This page is
devoted to postcards of the AIDA Cruises which became a P&O Princess
subsidiary and later owned by Carnival.
An
alphabetical list of ships shown on this page is shown below.
The Table beneath gives links
to complete postcard history pages on selected individual ships.
Below the table are official postcards of the fleet in chronological order.
The first ship
in the fleet, Aida was built by Kvaerner
Masa-Yards, Turku, Finland for Deutsche Seetouristik/Arkona Reisen
in 1996. She is 38531grt in size, has dimensions 170.0 x 27.5
x 6.0 m, and she has 1186 lower berths. Engines consist of 4
x MAN 6L48/60 diesels, 21720kW, giving a service speed of 21
knots. Aida was designed for the
German market, and specifically for younger generation members
of this market. Club travel is very popular in Germany (and other
European markets) and Aida has been designed as Das Clubschiff.
The concept was partially inspired by Sally Albatross
(later Leeward) which Deutsche Seetouristik considered
buying, before deciding that a new build was necessary to allow
their ideas full resolution. She is therefore a very different
ship to HAPAG's Europa or Deilmann's
Deutschland, built for the more
traditional sectors of the German cruise market. Aida proved to be extremely
successful during her first few seasons, and in 1999, a 51% interest
in Arkona Reisen was acquired by P&O, who indicated that
they would build two sisterships. The first of these, AIDAvita, entered service in
2002. She is larger than Aida, which has been renamed
AIDAcara. AIDAvita is larger than AIDAcara, at 203.2m in length,
and 42200grt, with 1573 lower berths. The third ship, AIDAaura, is due to be delivered
in May 2003. A fourth ship, AIDAblu was transferred from
AROSA Cruises in 2003, but then passed
on to Ocean Village as Ocean Village Two in 2007. She was replaced
by the first of three large ships (69200 grt) to be delivered
annually by Meyer Werft from 2007, AIDAdiva (2007), AIDAbella (2008) and AIDAluna (2009). Two slightly
larger 71000 grt ships are expected in 2011 and 2012, also from
Meyer Werft.
38557
GT - 193.3 m long - 21 knots - 1180 pass (1250 max)
Aida was built by Kvaerner
Masa-Yards, Turku, Finland. She was completed for Deutsche Seetouristik/Arkona
Reisen in 1996, is 38531 grt in size, has dimensions 170.0 x
27.5 x 6.0 m, and she has 1186 berths. Engines consist of 4 x
MAN 6L48/60 diesels, 21720kW, giving a service speed of 21 knots. Aida was designed for the German market, and specifically
for younger generation members of this market. Aida has
proved to be extremely successful during her first few seasons,
and in 1999, a 51% interest in Arkona Reisen was acquired by
P&O, who indicated that they would build two sisterships.
P&O later passed to carnival, who transferred AIDA Kreuzfahrten
management to Costa Crociere. The ships were re-registered in
Genoa under the Italian flag. Images under Seetouristik ownership
are shown on the
AIDA webpage.
70210
GT - 245 m long - 19.5 knots - 1664 pass (1792 max)
Sitmar
Cruises
had two ships on order from Fincantieri in Italy when the company
was taken over by P&O/Princess. These were completed as Crown Princess and Regal Princess but were essentially
Sitmar designs. Both ships were due to transfer to a new P&O
Cruises company aimed at the German market called A'ROSA. Crown Princess moved in Summer 2002
to be the Arosa Blu.
Regal Princess was due to follow in
2004, but low loadings caused this plan to be abandoned, and
in September 2003, Carnival announced that Arosa Blu would join the Aida
fleet as AIDAblu from 2004. In 2007 she became
Ocean
Village Two
with another P&O/Carnival subsidiary Ocean Village. She moves again to
P&O Australiain 2009.
69203
GT - 252 m long - 24800 kW - 20 knots - 2050 pass (2500 max)
The first of
three large ships (69200 grt) to be delivered annually by Meyer
Werft from 2007, AIDAdiva (2007), AIDAbella (2008) and AIDAluna (2009). Two slightly
larger 71000 grt ships (a development of the same design and
the same length) are expected in 2011 and 2012, also from Meyer
Werft.
