The parent company of Costa Cruise Line, the Italian based Costa Crociere was bought by Carnival Cruise Line in 1997. Needless to say that Carnival left Costa operating as a separate brand, preserving the style and the image Costa has created for over 50 years in the passenger ship business. As the phrase "Cruising Italian Style" implies, everything onboard seems to be molto Italiano, from the ships design to the celebrated Italian cuisine. In the past the cruise line used to employ all Italian crew, now days they hire personnel from all over the world, although Italians are in key management positions. It is fun to work for this cruise line with it's European atmosphere, passengers are also a mix of Europeans and Americans and the ships change their itineraries regularly (summers in Europe and winters in the Caribbean or South America)