Costa blocks travelers from countries with COVID-19 rates higher than Italy's

In France, for one, this applies until the end of November for now.

Bookings from France were encouraging

It's bad news for those booked to cruise with the Italian company in the coming weeks. Costa had recently opened its ships to more European countries and bookings from France, its No. 2 market, were encouraging.

Costa is restricting access based on COVID-19 data published by the European Center for Prevention and Control of Diseases.

In a statement, Costa said it operates cruises in the most responsible way to protect passengers, crew and the destinations it visits. It added that more restrictive measures might impact getting passengers home safely.

Follows abbreviated French charter

Recently the company cut short a Costa Diadema charter carrying only French passengers after France imposed restrictions on the movement in and out of cities. Costa said it did so to ensure everyone could return home safely from Genoa, the disembarkation port.

The line resumed sailing in September with Deliziosa, followed by Diadema and, most recently, its new flagship Costa Smeralda.