Costa Cruises to Resume Japan Itineraries Starting Aug. 26

Costa Cruises to Resume Japan Itineraries Starting Aug. 26
By Theresa Norton Masek

Costa Cruises will resume its Japan itineraries with the Aug. 26 departure of the Costa Classica from Shanghai on a four-day cruise to Fukuoka, Japan, and Cheju, South Korea. The Italian line said the decision “demonstrates Costa’s confidence in Japan’s tourism market and its support to the revitalization of the local tourism industry.” Costa has been operating cruises from China to Japan for more than five years.

From August to October, Costa will operate 12 cruises to Japan and South Korea. The options include the four-day cruises to Fukuoka and Cheju; a six-day cruise to Pusan, South Korea, and Fukuoka and Kagoshima, Japan; and a five-day cruise to Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Cheju.

In 2012, Costa is further expanding in Asia and the Far East, with the deployment of the 75,200-ton, 2,394-passenger Costa Victoria, which will replace the smaller Costa Classica and increase its capacity in the region by about 40 percent. In 2012, Costa Victoria will sail to new destinations in Japan, including Hososhima/Miyazaki; Wakayama, which boasts the largest hot spring resort; Osaka, Japan’s second-largest city; Yokohama; and Tokyo.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, a joint statement from the World Health Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization has reaffirmed that operations can continue normally into and out of Japan’s major airports and sea ports.