Costa Cruises' Favolosa has pulled into a shipyard in Rotterdam, Netherlands, for scheduled maintenance after finishing its Northern Europe summer season. The 114,500-ton ship arrived at the Damen yard on October 20, 2026, and is due back in service in early November. While technical work is the priority, guests can expect a visible refresh too, with new carpeting, updated upholstery and fresh soft furnishings across the hotel areas.
What happens next is more interesting for holiday planners. On November 8, 2026, the ship sails a 22-night repositioning cruise from Hamburg to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The route doubles as a proper mini-grand-tour: stops in England, the Netherlands and France first, then Portugal, mainland Spain and the Canary Islands, before crossing the Atlantic. En route to its winter homeport, the 3,012-passenger ship also calls at Caribbean islands including Guadeloupe, Antigua and St. Kitts.
Once there, the Favolosa settles into a 2026-27 winter programme of seven-night Caribbean cruises with flexible boarding points — passengers can join in the Dominican Republic, Martinique or Guadeloupe, which makes it easy to bolt a week at sea onto a beach stay. That flexibility is a genuine selling point if you'd rather skip the long-haul flight-plus-cruise combo and just fly to the islands.
The ship's calendar keeps moving after that. It returns to Europe in late March for a spring season in the Western Mediterranean, then shifts back north for summer 2027, sailing from Hamburg to Scandinavia, Iceland and the British Isles.
A bit of background on the vessel itself: built at Fincantieri's Marghera yard in Italy, the Favolosa joined Costa's fleet on July 2, 2011, and has just completed its 15th year of service. It's a Concordia-class ship and was the largest vessel flying the Italian flag when it launched.
Why should this matter to you? Two ways in. First, repositioning cruises like this one often offer strong value per night — 22 nights spanning Northern Europe, Iberia and the Caribbean for the price of what a shorter, single-region sailing might cost elsewhere. Second, if the Caribbean winter itineraries appeal, the multiple embarkation ports mean you can pair a week aboard with time in the French Antilles or the Dominican Republic without backtracking. The trade-off is the ship's age: at 15 years old, the post-drydock refresh should keep it feeling current, but it's a classic big-ship Costa experience rather than a new-build.
Worth watching if you're eyeing a winter sun escape or a slow, multi-country Atlantic crossing next spring.
