Carnival’s cruise brand AIDA Cruises will be opening its Spring 2021 Cruise season on March 20. Originally scheduled to start earlier, the cruise line has been forced to postpone due to various restrictions placed on them by the German government and restricted travel opportunities.
From March 20, the cruise line is planning to set up multiple cruises throughout Europe.
Canary Islands, Mediterranean, Western Europe
The Rostock, Germany-based cruise line plans to sail with the AIDAperla to the Canary Islands starting March 20, which will be the first ship sailing that week.
Although this is a delay from March 6, due to the restrictions from the lockdown that has paralyzed daily life in Germany, with 90% of the guests from Germany, the line had little choice.
The German cruise line has now scheduled four ships to be sailing in European water in the week following March 20, in an all-out effort to have ships sailing as soon as possible:
- AIDAperla: The 3,286 passengers, 125,572 GT, AIDAperla will be sailing on March 20 on a voyage from Gran Canaria towards Madeira, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote.
- AIDAstella: The 2,700 passengers, 71,304 GT, AIDAstella will sail on March 20 on an 8-day voyage from Mallorca, calling into Rome, Livorno, two days in Marseille, Barcelona, before returning to Mallorca.
- AIDAmar: The 2,686 passenger, 71,304 GT, AIDAmar will be sailing on March 21 on a cruise with multiple stops in the Canary Islands and an overnight in Madeira.
- AIDAsol: A sister ship to AIDAStella and AIDAMar, the AIDAsol will be sailing from March 20 on a voyage in Western Europe, with stops in Rotterdam, Hamburg, Southampton, Le Havre, and Zeebrugge. The vessel will be doing embarkations in both Hamburg and Rotterdam.
AIDA- Lots of Planning- Not Many Cruises
AIDA Cruises has been planning and scheduling cruises since the beginning of the pandemic. The cruise line has been unlucky at best since the start of the pandemic. The line first interrupted the cruise season last year in mid-march.
Scheduled alternative cruises to the Baltic, with sea days only, could not be done, while the cruise line had to stop an entire cruise program in Italy due to the lockdowns in Italy and Germany. Last but not least, the cruise line was caught up in a massive cyberattack at the end of December.
The cruise line had to cancel its scheduled New Year Eve trips onboard the AIDAperla and the AIDAmar, both in the Canary Islands, while the head office in Rostock was also affected as even the phone lines were down.
The hope is, therefore, that the cruise line could now proceed with all the scheduled voyages. It would be a big deal, not just for AIDA and Carnival Corporation, but for the entire cruise industry.
It would mean a vast improvement over where the industry stands now. It would also send a clear signal to the cruise industry if all goes well.
Main Photo Credit: GRpic / Shutterstock.com
