AIDA Cruises’ ship is the first to be powered by clean fossil fuel, LNG, at sea and in port
By
Elly Yates-Roberts |
Carnival Corporation brand AIDA Cruises took delivery of its newest ship, AIDAnova from Meyer Werft shipyard on 12 December.
The vessel, which is the world’s first to be powered by LNG at sea and in port, has since set sail for Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where she will pick up guests for her inaugural seven-day cruise on 19 December.
AIDAnova is the largest cruise ship to ever have been built in Germany and was christened at Meyer Werft’s shipyard in August, Onboard highlights include a domed adventure deck with three water slides and a climbing garden, a theatre with a 360-degree stage and more than 20 different stateroom types and 40 different restaurants and bars, including seafood restaurant Ocean’s and the Teppanyaki Asia Grill.
“I am so pleased about this extraordinary ship, which is another milestone on our steady path to providing sustainable cruises,” said Felix Eichhorn, president of AIDA Cruises. “AIDAnova will offer guests entirely new experiences onboard through the further development of the innovative ship designs of AIDAprima and AIDAperla, and many other successful products in the AIDA fleet. With an extraordinary variety of individual vacation options, exciting entertainment and new wellness, fitness and culinary offerings, we are providing new and exciting reasons for people to enjoy a cruise vacation, one of the vacation industry’s fastest-growing sectors.”
AIDA Cruises has been investing in LNG for more than 10 years because this form of propulsion virtually eliminates emissions of sulphur oxides and other particulate matter. Two further LNG-powered ships will soon join AIDA’s fleet – one in 2021 and the other in 2023. The three vessels are part of Carnival Corporation’s plan to introduce a total of 10 ‘green’ cruise ships across several of its brands and lead the industry’s use of LNG. The other ships will be operated by Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises UK, Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line.
“AIDAnova is a milestone for our company and the entire cruise industry,” said Michael Thamm, group CEO of Carnival Corporation’s Costa Group and Carnival Asia, the parent company of AIDA Cruises. “With Carnival Corporation pioneering LNG technology, we start a new era of environmentally friendly cruising. It's important now that the respective infrastructure will be further developed as more and more cruise lines are following our example.”