AIDA Cruises sells its oldest ship to drive sustainable growth

German cruise company AIDA Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation & plc, has decided to dispose of AIDAcara, the oldest ship in its fleet.

After 25 years of service, the 1996-built unit will be handed over to a new owner in the coming weeks.

The restructuring of the cruise vessel fleet comes as the cruise line strives toward achieving its sustainability goals.

Before the end of this year, AIDA Cruises will continue its sustainable growth path with the commissioning of AIDAcosma, the second cruise ship to be operated with low-emission liquefied natural gas (LNG). This will be another milestone on the way to emission-neutral cruises the company wants to achieve by 2040.

To be commissioned at the end of 2021, AIDAcosma is the second LNG newbuild for AIDA Cruises of a total of nine cruise ships that have been commissioned for various brands of Carnival Corporation & plc at the Meyer Group with the same platform concept and pioneering environmental technology.

As part of its fleet renewal program, Carnival Cruise Line sold four cruise ships last year. Carnival Cruise Line will now take over the newbuilding slot originally reserved for AIDA Cruises at the Meyer Werft in Papenburg for the Excel-class LNG ship scheduled for delivery in 2023. The cruise line will also take ownership of Costa Magica from another of its European sister lines, with the ship expected to join Carnival fleet by mid-2022.

The fleet optimization is part of Carnival’s overall sustainability strategy that includes a reduction of the carbon rate across all its cruise brands by 40 per cent by 2030.

In addition to the further preparations for the resumption of cruises with all other ships of the AIDA fleet, AIDA Cruises is also working on construction projects for emission-neutral cruising.