Published: 17 Feb 2009: Ryanair has started selling cruises on its website after the airline signed a deal with Costa Cruises.
Ryanair´s exclusive cruise partnership with Costa Cruises will allow Ryanair passengers to book cruise holidays directly via www.ryanair.com and connect to Costa Cruise liners departing from Barcelona, Civitavecchia, Kiel, Marseille, Palermo, Savona and Venice, among others.
"Ryanair and Costa Cruises will reduce the cost of traditionally expensive cruise holidays," said Ryanair´s Sinead Finn.
For its part, Costa Cruises is looking at expansion of its potential customer base "by reaching a type of traveller that regularly uses the web channel, namely professionals aged between 25 and 45," said its spokesperson Angelo Capurro. "This strategy is very much in line with our large-scale fleet expansion programme, with five new ships due to enter service, three of which to be delivered over the next 12 months."
The Italian line, which carried 1.2 million passengers last year, is aiming to carry 1.5 million passengers by the end of next year. It has recently invested 22 million euros in upgrading and servicing its fleets.
