Costa Cruises was awarded “Best Mediterranean Itineraries” and “Best Africa/Middle East Itineraries” in the tenth annual Porthole Cruise Magazine’s  readers’ choice awards. The awards are published in the December 2008 issue of the publication.

“We’re honored that the readers of Porthole chose us for these two awards, one that reflects our strong heritage in Europe and the other that represents our industry innovation in the Middle East and Africa,” said Maurice Zarmati, President and CEO of Costa Cruise Lines—North America. “Our leadership in the Mediterranean has been solid for more than 60 years now and our growth in these other two regions continues to grow, particularly in Dubai where our capacity has increased by 50% each year.”

For over 60 years, we have sailed the Mediterranean and today offer the biggest and best selection of cruises from the region with more ships, more ports and more seven-night itineraries than any other cruise line. Costa sails the region year-round and all but one of our 12 ships are positioned there at one point in the year. In 2006, we became the first cruise line to home port from Dubai and have increased our capacity in the region by 50% every year since. In the 2008-2009 winter season, the Costa Victoria and Costa Classica will operate seven-night sailings departing on Saturdays and Sundays. In 2007, we became the first cruise line to offer sailings from Mauritius with destinations including the Seychelles, Kenya and Madagascar. In the 2008-2009 season, our Costa Europa will offer 14-itineraries throughout the region.

“Costa Cruises offers some of the best and most unique itineraries in the industry,” said Bill Panoff, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Porthole Cruise Magazine. “Our readers recognized these offerings by awarding them not one, but two awards for their worldwide sailings. I congratulate them on their much-deserved wins.”

Costa Cruises is Italy and Europe’s number one cruise line.  For the past 60 years our ships have sailed the world, offering the best in Italian style, hospitality and cuisine and providing dream vacations with the best in fun and relaxation. In 2007 over 1.1 million guests chose to cruise with us, a record for the European cruise industry.  Our 12 fleet members, each with her own distinctive characteristics and unique style, all fly the Italian flag and sail each year to 250 destinations in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean, South America, the United Arab Emirates, the Far East and the Indian Ocean.

Five more vessels have been commissioned and will enter service by 2012. Costa Cruises has been certified by RINA (Italian Shipping Register) with the BEST4, an integrated system of voluntary certification of corporate compliance with the highest standards governing social accountability (SA 8000, issued in 2001), environment (UNI EN ISO 14001, 1996), safety (OHSAS 18001, 1999) and quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, 2000). All of our ships have been awarded RINA’s voluntary “Green Star” notation based on the highest environmental protection standards.  We are also an official partner of the WWF for the protection of the marine ecoregions of the Mediterranean, the Greater Antilles and Brazil.