Cruise Costa Serena Docks In Nagoya To House Asian Games Athletes As Complaints Over Wooden Huts Increase

The cruise ship Costa Serena has docked at a port in Japan’s Nagoya to accommodate atleast 4000 participants of the Asian Games 2026, which is opening on Saturday.

Around 17,000 athletes are coming for the sports event, and a few are also being housed in container-style wooden huts, hotels and Airbnbs.

However, complaints over accommodation have raised concerns among the Japanese authorities, especially as the Games are being held during the typhoon season.

Some athletes have reported water leakages from sinks, and others have complained of the beds being too small for them.

A few days back, a few wooden huts had to be vacated due to flooding resulting from continuous rain in the region, which greatly inconvenienced the guests and invited criticism.

Authorities are certain there would be no complaints about the 300 m long Italian cruise vessel having 1500 cabins.

The President of the Organising Committee of the Asian Games, Hideaki Omura, said that it is the first time a cruise ship was being used to accommodate people coming for an international sports event, with a number bigger than the Olympics.

Though cruise ships have been used before in times in like this, this is the first time they are being used on a large scale. This is also cost-effective and could be taken as an example of how to reduce accommodation expenses at future sports events.

On the contrary, participating teams which will be staying in Japan for the Games until October 4, 2026, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the arrangements.

Officials from South Korea said that the huts were ‘the worst ever’. VP of the Korea Basketball Association, Jung Jae-Yong, said he was unhappy with the accommodation provided to their team.

He said that the beds were too small for them, and a player from the men’s team also posted a video on social media showing a wet floor and leakage from the sink in his wooden hut, with a caption saying ‘please help us’.

Some guests claimed that there was a shortage of rooms when they arrived, and everything was not well planned.

Another official said that concerns over the accommodation were raised by all the representatives of the 45 countries participating in the Asian Games, and every country is expressing it to Japanese authorities to get the issue resolved.

President of the Philippine Olympic Committee Abraham Tolentino stated that while the athletes were given a room, some officials and coaches were shifted to hotels and Airbnbs.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino said all his country’s athletes had been given a room. But “some officials, like coaches, were moved to different hotels and Airbnbs”.

Japan has chartered the cruise ship for about 4.5 billion yen or $ 28 million. Costa Serena is the sister ship of the Concordia that sank in 2012, with 32 people off Tuscany.

The captain of Costa Serena, Federico Sias, said that he would ensure that athletes can have a memorable and comfortable stay on the ship.