Tag Archives: Baltic

AIDA Cruises Cancels 2025-26 Season in the Middle East

Posted on by
Reply

AIDA Cruises Cancels 2025-26 Season in the Middle East

AIDA Cruises is cancelling its 2025-26 season in the Middle East due to security concerns in the region.

It impacts sailings set to take place on the AIDAprima between October 3, 2025, and March 25, 2026.

In a statement sent to booked guests, the company noted that the vessel will now sail in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Islands during this timeframe.

“With this decision, the company wants to provide its guests with reliable clarity about their vacation trips in the coming winter season as early as possible. At the same time, the safety of guests and crew is our top priority,” AIDA reportedly said.

In addition, cruise lines are said to be concerned about transit time around Africa if they cannot transit the Suez Canal.

The company also noted that the safety of its guests and crew is a top priority, adding that the “situation in the Middle East cannot currently be reliably assessed for the foreseeable future.”

The new itineraries will sail from Kiel and Hamburg, visiting destinations in the North and Baltic Seas, as well as the Canary Islands.

Bookings for the new AIDAprima sailings will open on July 30, 2025, cruisetricks.de reported.

Affected guests are being offered rebooking alternatives, in addition to a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) valued at ten per cent of the fare paid for the cancelled cruises.

AIDA had been offering itineraries in the Middle East for nearly two decades.

Excluding the pandemic years, the company’s 2025-26 season will be the first without a ship sailing from UAE ports.

AIDA first introduced itineraries in the region during the winter of 2006-07, with the AIDAcara offering weeklong cruises from Dubai.

Other ships that sailed in the region over the years include the AIDAdiva, the AIDAblu, the AIDAstella, the AIDAprima and the AIDAnova.

With the AIDAprima repositioning to Northern Europe and the Canaries, AIDA also cancelled some sailings that were scheduled to take place onboard the AIDAbella in early 2026.

Norwegian Prima is to sail from Southampton in 2025

Posted on by
Reply

The ship, launched this summer as the first of six Prima-class vessels will operate a series of 10 and 11 “open jaw” cruises between Southampton and Reykjavik from May to September 2025.

The news comes after Norwegian Cruise Line president and chief executive Harry Sommer confirmed in August that a Prima-class ship would be based in Southampton.

Norwegian Prima’s 2025 itineraries from Southampton will include trips to Geiranger in Norway’s fjords, as well as ports such as Alesund, Flam and Bergen, plus Iceland, Zeebrugge in Belgium and Amsterdam.

The ship, which will sail from the US in 2023 and 2024, offers attractions such as the largest racetrack at sea, increased deck space and a three-deck theatre that converts to a nightclub.

NCL made the announcement as part of the release of its winter 2024/25 and summer 2025 programmes in Europe, the Caribbean and Alaska.

The line’s European deployment plans also include basing Norwegian Viva from Athens between May and November 2025. Viva will be the second Prima-class ship when it debuts next summer.

Meanwhile Norwegian Breakaway will sail a series of round-trip itineraries from Barcelona between April and October 2025.

Sommer said: “Our itineraries are designed to provide longer port hours and fewer sea days to truly allow our guests the opportunity to dive into the cultures and destinations they are visiting.”

Before heading to the UK in 2025, Norwegian Prima will operate a series of round-trip itineraries from New York to the Caribbean in winter 2024/25.

Norwegian CEO: Mediterranean cruising bouncing back

Posted on by
Reply


Photo by Dave Jones; Norwegian Jade in Santorini

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio said bookings for the Mediterranean have been strong in the past eight weeks, and that the company’s 2017 results will hinge on whether that continues.

Del Rio said business sourced in North America for the Med is up “strong double digits” across all three of the company’s brands (Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas Cruises) for the past eight weeks.

He said occupancies are currently flat and that pricing is behind in the Med for the second half of 2017, but that pricing could be up by year’s end if the current trend continues.

Del Rio said that because of the outsized yields of European itineraries, “2017 will greatly depend on the Med.”

In 2017, Norwegian will have 23% of its capacity in Europe, which is up due to the redeployment of the Norwegian Getaway to the Baltic, where demand is strong, Del Rio said.

Del Rio commented in a conference call for analysts held to discuss third-quarter earnings.

In the third quarter, Norwegian reported net income of $342.4 million compared to $251.8 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 15.6% to $1.5 billion.