The first trip of the “Aida Cosma” was actually planned for April 2021. But due to Corona, the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg and Aida Cruises postponed the takeover of the second giant ship of the Helios class. Only now is the cruise business of the Rostock-based shipping company picking up speed again: eleven of thirteen Kussmund ships are now back in operation.
The new building should be in Bremerhaven until the first voyage with passengers on April 26 from Hamburg. However, the Columbuskaje, which is very exposed to the westerly wind, made it necessary for the ship to be parked more safely in Kiel with an area of 60,000 square meters exposed to the winds. The “Cosma” has already gone through several February storms. “The ship has already passed its first baptism of fire with waves up to nine meters high,” said Captain Tommy Möller in an interview with the star during the crossing from Kiel to Hamburg.
After the almost identical “Aida Nova”, the world’s first cruise ship powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), which was commissioned in December 2018, another one powered by liquefied natural gas is now joining the fleet. But compared to the prototype, there are a few modifications, such as the extended outdoor area with decks and loungers in the rear or the even greater variety of restaurants.
Safety instructions via smartphone
It is also the first Aida ship in which digitization is visibly progressing: the mandatory sea rescue exercise before leaving the port no longer involves waiting in line for hours in a dense crowd, but via “digital safety instructions” via the TV screen in the cabin or via the on-board portal on the phone. Only the corridor to the rescue assembly point remains, where you briefly show the boarding pass.
Until the christening on April 9 in Hamburg by the track cyclist Kristina Vogel, the “Aida Cosma” commutes as a replacement for the “Aida Perla” on the metropolitan route from Hamburg and calls at the ports of Southampton, Cherbourg and Rotterdam, more like the christening trip it leads to the western Mediterranean to the ports of departure Barcelona and Palma.
In the 2022/23 winter season, the ship will operate in the United Arab Emirates. The end of quantitative growth seems to have been reached with the launch of the “Cosma”. Aida Cruises has no plans for any further new builds in the next few years.
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– “Aida Prima”: Cruise ship is stuck with passengers in the hurricane off Helgoland
– Of large and small ships in the port city of Hamburg: “The existence of the industry is at risk”