Costa Crociere

An A380 passenger plane left Portugal on Jan. 30 en route to pick up hundreds of Europeans in China who want to escape the new virus and Italian authorities were keeping some 6,000 passengers on a cruise ship while they checked for a possible infection.

The Costa Crociere cruise ship carrying about 6,000 passengers was blocked at the port of Civitavecchia (about 100 km south of Rome) after two patients from Hong Kong showed symptomes of infectious disease. The tourists have been found to have fever and respiratory problems.

In the last 5 years in Bulgaria, no sea cruises have been realized from our two ports Varna and Burgas, Eurostat data show the trends in the development of this type of sea tourism in the EU countries last year.

The only sea cruise departing from the port of Varna was in 2013, according to European statistics.

Iraklio authorities are making special preparations to receive the first cruise ship that will sail into the city’s port in 2016.

The “Costa Luminosa” operated by the cruise company Costa Crociere will arrive next Saturday and port authorities will hold a special reception ceremony for passengers, with Cretan delicacies, a dance group and Minoan-themed events.