Cruise Line ProgramsItalian hospitality, big modern ships and a Mediterranean program your attendees will remember for the food alone.
Costa is Italy’s cruise line, and it sails like one — long lunches, late dinners, music on deck and a crew that treats hospitality as a point of pride.
The fleet is built for scale. The newest ships are large, modern and designed around Italian regions, food and design, with plenty of dining rooms, lounges and theatre space for a group to spread out in. For a program that wants energy, a European feel and strong value, Costa is one of the most useful tools we have.
It also plays especially well with international audiences. Costa is used to guests from many countries sharing the same ship, and that shows in how it runs. If you are still weighing lines against each other, the at-sea overview lays out how we compare them.
Pasta, pizza, gelato, regional Italian menus and wine lists to match. Dining is built into the identity of the line, and it is one of the easiest ways to make a group dinner feel like an occasion.
The larger ships carry thousands of guests, which means theatres, lounges and dining rooms big enough to hold a general session, an awards night or a private party without taking over the whole ship.
Music, festivals on deck and a lively late-evening culture give the week a distinct feel. For attendees who have done the standard Caribbean cruise, this is noticeably different.
Costa is positioned to deliver a lot of ship for the money, which helps when a program has a large headcount and a fixed per-person number to hit.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons — Costa Smeralda in Savona (September 2020): Eustace Bagge, CC BY 3.0; Costa Toscana in Savona: Gérard, CC BY-SA 4.0; Costa Toscana at Marseille port: Luca Mauri, CC BY-SA 4.0; Costa Toscana (ship) in September 2021: ArcticDragonfly, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Mediterranean is Costa’s home water, with year-round sailings from Italian, Spanish and French ports. Northern Europe, the Canary Islands and seasonal deployments further afield round out the calendar.
For a group flying in from North America, that means a program that starts in Europe and stays there, with embarkation ports that are easy to reach from major gateway airports.
Buy the Sea has been placing corporate groups at sea for twenty-six years, across every major line. We know how Costa works, and we know what to ask for and when to ask for it so that your program gets the ships, the spaces and the dates it needs. That is the part we handle.
Bring us a headcount, a budget and a range of dates. We will come back with real options with Costa — and across every other line, because we represent all of them and we are paid by the cruise line, never by you. There is no fee, no markup and no obligation. Here is why that matters.
Within reason, and often more of it than planners expect — signage, screens, key cards, venue naming and private events are all on the table. What is possible comes together at negotiation, and we will walk you through it.
Yes, subject to availability and dates, and the larger ships suit very large programs. Most corporate groups take a block of cabins and a set of private venues instead. Tell us your headcount and we will show you both options.
Nothing. We are compensated by the cruise line, never by you. Twenty-six years of doing it this way is covered in why Buy the Sea.