AIDAcosma

Background

At the 11th of april in 2022, AIDAcosma visited the port of Rotterdam during her christening voyage from Hamburg to Palma de Mallorca.

As the largest cruisecompany in the world, Carnival Corporation  also understood that cruising needed to be more sustainable for the future. So after they just ordered the first cruiseships to be powered by a combination of diesel and the more friendly LNG for AIDA Cruises in august of 2011, the later AIDAprima and AIDAperla, they stepped up again when in june of 2015 the company ordered a class that was based on these ships, but then totally fuelled by LNG. LNG stands for Liquified Natural Gas and is now the most environmentally friendly way of fuelling ocean-going ships. This new class would not be built solely for AIDA Cruises, the first time that ships of this company would have sisters within other parts of the Corporation. In total, the class would be nine ships spread out over four companies. It started with AIDAnova in 2018 that was followed by Costa Smeralda (2019), Iona and Mardi Gras (2020), Costa Toscana and AIDAcosma (2021), Carnival Celebration and Arvia (2022) and Carnival Jubilee in 2023. And they were not small ships, as their tonnage measurement would be around 180.000, considerably larger then their blueprint parents AIDAprima and AIDAperla of 'just' 125.000 tons.

AIDAcosma was berthed in Rotterdam together with the Dutch sailingvessel Eendracht, that is also used for sailcruises. She is one of the largest sailingships in The Netherlands and was built in 1989.

Construction and general statistics

Ordered at the 15th of june in 2015, AIDAcosma was one of the original ordered four ships within the class. For AIDA Cruises, the class is named the Helios-class,while the rest of the ships will be known as the Excellence-class or XL-class. Sometimes even Excell-class. While AIDAprima and AIDAperla were built at the Mishubishi wharf in Japan, this new order was again placed with the wharf that had built most ships within the AIDA fleet, the German-based Meyer Werft. With AIDA originally being a German-based company too, that makes sense. The first steel for this new yardnumber S709 was cut at the 15th of august in 2019 and the first block was completed...well, not by Meyer Werft itself. It was the section containing the engineroom and that was built at the Neptun Stahlbauwerft at Rostock, the former homeport of AIDA Cruises and part of the Meyer Werft combine. Spreading out the work over several yards means that Meyer can work more efficiently and of course, quicker. The following march/ april, the block was then transferred to Papenburg, where the ship would be assembled. Again as the wharf builds multiple huge cruiseships within the same buildinghall at the same time, a 140-meter section of AIDAcosma had to be undocked at the 26th of june in 2020 to make it possible that Royal Caribbean Internationals' Odyssey Of The Seas could be docked out. When that worked out, the part of AIDAcosma was again docked within the hall at the 28th of november so now she could be finished.

As of course also Meyer Werft had troubles within the COVID-19 pandemic during the building of the ship, the planned delivery date of december 2021 for AIDAcosma was not able to be met. It was moved up ton the spring of 2022, not naming an exact date but is was indeed clear that her service would not begin at the original plan of december of 2021. She was docked out at the 10th of july in 2021 and had her Ems conveyance at the following 23rd of october when she sailed for the Dutch Eemshaven to be fitted out. From Eemshaven, the ship also sailed her trials in the Northsea. Satisfied by those, AIDA Cruises finally took delivery of the ship at Bremerhaven, Germany at the 26th of february of 2022.

Design

AIDAcosma is of the same design as her sisterships in the Excellence-class, especially of course compared to her earlier Helios-class sister AIDAnova. Some alterations were made in the design of the new ship, as for example the Beach Club was placed one deck higher, spanning deck 17 and 18 instead of 16 and 17 on AIDAnova. Because of this, the ship has more expansive sundecks, named the Ocean Deck, which is not just one deck in particular but a combination of all four outer topdecks. In comparisment to AIDAnova, the space for sunbathing is larger and there is a new funpark with an indoor playground for the small passengers. These decks are larger because the ship will sail more in sunny climates then her older sister. Two new restaurants are also added aboard, the Beach House Restaurant which serves light meals and The Mamma Mia, serving Italian cuisine.

Of course she had all further AIDA Cruises trademark venues, as well as most of the spaces that are also aboard her sister. Returning of course is the central 360 degree Theatrium, the AIDA bar with the star-formed bar (which is now placed close to the Beach Club) and a ginormous Spa and Health complex of 3525 square meters. At the stern, two skywalks with glass floors can scare you and one of the sundecks ends in a relaxarea with the Ocean Bar and an infinitypool overlooking the wake. 

Carreer

AIDAcosma sailed her first cruise from Hamburg in the Northsea departing at the 26th of february, 2022. She was named at Hamburg by athlete Kristina Vogel at the following 9th of april in again a spectacular ceremony. A staggering number of 300 liminous drones lit up the ship and the sky in a large lightshow, especially because the motto of the ship is the world is becoming more colourfull. The music for the ceremony as well as onboard was provided by DJ Alle Farben from Berlin. After a 'lap of honour' in front of the riverside Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall, the ship then departed for her christening voyage towards Palma de Mallorca. From here, her first season will have her exploring the western Mediterranean.