Hamburg's Cruise Days on Saturday night featured a sound and light show on the Elbe which featured, music, lasers, a drone ballet, AIDAprima and MSC Magnifica.
Photos courtesy of AIDA. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.
AIDA is doing things a bit differently than most cruise lines. Their big, new AIDAprima is homeported at Hamburg, where it's cold in the winter. Its seven-night itinerary remains in northern Europe where it's cold throughout the whole cruise during the winter season. Passengers enjoy the ship's varied indoor resort features and the major cities at which it calls (Southampton, La Havre, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, and two sea days).
Since the top deck isn't going to get any usage this winter, AIDA has built a 2,100 square foot ice rink up there, 40 meters above the sea. Not only that, but they've partnered with the Holiday on Ice ice show for all sorts of events on the rink.
Details appeared in the November 15 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Photos courtesy of AIDA Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.
Warning: This video contains fast-paced cuts and flashes. If these bother you, please do not watch the video. It will be a shame, though, if you don't see it because it contains one of the most spectacular drone races you'll ever see aboard a cruise ship (as if you'll ever see another).
A little more than a month ago we showed you the first video of a new style of marketing campaign AIDA was beginning, to promote their newest ship, AIDAprima. It was an eye-popping tour of the ship in which the focus was on some amazing bicycle-riding whee the young Austrian trick-rider balanced on impossible things such as the ship's rail and the edge of a bar.
The idea was to make the video so amazing you just had to share it and it would go viral. Of course as you watch it a half dozen times in disbelief, you see AIDAprima too. The point, of course, is to get the video in front of as many people as possible, especially people who wouldn't normally be watching an AIDA video.
Now here comes the second of the campaign, and this one is just as worthy of going viral.
It features drone racing - two Vortex 250 Pro drones racing over, around and through the ship at speeds up to 75 mph. Don't worry. The two-minute video was shot while the ship was sailing from Japan to Germany in April when no passengers were aboard. The drones were flow by two professional pilots, Detlef Wormstall and Alex Wulf von Skypros, wearing virtual reality goggles. The video comes from the cameras on the drones themselves, stationary track cameras and from a third camera drone.
During the video the drones take viewers on the Lanai Deck and the Patio Deck, across the Beach Club, through the Theatrium and the restaurants, into the Organic Spa and even in the glass-enclosed double waterslide.
While you see the ship (if you remember to look) in this video as well as the previous one, it's an entirely different type of thrill from watching someone balance on a bicycle on the ship's rail.
In case you haven't noticed, within the space of a couple of weeks, there are a lot of ships entering service, and each line is competing for the attention of cruisers and the media. It's hard to get attention for their new half-billion-dollar (or billion-dollar piece in some cases) piece of equipment. Carnival's German brand, AIDA, should get some attention with this video shot aboard their brand-new AIDAprima.
The video features 20-year-old Austrian stunt bike rider Fabio Wibmer seeing AIDAprima in a most unusual way.
The complete story appeared in the May 18 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Some cruise lines name a ship and it’s rather businesslike and to the point. Others, well, they consider it a time of great celebration and pull out all the stops. The latter was the case in Hamburg on Saturday night.
Carnival’s German brand AIDA was given the opportunity to make the christening of AIDAprima the centerpiece event at the celebration of the 827th anniversary of Hamburg’s port, and they took full advantage of it. With 1.6 million people in attendance at celebration, AIDA gave them a popular German actress as the godmother, a brand-new large ship, a laser show and gigantic fireworks display.
The complete story appeared in the May 9 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Photos courtesy of AIDA. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings signing a new contract with EMC to quadruple the bandwidth they provide to passengers for internet service. The new lightning-fast service will be available on all three of the company's brands by July.
AIDAprima will be christened in Hamburg on Saturday night with coverage provided on the internet. It will be christened with a 12-liter bottle of Moet & Chandon's finest. A photo is below.
Details appeared in the May 5 edition of Cruise News Daily
Champagne at the ready for Saturday's christening of AIDAprima
Photo courtesy of AIDA Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.
Royal Caribbean has decided to do more extensive work on Empress of the Seas before returning it to the RCI fleet. After earlier canceling six previously-scheduled sailings, the line has canceled seven more that will keep the ship out of service through the May 23 sailing.
AIDAprima has finally arrived in its home port of Hamburg. It has been sailing from the Mitsubishi yard in Japan since March 13.
The Maryland Port Administration has signed a new contract with Royal Caribbean that will keep them at Baltimore through June 2020.
The complete stories appeared in the April 21 edition of Cruise News Daily.
AIDAprima arriving at Hamburg
Photo courtesy of AIDA Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.
AIDAprima might be setting a record for the longest delivery trip of a cruise ship as it sails from Japan to Germany.
AIDA reports it has finished the first stage of the trip and arrived at Singapore on Sunday (March 20). On Tuesday the ship will set sail for its next port call at Salalah (Oman), where it is expected to arrive on March 29.
Details appeared in the March 21 edition of Cruise News Daily.
The Port of Rotterdam is proudly pointing out that this spring they will have three giant newbuilds call at the port fresh from the yard. In April, the port will play host to Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. In May, her big sister, Harmony of the Seas, visits. Also in May, AIDA’s long-delayed megaliner, AIDAprima will homeport at Rotterdam for a series of cruises.
ISIS wanting to build a navy so they can attack large commercial ships, and cruise ships, with guided missiles. In response CLIA issued a statement that demonstrates they seem to be in touch only with yesterday's threats.
Jamaica has its first confirmed case of the Zika virus.
Mitsubishi reports the third fire this month aboard the nearly-complete AIDAprima. Arson is suspected.
Details appeared in the February 1 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has again notified AIDA they won’t be able to meet the delivery date for AIDAprima, and instead of entering service in October from Dubai, AIDA is now planning for the ship to enter service in April 2016 from Hamburg.
This, of course, changes AIDA’s inaugural programs again.
Details appeared in the August 4 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Ships have several milestones when they are being built, such as the float out, or the installation of the funnel, but AIDA ships have another milestone - the day they get their artwork on the bow - the trademark lips, eyes and waves.
AIDAprima is under construction at the Mitsubishi yard in Nagasaki, and it has passed just such a milestone.
The complete story appeared in the April 10 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Photo courtesy of AIDA. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.
* A Star Is Born - or Christened Windstar Cruise sailed into a new era for the brand today when their new Star Pride was christened today in Barcelona. More
* AIDAprima Floats for First Time Saturday was a big day in Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries floated AIDAprima for the first time at the company’s Nagasaki facilities. More
* Getting the Whole Story Norwegian Breakaway was delayed returning to New York on Sunday because it spent several hours sitting in the Hudson River. It was a minor story, but due to lack of information, it seems the news media made it into a larger one.
The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.
Carnival's German brand, AIDA, began releasing details yesterday of AIDAprima which will be delivered by Mitsubishi in March 2015. Some of their most innovative passengers features will be on the ship's top deck.
One thing to note in this rendering is that most of the top deck is covered by a retractable dome of a thin membrane which is UV-penetrable, making the facilities warm and usable year round, even during the inclement weather of winter in Northern Europe. This is important since AIDAprima will be homeported at Hamburg year round.
The Beach Club will take up the midships part of the top deck. AIDA has a beach theme around their pools as can be seen in the rendering. Note the large Beach Club Bar in the lower left. The area will also be used for beach parties at night, and when the dome is closed, a virtual starry night can be projected on the membrane, or it can be used as a screen for a laser light show.
The fun in the sun under the UV-penetrable dome will continue on the aft part of the top deck where passengers will find a climbing wall, sports court, and large LED screen for sporting events. One of the innovative features on AIDAprima will be the Lazy River which winds through the area allowing passengers to float along with the current at their own pace.
AIDAprima will also give passengers a thrill on a Skywalk that extends out over the sea about 145 feet below.
The complete story appeared in yesterday's edition of Cruise News Daily.
* Lots New to See
When Carnival’s German brand, AIDA, contracted for two 125,000-ton ships to be built at Mitsubishi in Japan, it was a sure sign they weren’t going to be your run-of-the-mill ships. AIDA is known for the innovation, and now that they are releasing details, these ships will be no exceptions.More
In addition to releasing some major details of the ships’ features this week, they also announced that the first, when it’s delivered in March 2015, will be named AIDAprima.
* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about an Asian Celebrity ... and Disney "wonders" about Jamaica.
The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.
