The company has not provided consumers with correct and timely information on the state of health emergency in Madagascar and on the consequences for the cruises already purchased. With this motivation the Competition and Market Guarantor Authority ordered a fine of two million euros for Costa Cruises, for violation of articles 21, 22, 24 and 25 of Legislative Decree no. 206/2005 (Consumer Code). The Guarantor reproaches the company for having sold and organized two cruises, respectively called "neoRiviera" and "Paradisi sul mare", transiting through Madagascar, without however informing consumers of the rights associated with changes to the travel programme. That is, fundamentally, without recognizing the right to withdraw from the contract after the stage on the African island had been canceled for legitimate reasons, and without envisaging logical price reductions.
“Costa Cruises – reads the press release from the Authority – following the plague epidemic that occurred in Madagascar starting in August 2017, has changed the calls foreseen in the program of the cruises concerned, departing respectively in October and December 2017, without promptly notifying the consumers, who have been informed of the need to vary the travel itinerary originally envisaged, in the first case, to departure occurred, in the second, close to the departure date. The timing and ways in which the program changes were communicated have in fact hindered the choice of consumers, who they would have had the right to decide whether to withdraw from the contract or enjoy the cruise without the foreseen stops in Madagascar, in this case with a reasonable price reduction”.
Costa Cruises, according to the Authority, should have put in place all the necessary precautions in order to make consumers aware, from the first contact and in any case before departure, of the existing health risk situation in the countries covered by the advertised tourist destinations. Costa Cruises, on the other hand, continued to advertise and sell the cruises in question, including stops in Madagascar, also following the dissemination of press releases on the health emergency by the local authorities and the Ministry of Health, without warning consumers of a possible change in the travel programme.
