Costa Cruises Names New Southern Europe Vice President

Luigi Stefanelli has just been appointed as Costa Cruises’ associate VP for Southern Europe. Before this new posting, Stefanelli worked for the company in different regional cruising markets, as well as in a variety of different managerial positions.

Costa Cruises’ New VP for Southern Europe

On June 29, 2023, Costa Cruises unveiled the selection of Luigi Stefanelli as the associate vice president for the cruise line’s Southern Europe Region. 

Stefanelli, who has steadily risen through the ranks at Costa Cruises, will now be overseeing operations for these subsequent territories: Italy, Spain, France, and Portugal.

Originally founded over a century ago, in 1854 in Genoa, Italy, Costa Cruises is now a prominent Italian cruise line that offers its guests a variety of cruising itineraries that span the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and beyond.

Currently, Costa Cruises operates about 10 vessels, all sailing under the Italian flag. The LNG-powered (liquefied natural gas) 185,010-ton Costa Smeralda, built by Meyer Turku in Finland in 2019, is one of the company’s newest and largest ships, with a capacity of up to 6,554 passengers.

Costa Smeralda’s sister ship Costa Toscana, which was launched in March 2022, is the line’s newest flagship vessel to hit the high seas in search of fun, adventure, and luxury.

Luigi Stefanelli: Managing the Southern Mediterranean Cruise Market

While Costa Cruises sails to many different ports around the globe, Southern Europe, and countries like Italy, Spain, France, and Portugal, are very important destinations for the company’s client base. 

The 38-year-old Stefanelli, who is now assuming the title of associate VP for Southern Europe, will be succeeding Rafaele d’Ambrosio in the position.

“I believe this appointment can give a great boost to the commercial development of the Southern Europe Region,” Costa Cruises’ SVP & Chief Commercial Officer Roberto Alberti remarked. 

“For us, these markets [Southern Europe] play a fundamental role and, thanks to the great international experience gained in recent years by Luigi, we are confident that we will be even more effective in the execution of our commercial strategy,” Alberti added.

With over a decade of cruise industry experience, Stefanelli, originally from Naples, joined Costa Cruises’ headquarters in Genoa (in the pricing & revenue management department) after starting out as a financial business advisor consultant at Ernst & Young in Rome.

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In his new expanded role, Stefanelli will oversee Italy while retaining his previous positions as general manager for Spain & Portugal and general manager for France. Carlo Schiavon, currently the country manager for Italy, will step down to pursue personal endeavors but will maintain a cooperative relationship with the company.

Apart from his responsibilities as general manager for Spain and Portugal, Stefanelli will now also assume leadership for France, which is Costa Cruises’ second most significant European market after Italy. 

For his new VP position in the company, Stefanelli intends to divide his time between Madrid and Paris, to better keep an eye on the company’s operations in Southern Europe.