Carnival Corp subsidiary Costa Group is to hire 4,500 Italian crew by 2022.
It said the plan confirms its domestic commitment as the fleet expands.
The new hires will work mostly on newbuilding cruiseships.
Carnival has more than 5,000 Italian crew already.
Costa and Carnival are looking into working with one or more of Italy's nautical institutes to provide staff.
Costa also said its vessels carried about 3m people in 2016, up 13% from 2015.
It is expecting more growth this year with the addition of a new ship.
