Costa Luminosa departed Civitavecchia, Italy on 3 June 2009, on her 13-night maiden voyage, with ports of call in Savona, Saint-Tropez, Barcelona, Lisbon, Le Havre and Amsterdam.

[11] The keel of Costa Luminosa was laid on 10 October 2007 in the Fincantieri Marghera shipyard at Venice.

The dual christening ceremony set a then Guinness World record in the category, "Most ships inaugurated in one day by one company".

[13][14] Costa Luminosa made her first on 5 May 2009, a 10-day cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean, departing Venice, with ports of call at Istanbul, Bari, Olympia, Rhodes, Smyrna, Mykonos and Athens.

[15] In the summer of 2009, the ship offered 11 and 14-day cruises at the Baltic capitals, Norwegian fjords and the North Cape.

[16] Despite claims of sustainable practices by both Costa Cruises and its parent company Carnival, Sveriges Television reported in 2015 that Costa Luminosa dumped the toilet waste of its 3,200 passengers and crew in the sea, instead of taking use of harbour facilities, often provided free of charge by Baltic ports.

[21] On 29 February 2020, a 68-year-old Italian man in critical condition was transferred from Costa Luminosa to a hospital in the Cayman Islands due to heart issues.

[22] On 12 March 2020, the Health Services Authority of the Cayman Islands announced that the man was their first confirmed coronavirus case.

[28] On 21 March local news in Puerto Rico reported the death of the quarantined Italian woman.