On June 27, Costa Cruises and Fincantieri ship builders set a record by launching (i.e. floating out) two ships on the same day – an industry first. The Costa Luminosa and Costa Pacifica, the thirteenth and fourteenth members of the Costa fleet, will both enter service next year and be inaugurated simultaneously on June 5, 2009. The 92,700-ton Costa Luminosa, which will be able to accommodate 2,828 guests, was launched at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Marghera (Venice) in the presence of the Honorable Renato Brunetta, the Italian Minister for Public Administration and Innovation. At the same time, the 114,500-ton Costa Pacifica, which will be able to accommodate 3,780 guests, was launched at Fincantieri’s Genoa-Sestri Ponente shipyard.

This simultaneous launch is an unprecedented event in the history of the cruise industry worldwide. Costa Cruises has invested over 900 million euros in the construction of the two liners, with a team of 6,000 people working on both ships. Most of this team is comprised of Fincantieri's own employees, while nearly 500 are contracted suppliers, the majority of which are Italian firms.

Photo Courtesy of Costa Cruises

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Holland America Line accepted delivery of the new ms Eurodam from the Fincantieri Marchera shipyard in Venice on June 16, 2008 and Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands named the ship on July 1 in her homeport of Rotterdam.

The 2104-passenger Eurodam is the first Signature class ship for Holland America Line. Statistically, the Eurodam is the same length and width as the Holland America Vista class ships, but she has one more deck and 63 more staterooms. The Eurodam also features HAL's first Spa Staterooms and has three new restaurants, including Tamarind, an Indonesian restaurant serving traditional Rijsttafel.
Eurodam - Holland America Line's Newest Ship

Photo by Andy Newman, Courtesy of Holland America Line