Wärtsilä NSD Corporation has received a major contract for additional diesel engines from the Italian cruise ship owner Costa Crociere to be installed in their cruise ship "Costa Classica", and the upgrading of her existing Sulzer medium-speed main diesel engines. She is to be lengthened and provided with six more Sulzer diesel engines for increased propulsion power and for shipboard electrical supplies.

Cammell Laird will carry out the modification of the 1991-built “Costa Classica” at their Birkenhead yard beginning this autumn. Completion is due by March 2001. She will be lengthened by 44.8 m to 265.4 m overall, and a new full-length superstructure deck will be added.

This will allow her revenue-earning capacity to be substantially increased. Her passenger accommodation will be increased from 1308 to 2020 persons and the gross tonnage will increase from 52,950 to 78,000.

The propulsion plant is being extended to allow the service speed to be increased from 19.5 knots to 21 knots in spite of the greater ship length. A central azimuthing podded thruster with a diesel-electric drive is augmenting the existing twin controllable-pitch propellers. Power for the thruster and shipboard electrical services will be provided by new six Sulzer 6ZA40S engines with a combined output of 27,000 kW at 514 rev/min. For greater efficiency, the existing four Sulzer 8ZA40S medium-speed main diesel engines are to be upgraded to a maximum continuous rating (MCR) of 720 kW/cylinder.