AIDA Cruises’ success story began on June 7, 1996, with the inauguration of the first AIDA ship, today’s AIDAcara. With the “Clubschiff” concept a quarter of a century ago, the company rang in a new era of waterborne holiday.  Today, AIDA Cruises is the market leader in Germany.

Before the end of this year, AIDA Cruises will continue its successful growth path with the commissioning of AIDAcosma, the second cruise ship to be operated with low-emission liquefied natural gas (LNG), and reach another milestone on the way to emission-neutral cruises the company wants to achieve by 2040.

This further capacity expansion gives AIDA Cruises the opportunity to optimize the structure of its fleet, especially with regards to achieving its ambitious sustainability goals. The cruise line has therefore decided to hand over the oldest ship of its fleet, AIDAcara, after 25 years of service to a new owner in the coming weeks.

This is a very emotional moment for AIDA and for many long-time loyal guests of the cruise line. With AIDAcara, AIDA Cruises has laid the foundation of its success. Many concepts from back then were continuously developed further on board of all subsequent ships and were also incorporated into the construction of AIDAcosma.

With the commissioning of AIDAcosma at the end of 2021, AIDA Cruises will make a further leap in capacity, expand its range of vacation offers and continues its sustainable growth course on the German cruise market. It is the second LNG newbuild for AIDA Cruises of a total of nine cruise ships that have been commissioned for various brands of Carnival Corporation & plc at the MEYER Group with the same platform concept and pioneering environmental technology.

The demand for these innovative ships is high worldwide. As part of its fleet renewal program, Carnival Cruise Line sold four cruise ships last year. To secure further growth on the American market, Carnival Cruise Line will now take over the newbuilding slot originally reserved for AIDA Cruises at the MEYER WERFT in Papenburg for the LNG ship scheduled for delivery in 2023.

Already in March of this year, AIDA Cruises has finished the pandemic-related pause of cruise operation with AIDAperla in the Canary Islands, long before vacation in Germany was possible again. Currently, three ships are in operation. Until the end of July, AIDA Cruises plans to offer guests cruises in Northern Europe, on the Baltic Sea and in the West and East Mediterranean with already six of our ships.

In addition to the further preparations for the resumption of cruises with all other ships of the AIDA fleet, AIDA Cruises is already working on pioneering construction projects for emission-neutral cruising.

All cruises currently scheduled with AIDAcara will be taken over by other AIDA ships. Affected guests will be informed about further details soon.

Further information and booking options available at travel agencies, the AIDA customer center on +49 (0) 381/20 27 07 07 or at www.aida.de.