six-episode

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

documentary series ''Cruise Ship Diaries.''

References

External links

* {{Concordia class Ships of Costa Cruises Ships built in Genoa Ships built by Fincantieri 2006 ships