In late December, Carnival Corporation introduced that three ships throughout the company’s manufacturers could be offered as a part of fleet optimization, concentrating on smaller and less-efficient ships.
At the time, it was acknowledged that two of the three ships could be from Costa Cruises, however the id of the third ship was unknown – till now. AIDAaura would be the third ship to be retired, and can be leaving the AIDA Cruises fleet in September 2023.
AIDAaura to Retire in September
Carnival Corporation will ship AIDAaura off in type with a dramatic and numerous farewell season because the ship prepares for its retirement in September 2023.
AIDAaura first launched in April 2003, initially with P&O Cruises earlier than that cruise line merged with Carnival Corporation. The ship is the oldest and smallest in AIDA Cruises’ present fleet, weighing in at simply 42,289 gross tons and with the power to welcome simply 1,266 company at double occupancy.
In comparability, the following oldest ship in AIDA Cruises’ fleet is AIDAdiva, a Sphinx-class vessel that debuted in 2007. At 69,203 gross tons, AIDAdiva can welcome 2,050 company at double occupancy, however remains to be sufficiently small to go to many extremely fascinating boutique cruise ports.
Farewell Season Sailings
AIDAaura has had a outstanding service life, welcoming greater than 830,000 company over the previous 20 years to quite a lot of world locations, together with two superb world cruises that spanned 117 days every and visited greater than 40 ports in additional than 15 international locations on 5 continents. In complete, the ship has accomplished greater than 800 sailings.
AIDA Cruises and Carnival Corporation wish to provide all AIDAaura followers the chance to get pleasure from a ultimate cruise on the vessel. The ship’s farewell season will start on January 9 with a 14-night voyage to South Africa and Namibia, crusing roundtrip from Cape Town and visiting thrilling ports similar to Durban, East London, and Luderitz.
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Similar itineraries will proceed by way of February, after which period the ship will provide a one-way cruise from Cape Town, South Africa to Hamburg, Germany, departing on March 6, 2023. That crusing will be cut up into completely different segments, and can embody ports of name in Namibia, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, Portugal, Spain, and England earlier than arriving in Hamburg on April 2.
AIDAaura will stay homeported from Germany for the rest of her time with the fleet, first homeporting from Hamburg after which, in July, repositioning to Bremerhaven.
Highlights of her final months of sailings embody visits to Norway’s fjords, exploring the Scottish coast, calling on historic cities all through northern Europe, venturing to Iceland and Greenland, and rather more. During most of the ultimate sailings, former masters of the vessel, in addition to particular visitor lecturers and resort managers from AIDAaura can be on board to share their remembrances and journey experiences.
The ship’s ultimate crusing will depart from Bremerhaven on September 9, 2023. The 12-night crusing will go to six ports of name: the Isle of Portland, Falmouth, and London in England, Saint-Malo and Rouen in France, and Antwerp, Belgium, earlier than returning to Bremerhaven on September 21.
It isn’t but recognized whether or not the ship will then be offered to a different cruise line or a unique sort of operator, similar to a ferry service or ship-to-hotel converter, or if the vessel will as an alternative be scrapped after retiring.
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Other Ships to Be Sold
AIDAaura is only one of three ships Carnival Corporation can be promoting within the coming months. The different two vessels are slated to be faraway from Costa Cruises’ fleet, although the precise ships to be retired haven’t but been confirmed. They are described as “smaller-less efficient ships” however could possibly be any of a number of vessels, relying on different elements being thought of.
The two oldest Costa Cruises ships are Costa Fortuna and Costa Magica, which entered service for the road in 2003 and 2004, respectively. At simply 92,720 gross tons, nevertheless, Costa Deliziosa is the smallest ship within the fleet, and may additionally be chosen for retirement.
Costa Serena or Costa Diadema additionally stay out of service in the intervening time, and could possibly be a part of the elimination plans.
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Costa Cruises has not but introduced any farewell season plans for the 2 vessels to be retired, however might accomplish that as soon as the person vessels are confirmed.
