Costa is adding extra muscle to their Asian program with the addition of the Costa Classica. In this one ship addition, they have almost tripled their total passenger capacity in the Asia. Below is a picture of the Costa Classica departing Singapore after her maiden call at the end of March.

 

 

In a move that appears to further imprint Costa and Carnival Corp's commitment to Asia, itineraries for the Costa Romantica in 2010 are also showing a deployment to the Far East. One can possibly extrapolate that the oldest ships in Costa's fleet, Costa Allegra and Costa Marina, are possibly on their way out. However, given that the Costa Allegra recently underwent a 2 week dry dock in Singapore, more likely she will be getting redeployed.

 

 

The lack of balcony cabins is a challenge to both the Costa Classica and Costa Allegra in Asia. From the photo below, you can see that the Classica only has 5 balcony cabins per side (sandwiched between lifeboats) on her Portofino deck (10 in total). When it comes to balcony cabins, the SuperStar Virgo out matches both ships by a factor of 50! It will be difficult for any non-Asian line to make significant inroads with the local population while providing older tonage, in second rate ships at double the cost.