Replacement for the Ill-Fated Costa Concordia Cruises into Dubrovnik

Costa Diadema, the 550 million euros Dream-class cruise ship that was ordered in October 2012 to replace the ill-fated Costa Concordia which sunk off Italy’s West coast, has arrived in Dubrovnik on Monday morning…

Costa Diadema, which was only delivered last week to its owners and is the largest ship flying an Italian flag, is currently on its first voyage. Although official the first voyage sets off on 7 November from Genova, the cruiser left Trst on Saturday and arrived in Dubrovnik this morning with 4,188 passengers.

Costa Diadema has around 5,000 beds, is 308 metres high, has 12 levels with 19 decks, including a 4D movie theatre, restaurants and a number of other entertainment features. The 132,500 tonne ship will employ 1,300 staff from over 40 countries. The ships predecessor, Costa Concordia, struck a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western coast of Italy in January 2012. The blow tore a 50 m gash on the port side of her hull, which soon flooded parts of the engine room resulting in power loss to her propulsion and electrical systems. 32 people on board died as the ship sunk.