AIDAaura
Introduction
Showing off her brightly colored art work, the AIDAaura gracefully sails into Singapore early on a humid Sunday morning. She proudly displays the trademark AIDA Cruises signature ruby red lips and large eye highlighted by a wavy long trail of blue eye shadow.
On close inspection of the eye, one might see correlations with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Indeed, the name AIDA comes from Giuseppe Verdi’s grand opera of the same name. Set in ancient Pharaonic Egypt, the opera is a love story about a young Ethiopian princess named Aida. Feliks Buttner designed the hull artwork for AIDA in 1996 using Verdi opera for inspiration, Feliks tried to capture the mystery and splendor of ancient Egypt through his design.
Following the successful inaugural season of the AIDAcara, AIDA Cruises continues further expansion in Asia. Delivery of additional Sphinx class ships from Meyer Werft has enabled a step up in capacity and the deployment of the AIDAaura to Singapore this winter.
History
AIDA’s origins can be traced back to pre-unification East Germany. In 1960, the Stockholm (of Andrea Doria fame – now Classic International’s Athena) was purchased by Deutsche Seereederei, the East German shipping giant, and renamed the Volkerfreundschaft. The line survived reunification and privatization only to be bought by NCL in 1997 and then resold again within 24 months.
P&O Princess Cruises was the white knight that acquired AIDA in 1999. Recognizing the potential of the German market, P&O provided an influx of capital for expansion which resulted in an order for 2 ships. The first of the duo, AIDAvita was delivered in 2002, followed in 2003 by the AIDAaura.
In 2003 Princess Cruises, in a less than equal merger, was gobbled up by Carnival along with AIDA. As part of Carnival’s realignment strategy, AIDA has been parked under Costa Cruises for management.
Construction & Design
Built as the sister to the AIDAvita, the AIDAaura was the 3rd new building for AIDA Cruise lines. Delivered in April of 2003, the AIDAaura was built at Aker MTW in Wismar, Germany (now part of STX Europe).
Similar in concept to other ships in the fleet, the AIDAaura has very few balcony cabins with just 62 being located on Deck 7 adjacent to the life boats. Passenger accommodations are located between Decks 3 to 7 and almost all passenger facilities, entertainment and food outlets are located above the accommodation on Decks 8 to 11.
AIDA ships are very unique in design. Whereas most cruise ships are built with balcony cabins dominating their upper decks, AIDA has gone almost in reverse. Although the new Sphinx class ships (starting with the AIDAdiva) boast that up to 65% of their cabins have balconies, clearly more could be accommodated higher up in the superstructure but the Club Ship product has a strong focus on group interaction and spending solitary time relaxing on one’s private balcony, is not part of the program.
Technical Data
| Name(s): | AIDAaura |
| IMO: | 9221566 | | | | |
| Call Sign: | IBNZ | | | | |
| Builder: | Aker MTW, Wismar (Germany) |
| Yard Number: | 004 | | | | |
| Delivery: | 3-Apr-2003 | | | | |
| Gross Tonnage: | 42,289 | | | | |
| Length: | 202.8 | m | 665.3 | ft | | |
| Beam: | 28.1 | m | 92.2 | ft | | |
| Draft: | 6.3 | m | 20.7 | ft | | |
| Cabins: | 633 | | | | | |
| Passengers: | 1,266 | lower | 1,582 | max | | |
| Passenger to Space Ratio: | 26.73 | | | | | |
| Crew: | 418 | | | | | |
| Crew to Passenger Ratio: | 1:3.8 | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| Engines: | ABB 2 x AMZ 1600 YX 14 diesels producing a total of 18,800 kW (25,212 hp) |
| Propulsion: | 2 x propellers | | |
| Thrusters: | 2 x bow and 2 x stern variable pitch thrusters | |
| Speed: | Cruising | 19.4 kts | Max | 21 kts | | |
| Owner: | AIDA Cruises (Germany) | | |
Current history
The AIDA cruise product is unique and decidedly successful for the German market. The ships are operated with a higher passenger density and significantly fewer crew compared to other cruise lines. AIDA is able to accomplish this by providing mass market service. The two main restaurants are self-service buffet with opening seating and cabins are cleaned only once per day. Thus, they are able to significantly reduce the crew size by eliminating service elements.
AIDA cruises will offer some similarities for those that have taken an overnight ferry in the Baltic. The restaurants serve free-flow house beer and wine during dinner. At opening time, the queues into the restaurants can be daunting and it is not surprising to find guests who “camp out” at their table until closing time in order to consume the maximum of free alcohol.
While this might seem like the ultimate in de-personalizing service, it should not be overlooked that AIDA has made a huge success of their product and is now the largest cruise line in Germany. For those wishing to have a Club Ship experience, take note that AIDA is a fully German product with all communication on-board being conducted in German.
Future
While the British version of the Club Ship product – Ocean Village – was a failure and the line has been disbanded and ships reassigned to Australia, AIDA remains strong. With the German propensity for travel and the addition of 3 more Sphinx class ships coming, no doubt AIDA will continue to reach out to further parts of the world.
Our prediction: As an entry level cruise product, AIDA will continue to be successful and expand. Expect to see a trend towards more balcony cabins with the next generation of AIDA ships as Phoenix Reisen and TUI (Mein Schiff) upgrade their fleets with balcony intensive ships. Additionally, expect to see more individualized service offerings as AIDA's customer base begins to mature. Those services will come through extra-tariff options for passengers especially as generating extra revenue streams becomes a focus towards the end of the decade.
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