Costa Cruises celebrated the official float-out of its new ship, Costa Smeralda, at Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland on Friday, March 15.
As part of the float-out ceremony, the new flagship of Costa reached the sea for the very first time. The official ceremony, hosted by the senior management of Meyer Turku and Costa Cruises, followed the seafaring tradition of flooding the basin where the construction of the vessel took shape in recent months.
Entering service in October 2019, Smeralda will be the first Costa Cruises ship powered by LNG (liquefied natural gas), the cleanest burning fossil fuel in the world. Costa Smeralda and its sistership (due to be launched in 2021) are expected to contribute to ambitious sustainability goals, like reducing the carbon footprint of 25% by 2020, set by Carnival Corporation and Costa.