GENOA — After a temporary suspension of operations due to the pandemic, Costa Cruises is set to resume cruises, starting with the departure of flagship Costa Smeralda on March 27.

The Smeralda will sail an unchanged itinerary, sailing guests to Italian locales with three- and four-day mini-cruises or, alternatively, a seven-day cruise calling at Savona, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, Naples, Messina and Cagliari.

From May 1, the ship will return to sailing one-week cruises in the western Mediterranean with visits to Italy (Savona, Civitavecchia and Palermo), France (Marseille) and Spain (Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca).

A second ship, Costa Luminosa, will also be back in service, departing from Trieste from May 2, and the following day from Bari. It will sail a confirmed program of one-week cruises in Greece and Croatia.

All other cruises scheduled until the end of May, and not included in the above updated program, will be cancelled. Costa is in the process of informing travel agents and customers affected by these changes.

Costa is working with national and local authorities of the countries included in the above itineraries to define the details of the restart of cruise operations. These include enhanced health and safety measures through the implementation of the Costa Safety Protocol, which applies to both onboard and on shore. Measures that have been implemented in the past months include limited capacity, swab tests for all guests and crew, temperature checks when disembarking and re-embarking the ship, protected shore excursions, physical distancing onboard and at cruise terminals, enhanced sanitation and medical services, and use of protective face masks when necessary.

Details of the itineraries, with related booking options, will soon be available on www.costacruises.eu.