Costa Cruises Serves Up More Than 100 Pastas for World Pasta Day
Costa Cruises has put pasta at the center of its World Pasta Day plans, spotlighting more than 100 pasta preparations across its shipboard menus. The program covers the line’s eight Italian-flag ships, so guests on any Costa sailing will find the range on the menu, not just passengers on one featured ship.
The announcement, sent Oct. 23 by Costa’s North American team, turns a standing menu into a single story. On a seven-day cruise, guests have nearly 80 chances to try a different pasta dish, which works out to more than 11 distinct options a day before any repeats. For a line whose brand is Italy itself, that number is the point: pasta is not a menu section here, it is the identity.
Five dishes that show the range
The release names five dishes that sketch the range. Spaghettone with green pea carbonara and mortadella takes a Roman classic in a contemporary direction. Penne with arugula pesto and buffalo mozzarella uses mozzarella freshly produced on board. Pumpkin tortelli pairs basil pesto with shrimp ragout and toasted pine nuts. Gnocchetti Sardi, the small Sardinian shells, come with sausage sauce, broccoli and chili. Mezze maniche arrive with swordfish, Taggiasca olives and demi roasted cherry tomatoes. Together, the five move from familiar to inventive without leaving Italian ground, and they set up the wider menu the line is counting.
The numbers behind the menu
The full count runs past 100 preparations, and the breakdown shows where the weight sits. At least 32 dishes bring seafood and fish to the table, which means roughly one in three pasta entries draws on the sea. More than 20 entries stuff or fill the pasta, with fillings from meat and ricotta to shellfish and truffle-flavored cheese. Fifteen dishes are lasagna variations, about one in seven entries, and eight are cannelloni. Tomatoes appear in at least 18 entries, pesto in 10, lemon in at least four, and three entries pair ginger with seafood and vegetables. The list even includes Neapolitan-style pasta and bean soup, a reminder that the program reaches past twirled noodles. Shapes run from spaghetti, trofie and scialatielli to agnolotti, quadrotti and ferriceddi, and gluten-free pasta is available daily for guests with dietary needs.
Why pasta carries the Costa brand
Costa is a Genoa-based Italian company and part of Carnival Corporation and plc, which the line describes as the world’s largest cruise group. Its eight ships all fly the Italian flag and sail the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, South America and the United Arab Emirates, with Around the World and Grand Cruises on longer itineraries. The line has sailed for more than 75 years and visits more than 200 destinations. Food is the most direct way for a line with that profile to say what it is, and pasta is the dish that needs no translation.
“Pasta is at the heart of Italian food culture, and at Costa, it’s something we take great pride in bringing to life on board,” said Priscilla Reyes, head of sales for Costa Cruises North America. “It’s a familiar part of everyday life in Italy, yet there are endless ways to enjoy it. We want our guests to discover that same sense of joy at the table, whether they choose a dish they know and love or try something completely new.”
Costa has marked the occasion before. In 2016 the line paired with Barilla for a fleetwide World Pasta Day program built around chefs from the Barilla Pasta World Championship, with cooking demonstrations and onboard events. The 2026 version drops the single-day event framing and sells the everyday menu instead, which is a quieter but broader claim.
What it means for travelers
Travelers do not need a special sailing to find these dishes. The pasta range is part of the regular shipboard menus, and World Pasta Day on Oct. 25 is the occasion for the spotlight rather than a separate ticketed event. Guests sailing that week will find the program at its most visible. Gluten-free pasta is available daily, which matters for guests who usually have to negotiate menus in advance. The release names no new restaurant, surcharge, or fare tied to the program, so the dishes sit inside the existing dining setup. For more information, Costa points guests to a travel advisor, to reservations at 800-462-6782, or to costacruises.com.
The wider picture
The move fits a wider pattern in which cruise lines use food to mark identity rather than to add volume. A line can add a restaurant anywhere, but a 100-dish pasta program only makes sense for an Italian line, and Costa is the one line in the Carnival group for which that claim is native. Within a group that also sells American, British, and German cruise identities, Costa’s Italian-flag fleet and Genoa base give the pasta story a credibility that a themed menu elsewhere could not borrow. The risk for Costa is the opposite one: when a national cuisine is the brand, guests judge every plate against the real thing, and the line is inviting that comparison across more than 100 entries.
What happens next
World Pasta Day falls on Oct. 25, two days after the announcement. Costa has not attached a new ship, itinerary, or restaurant opening to the program, and the release reads as a menu story rather than a fleet story. The test for the line will be simpler: whether guests who sail in the weeks after the spotlight find the range as deep on board as it reads on paper.
Questions About Costa Cruises Pasta Menus
Is the pasta selection available on every Costa ship?
Yes. Costa presents the range as a fleetwide menu program across its eight Italian-flag ships, not as a specialty menu on one vessel. Guests on any Costa sailing will find the pasta range in the regular shipboard menus.
Do I need to sail on World Pasta Day to try these dishes?
No. Oct. 25 is the occasion Costa chose for the spotlight, but the dishes are part of the regular menus. On a seven-day cruise, guests have nearly 80 chances to try a different pasta dish, so the range is there all sailing long.
Are gluten-free options available?
Yes. Costa says gluten-free pasta options are available daily for guests with special dietary needs. That daily availability matters because it removes the need to plan around a single gluten-free night or a limited menu, and it applies across the sailing rather than to one restaurant or one evening.
Photo credit: Costa Cruises
