AIDA Cruises will sponsor the 833rd-anniversary celebrations for the Port of Hamburg, taking place from Sept. 16 to 18, 2022.
The main attraction on the water will be AIDAprima on Saturday evening, Sept. 17, 2022: As the finale of the birthday party, the AIDAprima will provide a light show in the heart of the city.
“We are delighted to be the sponsor of Hafengeburtstag Hamburg for the ninth time, the largest maritime event in northern Germany with over a million visitors,” commented Alexander Ewig, senior vice president of marketing and sales for AIDA, in a prepared statement.
During the three-day event, those interested in cruising can find inspiration for their next dream vacation aboard an AIDA ship at a cruise line store set up in the port. Among the features, visitors will be able to see a replica AIDAcosma cabin. There will also be a large roof terrace with lounge chairs, along with AIDA travel consultants to provide information.
By 2022, nine AIDA ships will make 120 calls in Hamburg, The AIDAsol kicked off the nearly 12-month season on Jan. 7, 2022, and the AIDAprima will conclude the year on Dec. 29, 2022.
AIDA Cruises has denied that it had plans to use its 2,030-passenger ship AIDAbella as a ”quarantine ship” for crew members.
“No, this is not true,” AIDA’s press department told Cruise Industry News. “There are no concrete plans for the AIDAbella now.”
An article by the German website moin.de stated that the AIDAbella was being transformed into a quarantine ship for 1,500 crew members. The quarantine was supposed to take place in Kiel, Germany. According to moin.de, those onboard would be crew members for the AIDAcosma which is set to debut later this year.
“The latest ship in the AIDA fleet (the AIDAcosma) is to be put into operation in Bremerhaven in December. However, before the crew can start their work on the cruise ship, they have to go into isolation because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. And that’s what AIDAbella is intended for,” the website wrote.
The AIDAcosma, AIDA Cruises’ latest ship, was floated out at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany in July. Initially scheduled for a spring 2021 debut, the AIDAcosma’s debut is now set for later this year. With the change, the vessel’s inaugural season in Europe was entirely cancelled and the first voyage was rescheduled to Dec. 22, 2021.
AIDA Cruises’ nearest deployment plans include AIDAdiva’s launching of the 2021 season on Oct. 16, becoming the eighth AIDA ship to restart commercial cruises.
On March 20, 2021, the AIDAperla became the first AIDA ship to restart cruise operations after the pandemic – initially around the Canary Islands and, since July 10, from Palma de Mallorca with seven-day cruises in the western Mediterranean. On May 21, the AIDAsol followed from Kiel, becoming the first ship to resume cruise operations from a German port. On May 22, the AIDAblu began cruises to Greek destinations from/to Corfu.
The AIDAprima resumed cruises from/to Kiel – and visiting Stockholm, Gothenburg and Visby – on July 10. In the course of this, AIDAsol moved to Rostock/Warnemünde, where Baltic Sea voyages have been on the program since July 1.
On July 29, the AIDAstella, the fifth ship of AIDA Cruises, set sail again. Two days later, on July 31, the first seven-day voyage with the AIDAmar departed from Hamburg, Germany. From Aug. 28, the AIDAmar sailed to Norway for the first time after the pandemic with fully-vaccinated cruises (or for those who can prove that they have recovered from the coronavirus).
On Sept. 5, 2021, the AIDAluna became the seventh ship in the AIDA fleet to start its season – the latest AIDA ship to resume operations.
Citing strong demand for voyages from northern German ports, AIDA Cruises will deploy another Sphinx-class ship from Kiel, according to a press release.
On August 15, 2021, the first four-day short cruise to Gdynia will start followed by a three-day cruise to Gothenburg.
Both voyages will be offered alternately through Oct. 14.
The name of the ship will be announced shortly, the company said, and all cruises are already open for bookings.
On the four-day voyage, the ship calls at the Polish port of Gdynia after a relaxing sea day passing the island of Gotland, among others.
AIDA started operating from Kiel in May with the AIDAprima sailing every Saturday on week-long cruises in the Baltic, calling in Gothenburg, Visby on the island of Gotland, and Stockholm.
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