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Construction Work Begins On Costa Smeralda, Costa Cruises’ First Cruise Ship For Global Market Powered By LNG

Thesteel-cutting ceremony for the first of two Costa Cruises ships to be poweredby liquefied natural gas (LNG), the world's cleanest burning fossil fuel, washeld at Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland.

Set to debutin October 2019, Costa Smeralda will be the world's first LNG-powered ship tobe broadly marketed to consumers from multiple countries, including Italy,France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland.

The ship'sname pays tribute to the Emerald Coast (or Costa Smeralda) in northern Sardiniain the Mediterranean, widely known as one of world's most beautiful and famousdestinations and natural environments.

Turku, 13 September2017 – Construction workbegan today on Costa Smeralda afterher steel-cutting ceremony held at the Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland. Thenew Costa Cruises ship will be thebrand's first ship powered by liquefiednatural gas (LNG) and the world's first cruise ship to be broadly marketedto consumers from multiple countries throughout Europe.

Construction of the Costa Smeralda is part of a strategic planfrom Carnival Corporation & plc – the world's largest cruise company with10 brands, including Costa Cruises – to build seven LNG-powered ships for its 103-ship fleet, starting in fall2018 when the company's German-based AIDA Cruises brand introduces AIDAnova,which will be marketed largely to German consumers.

CostaSmeralda, which will enter service in October 2019, will exceed180,000 gross tons and offer more than 2,600 passenger cabins for a total ofabout 6,600 passengers onboard. A second ship, sister to Costa Smeralda, will be delivered by MeyerTurku in 2021.

The two new Costa Cruises ships will be powered both in port andon the open sea by LNG, the world's cleanest burning fossil fuel. LNG will be stored in specialtanks on board ships and will be used to generate 100 percent of the energyrequired for navigation and onboard services, thanks to dual-fuel hybridengines. The use of LNG is a major innovation in terms of environmental impact,as it will significantly reduce exhaust gas emissions, in particular sulphur(SO₂), nitrogen (NO₂), CO₂ and particulatematter.

"These ships will strengthen the leadershipposition for the Costa Group, which is already the market leader in all themajor continental Europe markets," said Michael Thamm, CEOof the Costa Group and Carnival Asia. "Themultibillion dollar contract with Meyer, which also includes two new LNG-poweredships to be built for our German brand, AIDA Cruises, reflects our strategy ofconstantly innovating our vacation offerings and providing our guests with anunmatched cruise experience."

"The two new Costa Cruises ships are a trueglobal innovation and set new standards for the entire sector," added Neil Palomba, president of CostaCruises. "They will be among the firstcruise ships powered by LNG, spurring the development of this green technology,especially in the Mediterranean area, and they will be the world's firstLNG-powered ships that will be marketed to consumers from multiple countries,including Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. The new ships willalso offer unique services and present a state-of-the-art interior design,serving as the perfect expression of our Italy's Finest concept, which is adistinguishing feature of the Costa Cruises brand around the world forproviding guests with a truly immersive Italian experience."

"In the last two years, we havehad a very intense design collaboration with our customer and the outcome is areally fresh and new design fused with the latest of technology. We are happyto bring our experience with building LNG powered passenger ships to bear.Today is a very special moment in shipbuilding, when all the ideas, creativity,technology and signature design that is going into Costa's new ships, arefinally starting to become reality." – stated Jan Meyer, CEO of MeyerTurku.

CostaSmeralda will be offering cruises in Western Mediterranean, which will be onsale beginning the first few months of 2018. LNG bunkering will be provided by Shell Western LNGB.V. (Shell), as announced last year.

Thetwo LNG Costa ships – as well as two new ships for AIDA Cruises – are part of amultibillion dollar contract signed with the two Meyer shipyards in Turku(Finland) and Papenburg (Germany). The contract with Meyer is the result of alarger previously announced memo of understanding between Carnival Corporation,the parent company of Costa Group, and leading shipbuilders Meyer Werft, MeyerTurku and Fincantieri S.p.A. for nine new ships between 2019 and 2022.

For furtherinformation:

CostaCruises

PressOffice - Tel. +39 010 5483523 / 010 5483068 - costapressoffice@costa.it

GabrieleBaroni – Communication Director – mob. +39 3497668013 - baroni@costa.it

DavideBarbano - Media Relations Manager - Tel.+39 010.5483523 - +39 334.6525216 –barbano@costa.it

Cristianode Musso – Head of Corporate Communication – Tel. +39 010 5483068 – mob. +393346805095 - demusso@costa.it

Pressreleases and photos are available at www.costapresscenter.com

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