AIDA Cruises, Carnival Corp’s German cruise brand, is ditching yet another of its smaller ships.
It announced that it will not be returning its 42,300-gt AIDAvita (built 2002) to service from its Covid-19 pandemic lay-up.
The company did not disclose what plans Carnival Corp has for the AIDAvita and declined to answer questions from TradeWinds about the ship’s future.
Cruise brokers said the ship, which has been idling in Estonian waters, has been available for sale for some time.
AIDA Cruises had planned to return the ship to service later this year. Some of its scheduled voyages will be covered by one of the company’s larger ships, while passengers booked on voyages that have been cancelled will be given the option to rebook on another of the company’s vessels.
The AIDAvita is the third ship that AIDA Cruises has pulled from service in the past year.
The company’s pioneer vessel — the 38,600-gt AIDAcara (built 1996) — was sold in June 2021 to Russian cruise start-up Aquilon Shipping. Renamed the Astoria Grande, the ship was supposed to have been deployed on a series of cruises in the Black Sea, but is currently sitting idle off Istanbul.
In January, UK-based Ambassador Cruise Line bought the 48,100-gt AIDAmira (built 1999) for an undisclosed sum. The ship is scheduled to return to service in 2023 under the name Ambition.
The trio were the smallest ships in the AIDA Cruises fleet, which with the departure of the AIDAvita, comprises 12 ships — the majority of which are between 70,000 gt and 183,000 gt.
