AIDA Cruises is a German

cruise line A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships that operate on ocean or rivers and which markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from passenger lines which are primarily concerned with transportation of passengers. Though ...

founded in the early 1960s and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of

Carnival Corporation & plc Carnival Corporation & plc is a British-American cruise operator with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies – Panama-incorporated, US-headquartered Carniv ...

since 2003. Based in Rostock, Germany, AIDA Cruises caters primarily to the German-speaking market; as seagoing "club resorts", AIDA ships have on-board amenities and facilities designed to attract younger, more active vacationers. As of January 2022, the cruise line operates 14 ships.

History

The company was founded as Deutsche Seereederei (German Shipping Company) with a ship called '' Völkerfreundschaft'' ("Peoples' Friendship"), and entered the cruise industry in the 1960s. After the reunification of Germany in the early 1990s Deutsche Seereederei was privatised and became DSR. DSR acquired Seetours of Bremen and cruises were marketed under the Seetours brand. On 1 January 1998, DSR split their operations into cargo and tourism, with a new company Arkona Touristik taking over the cruise business. Then during 2000 a company was formed, known as AIDA Cruises; with

P&O Cruises P&O Cruises is a British cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. It was originally a subsidiary of the shipping company P&O and was founded in 1977. Along ...

acquiring a 51% stake in the new organisation, and Arkona Touristik retaining the other 49%.

As subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc

In 2001, P&O Princess Cruises acquired the remaining 49% interest in AIDA and the cruise business associated with Seetours International. In 2003, P&O Princess merged with Carnival Corporation, to form

, the world's largest cruise holiday company. The Seetours cruise business, that had been acquired by P&O, was rebranded as AIDA Cruises in 2004. Following the merger, executive control of AIDA Cruises was transferred to Costa Cruises Group, one of the main operating companies of Carnival Corporation & plc, with responsibility for the group's European brands. AIDA Cruises is now one of ten brands owned by Carnival Corporation & plc, based at

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, accounting for 6.5% of its share of revenue and has been led by President Felix Eichhorn since 1 September 2015. In October 2017, ''

AIDAcara ''Astoria Grande'' is a cruise ship which entered service as ''Aida'' in 1996 in the fleet of German cruise company, AIDA Cruises. She was their first cruise ship and in 2001 became ''AIDAcara''. History The ship was built, at a cost of DM 300 ...

'' departed from

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

on the company's first World Cruise. After a 116-day sailing, the ship returned to Hamburg on 10 February 2018. The ship visited

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, Lisbon, Madeira,

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

Ushuaia Ushuaia ( , ) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. With a population of nearly 75,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's souther ...

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its ne ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, and

the Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

, among other destinations. On 8 October 2018 '' AIDAaura'' left Hamburg on the company's second World Cruise, the 117-day voyage visited 41 ports in 20 countries on four continents. Several of the destinations were new to the company, including

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, Fiji,

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

and New Caledonia. In December 2018, AIDA debuted ''AIDAnova,'' the first cruise ship to be fully powered by

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

(LNG). Earlier, in May 2016, ''AIDAprima'' and ''AIDAsol'' had become the first two ships in the AIDA fleet to be simultaneously powered by LNG. In August 2019, AIDA signed an agreement with

Corvus Energy The company was founded in Canada in 2009. The head office was moved to Norway in 2018. Corvus Energy offers Energy Storage Systems (ESS) suitable for various vessel types, providing energy storage in the form of modular lithium-ion battery syste ...

to install battery storage systems for the electrification of their ships. In October 2019, AIDA announced that it would test a new fuel-cell technology for large-scale cruise ships aboard the ''AIDAnova'' as early as 2021.

Fleet

Current fleet

Former fleet

As Deutsche Seereederei/DSR/Arkona Touristik

As AIDA Cruises

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1960 establishments in East Germany Carnival Corporation & plc Companies based in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Companies of East Germany Cruise lines Transport companies established in 1960