The Costa Magica has been sold to Seajets, a Greek ferry operator, according to Greek media reports and multiple industry sources.
The ship represents another Carnival Corporation vessel leaving the Costa fleet as the world’s largest cruise operator continues to shed less economical capacity.
Of note, it is the newest and biggest vessel to exit a Carnival-owned brand, with the Magica having the capacity for 2,720 guests at double occupancy and having been built in 2004 at a cost of $400 million. It was one of three ships Carnival said would leave the fleet in December. The AIDAaura will also be retired, and a yet-to-be-named Costa ship will follow.
The Marios Iliopoulos-led Seajets has purchased multiple secondhand cruise ships since the start of the pandemic. A handful of ships have since been scrapped, while the former Maasdam was sold to French start-up CFC and will soon enter service.
The Magica will soon join a number of other ships in a layup in Greece under the control of Seajets, including the former Veendam, Pacific Area, P&O Oceania and Majesty of the Seas.
While the former Maasdam was sold to CFC, Seajets has also retired some ships for scrap value including the Columbus and Magellan, two ships that it bought at auction following the demise of Cruise & Maritime Voyages
Explorer Dream Capacity: 1,804 guests Tonnage: 76,800 Year built: 1999 Former names: SuperStar Virgo Move: Chartered to Resorts World Cruises; to be renamed Resorts World One Date: January 2023
Rejoining its former fleet mate Genting Drem, the ex-SuperStar Virgo is set to debut in Singapore in February before kicking off a program of short cruises to nowhere departing from Hong Kong.
AIDAaura Capacity: 1,270 guests Tonnage: 42,200 Year built: 2003 Move: To be retired from AIDA Cruises’ fleet Date: January 2023
Pacific Venus Capacity: 696 guests Tonnage: 26,518 Year built: 1998 Move: Withdrawn from service as operator shuts down cruise business Date: January 2023
One of the market’s only three Japanese-flagged cruise ships, the Pacific Venus is now facing an uncertain future. Currently laid up in a shipyard in Japan, the 696-guest vessel was built at the Ishikawajima shipyard in Tokyo.
Costa Venezia Capacity: 4,232 guests Tonnage: 135,500 Year built: 2019 Move: Ended last cruise for Costa ahead of being transferred to Carnival Date: December 2022
Sailing from New York City on a year-round basis, the Venezia will be part of the new Carnival Fun Italian Style concept, which mixes Costa’s Italian heritage with Carnival’s experience and service.
Braemar Capacity: 977 guests Tonnage: 24,344 Year built: 1993 Former names: Crown Majesty, Crown Dynasty and Norwegian Dynasty Move: To be sold by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Date: November 2022
In late November, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines announced plans to rationalize its fleet and concentrate on modern tonnage. As a result, the British brand decided to retire Braemar from service.
Currently the smallest vessel of the fleet, the 1993-built cruise ship has been laid up in Scotland since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of the announcement, Fred. Olsen is also said to be looking for a buyer for the vessel, which has a capacity for 977 guests in double occupancy.
AIDA Cruises has announced that the AIDAaura will leave its fleet this September, in line with Carnival Corporation’s announcement to slim down its fleet by divesting another three older and smaller ships.
The German brand has therefore announced a farewell season for the ship, kicking off on Jan. 9, 2023, in Cape Town with the first of a total of four 14-day voyages to South Africa & Namibia.
On March 6, 2023, the 27-day cruise from South Africa to Hamburg (Germany), via Namibia, the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands, as well as Portugal and Spain, will depart from the metropolis on the Cape of Good Hope.
Starting in April, cruises include the “Great Norway Round Trip” to the North Cape over Easter or the two new seven-day voyages on the AIDAaura from/to Hamburg to Norway’s fjords and to Scotland. These can also be booked as a 14-day cruise.
In July and August 2023, it’s time to sail from Hamburg and Bremerhaven on 21-day cruises to Iceland and Greenland with passages along the glaciers and icebergs in Prins-Christian-Sund or Disko Bay.
AIDAaura’s last voyage for AIDA Cruises leads on well-known European rivers such as the Thames to Tilbury on the outskirts of the British capital London, the Seine in France to Rouen or the Scheldt in Belgium to Antwerp.
The AIDAaura was named on April 12, 2003, in Rostock. Among highlights, in its debut season, AIDAaura was the official German Olympic ship during the Summer Games in Athens (Greece) and sailed to destinations in the Mediterranean as well as the Caribbean and Central America. Further highlights were the exclusive AIDAselection voyages to Mauritius and Seychelles, to the Orient, to India and Greenland, to Iceland or as far as the Arctic Circle to Spitsbergen.
As part of the world cruise in winter 2018/2019, AIDAaura guests visited 41 destinations on four continents in 117 days.
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