Carnival Corporation announced that Germany-based AIDA Cruises restarted cruising this weekend in Italy. It's the second of the company's brands to do so. Italian-based Costa Cruises began cruising from Italy in September.
AIDA Cruises will initially resume its cruise operations with AIDAblu, scheduled to depart on Saturday, October 17 from Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. Through November 28, it will operate seven-day itineraries that call at Naples and La Spezia, as well as Palermo and Catania in Sicily.
Gradual, Phased Approach
Carnival plans a gradual, phased-in regional approach to restarting cruises across the globe. Travelers can expect limited itineraries, ships with adjusted passenger capacities, as well as enhanced health/safety protocols. Those protocols have been developed in coordination with government and health authorities and will dovetail with shoreside mitigation guidelines.
All guests and crew boarding AIDA will be tested for COVID-19; negative results will be required prior to boarding. Other protocols include regular temperature and health checks for guests and crew, physical distancing guidelines, facial coverings, capacity controls; increased sanitization measures; and guided shore excursions managed by AIDA to maintain health protocols.
The restart plans for AIDA Cruises follow Costa Cruises’ return to cruise operations in Italy in September. Initially, that restart included two ships departing from Trieste and Genoa on seven-day itineraries with Italian guests visiting destinations in Italy.
Last weekend, Costa Cruises expanded its sailing lineup as a third ship, Costa Smeralda began sailing on one-week, Italy-focused itineraries to Savona, La Spezia, Cagliari, Naples, Messina and Civitavecchia.
“For all our brands, there is no higher responsibility and no higher priority than compliance, protecting the environment, and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, our crew and the communities we visit," said Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corporation. "We are excited to have AIDA joining Costa Cruises in resuming sailing operations with a gradual expansion of service over time."
Frizzell also said that the company will share its "first-hand" learnings on AIDA and Costa with its own brands as well as other cruise operators.
For more information, visit www.aida.de.
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