COSTA’S SAMSARA SPA RECEIVES GOLD MAGELLAN AWARD FROM TRAVEL WEEKLY

Innovative Spa Continues to Receive Top Industry Honors
MIAMI (September 14, 2009) – Costa’s award-winning Samsara Spa continues to receive top industry praise, most recently with a “Gold Magellan Award” from Travel Weekly for “best spa design” in the cruise ship category. From design to marketing services, the Travel Weekly Magellan Awards honors the best in travel and salutes the outstanding travel professionals behind it all.

Costa’s Samsara Spa continually receives accolades for being one of the best and most innovative spa concepts in the hospitality industry. It debuted in 2006 on the Costa Concordia and is now featured on all of Costa’s newest ships including the Costa Serena, Costa Pacifica and Costa Luminosa. It will also be featured on the Costa Deliziosa when the ship enters service in January 2010.

“Anyone who has experienced or just visited the Samsara Spa knows that hands-down there is nothing that compares to it in the travel industry. This is something we always hear from both our guests and travel agent partners,” said Maurice Zarmati, president and ceo of Costa Cruise Lines—North America. “We are honored to receive this award from Travel Weekly’s Magellan Award judges, a group comprised of some of the best and brightest in the business.”

Extending over two decks and boasting panoramic views of the ocean, the 23,000 square-foot Samsara Spa offers travelers the ultimate wellness experience at sea. Spa amenities include a Thalassotherapy bath, a rock sauna, a Turkish bath, a Tepidarium, a solarium and tea room as well as various spa treatment rooms and VIP treatment suites. An expansive fitness center and wide variety of wellness classes complete the spa’s facilities. For those who wish to fully immerse themselves in the Samsara Spa ambience, exclusive spa cabins and suites provide a veritable extension of the experience at all times with direct access to the spa via an elevator and stairs. Guests who reserve these accommodations will have access to exclusive privileges including flat screen televisions, a special set of Elemis bath accessories and select complimentary treatments. Spa guests also have access to a dedicated spa restaurant.

Costa’s Samsara Spa has been awarded numerous accolades including being named “one of the top five cruise ships spas” by MSNBC.com as well as “best spa” and the “most beautiful spa at sea” by Cruise Critic. Additional awards received include “best health and wellness program” and “best overall spa facilities on a cruise ship” from Travel Age West magazine and “best spa facilities” from Porthole magazine.

The Magellan Awards are judged and overseen by a one-of-a-kind panel of top travel professionals representing the best names and most accomplished leaders from the industry.   In determining winners, entries do not compete with one another. Instead they are judged against a standard of excellence based on the long experience of Travel Weekly. To uphold this high standard of excellence, a category may have multiple winners, or may have no winners at all.  For more information on the Travel Weekly Magellan Awards, please visit www.travelweeklyawards.com.

Costa Cruises is Italy and Europe’s Number One Cruise Line.  For the past 60 years its 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 2008, 1.2 million guests chose to cruise with Costa, a record for the European cruise industry. The company’s 14
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. Three additional ships are on order through 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, 2004), safety (OHSAS 18001, 1999) and quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, 2000). All ships in the Costa fleet have been assigned RINA’s Green Star notation certifying that they are operated in compliance with the highest environmental protection standards. Costa Cruises is an official partner of the WWF for the protection of the marine ecoregions of the Mediterranean, the Greater Antilles and Brazil.  In Mediobanca’s 2008 survey of over 3,700 Italian enterprises that recorded revenue of at least 50 million euros the previous fiscal year, Costa Crociere S.p.A. ranks 72nd in terms of sales and in 12th place in regards to profitability.