After Tui, now also Aida Cruises. The Rostock-based shipping company has ordered two new cruise ships – not from Meyer, however, but from Fincantieri in Italy.
Hamburg-based Tui Cruises ordered newbuildings from Fincantieri just last week. Now Aida Cruises, as part of Carnival Corp., is following suit with orders for the Italians. The shipping company last put a new ship into service four years ago.
The world’s largest cruise group, Carnival, with its various brands, has long been a regular customer of Fincantieri. However, the Italians have now been awarded the contract by Aida Cruises for the first time. With two exceptions in Japan, the ships in the Rostock fleet were built at the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg for many years.
Delivery of the units (150,000 GT) is planned for the beginning of 2030 and the end of 2031. Each ship will have around 2,100 guest cabins and will range in size between the “Aida Prima” and “Aida Cosma”. The luxury liners will reportedly be equipped with dual-fuel engines that can run on gas (LNG), biodiesel or other sustainable fuels. With the newbuilds, the Rostock cruise fleet will grow to 13 ships.
Aida switches from Meyer Werft to Fincantieri
With the order from Fincantieri, Aida Cruises is once again switching shipyards. The previous newbuilds “Aida Nova” and “Aida Cosma”, which will remain the two largest ships in the fleet, were delivered by Meyer Werft in Papenburg in 2018 and 2021. The “Aida Prima” and “Aida Perla” came from Mitsubishi in Japan in 2016 and 2017. The shipping company will only announce further details about this new generation of ships in the coming months.
Fincantieri has delivered a total of 75 cruise ships to Carnival Corporation over the course of its history. The new order strengthens this long-standing cooperation between the two companies, Fincantieri announced. “We are honored that our long-standing partner Carnival Corporation has chosen Fincantieri to build ships for AIDA Cruises for the first time in our history,” said CEO Pierroberto Folgiero.
