Planning and construction On 15 June 2015, Carnival Corporation announced an order for four 180,000
gross-ton cruise ships powered by
liquefied natural gas (LNG) from
Meyer Turku in
Turku, Finland, with one of the ships eventually being built for Costa. On 13 September 2017, Costa announced the name of its first LNG-powered vessel as
Costa Smeralda, after the
Costa Smeralda ("Emerald coast") in
Sardinia, at the ship's steel-cutting ceremony at Meyer Turku's shipyard. 4 July 2018 marked the beginning of the ship's hull assembly with the
keel laying and
coin ceremonies. She was floated out from the shipyard on 15 March 2019. The ship began a round of
sea trials on 7 October 2019. A separate round of sea trials began on 16 November 2019 and was successfully completed shortly thereafter. Meyer Turku constructed the ship with the help from sister yard,
Neptun Werft, in supplying a section containing the ship's main and auxiliary machinery and related systems.
Delivery and christening Costa Smeraldas delivery was marred by extensive construction delays that postponed her debut by two months and caused Costa to scrap initial inaugural festivities, including her maiden voyage, that were planned for the ship.
Costa Smeraldas two postponements in delivery marks four substantial delays overall in construction and delivery for an Excellence-class vessel, after also experienced two postponements in delivery in 2018 at Meyer Werft. The ship was originally slated to be delivered in October 2019. Her debut was scheduled to be on 20 October 2019, with a 15-day maiden cruise from
Hamburg to
Savona. Her christening ceremony was scheduled to be on 3 November 2019 in Savona, after which she would begin cruising the Western
Mediterranean. citing technical complexities with the construction. All cruises and ceremonies scheduled prior to this date were subsequently cancelled and the ship's maiden cruise was postponed to 30 November 2019 and moved from Hamburg to Savona. The inaugural voyage from Savona was now postponed to 21 December 2019. She was christened by her godmother,
Penélope Cruz, on 22 February 2020 in Savona.
Operational career Following her delivery,
Costa Smeralda left Turku on 6 December 2019 for the Mediterranean for travel industry presentations in
Barcelona on 18 December, in
Marseille on 19 December, and in Savona on 20 December. From April 2021 to October 2021,
Costa Smeralda was scheduled to cruise in the
Persian Gulf from
Dubai for the first time.
Coronavirus quarantine In January 2020, the vessel and her 6,000 passengers were quarantined at the Italian port of Civitavecchia following two suspected cases of
SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) infection related to the
COVID-19 pandemic. A spokesperson from Costa Cruises stated that a 54-year-old woman aboard the cruise ship was suffering from a fever and that she and her husband were both being tested. They were later found to be uninfected by SARS-CoV-2 and passengers were allowed to go on shore the next day.
Incidents On 22 January 2021 the ship collided with a crane in Savona, resulting in the destruction of one of the ship's lifeboats. == References ==