COSTA CRUISES TOPS 2009 MEDIOBANCA SURVEY

Largest Italian Travel Company and Only Italian Cruise Line Ranked by Mediobanca
MIAMI (November 16, 2009)— Costa Cruises has made its mark in a popular survey of leading Italian companies carried out by Mediobanca’s Research Unit, comprising over 3,700 Italian enterprises that recorded revenue of at least 50 million Euros last fiscal year. Costa Cruises came in 10th place in terms of profitability, with a net income of 402 million Euros and 65th in size with sales of 2.3 billion Euros in 2008.

Costa is the only cruise company included in the Mediobanca survey and ranks as the leading travel company. According to the findings of the survey, the Italian cruise company has further improved its business performance from last year, advancing from a ranking of 72 to 65 for size, and ranking 10th in terms of profitability, up from 12th in 2008.

In total, the Costa Crociere S.p.A. Group has a total of 23 ships in service (14 for Costa Cruises, 6 for AIDACruises and 3 for Iberocruceros) with another sneve due to be delivered by 2012 (three for Costa Cruises, three for AIDACruises and one for Iberocruceros). All Costa Cruises and Aida ships fly the Italian flag.

Costa will introduce its newest ship, the Costa Deliziosa, at the end of  January 2010. The ship is currently being fitted out at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard. The arrival of 92,700-ton (2,260 dbl occ) ship enables Costa to double its top-of-the-line offerings. Along with sister ship Costa Luminosa (launched in June 2009), the Costa Deliziosa is the most exclusive and innovative member of the fleet.

The Group's growth in 2008 was driven by the performance of the Costa Cruises brand, which ended the year with 1.2 million total guests, confirming its position as Italy’s largest tourism group and Europe’s Number One Cruise Line. The economic growth recorded in 2008 was accompanied by a continued commitment to social and environmental responsibility, particularly carried by the Costa Cruises brand.

Costa Cruises was the first cruise company in the world to draft and issue a Sustainability Report. The voluntary report aims to build trust based on transparent dissemination of main results in the fields of social accountability and environmental compliance. Relevant initiatives include Costa’s three-year partnership with WWF involving active support for a project to set up a network of Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean.

In November, Costa Cruises will publish the fourth edition of its Sustainability Report, corresponding to 2008. The highlights include a 5% reduction in fuel consumption per mile sailed, a 5% reduction in consumption of potable water per person, 30% (273,458 kg) of special waste recycled; 2,126 m3 of glass and aluminum recycled, and an 8.5% reduction in garbage.

Costa Cruises is Italy’s largest tourism group and Europe’s Number One Cruise Line.  For more than 60 years its ships have sailed the seas of the world, offering the best in Italian style, hospitality and cuisine and providing dream vacations filled with 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 more new ships are due to 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, 2004), safety (OHSAS 18001, 2007) and quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, 2008). All the 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 WWF Italy for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea. In Mediobanca’s 2009 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 10th in terms of profitability and 65th in terms of sales. In the “Global Reputation Pulse 2009” international study, Costa Cruises ranked first among Italian “service industry” companies. Pulse scores are a measure of corporate reputation of the 600 largest enterprises located in 32 countries worldwide.

Costa Crociere S.p.A. is a member of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world’s largest cruise company.