Costa Cruises Cancels Year’s Worth of Sailings Aboard Fortuna
In a bit of a mystery, Costa Cruise is canceling itineraries on one of its ships for an entire year.
The cruise line said that all sailings on the Costa Fortuna between April of 2023 and April of 2024 are suspended, according to Cruise Hive.
But the cruise line isn’t saying why. Cruise ships go into drydock all the time but the length of time for the Fortuna to be out of service is somewhat surprising.
All that is known so far is that the ship, which sails out of Istanbul, will be sidelined for that year-long period. Cruise Hive pointed out that the original plan was to cancel sailings on the Costa Venezia until that ship was assigned to Carnival Cruise Line as part of the partnership between Costa and CCL.
Costa is said to be in the midst of notifying passengers who are booked on any itineraries aboard the Fortuna.
In a statement to the media outlet, Costa said: “Costa Cruises has decided to update the 2023 – 2024 to date scheduled program for Costa Fortuna. The ship will continue to operate her Mini cruise program in the Mediterranean until November 20, 2022. Then she will be heading to South America where she will spend the entire winter season as originally planned with eight-day cruises towards Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. The seven-day cruises to Turkey originally planned from April 16, 2023, until the end of October 2023 and the 11-day program originally planned from mid-November 2023 to 10 April 2024 have been canceled since the product is the ideal offering for some nationalities that under the current scenario cannot have access to it.”
“We are currently working to define the alternative program for Costa Fortuna during 2023 and 2024. The company is contacting guests and travel agencies affected by the changes to provide the best alternative solutions for a memorable cruise holiday experience.”
Costa Fortuna can carry 3,470 passengers when fully booked.