Costa Deliziosa  will be named in Dubai on 23 February 2010 in a major event organised by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.  The ceremony will take place during the ship's Grand Inaugural Cruise, which departs from Savona (Italy) on 5 February 2010 and calls at Dubai from 23 to 26 February.


Costa Deliziosa, the 15th ship in Costa's fleet, will be the first ever cruise ship to be named in an Arabian city.  Over 3,000 guests are expected to attend the event, including about 2,000 Costa Guests cruising on the first leg of the Grand Inaugural Cruise.


In 2009 Dubai played host to 100 cruise ship calls that brought 260,000 cruise tourists. This year, Dubai will be hosting 120 ship calls with more than 325,000 passengers after the new Dubai Cruise Terminal gets ready. 

The terminal is expected to receive 135 ship calls with 375,000 passengers in 2011, followed by 150 ship calls with 425,000 passengers in 2012 and 165 ship calls with 475,000 passengers in 2013. The new terminal, covering an area of 3,450 square metres, will have the capacity to handle four ships simultaneously. 


Costa Deliziosa (92,600gt) was  fitted out at Fincantieri's Marghera (Venice) shipyard and delivered on 29 January 2010.  Together with her sister ship, Costa Luminosa, christened on 5 June 2009, she is described as ‘the most exclusive and innovative ship in the Costa Cruises fleet'.