Aida cancels the cruise at short notice – why so many holiday dreams are bursting

An unusual cruise means absolute holiday horror. Long-term planning, lots of money and all vacation days were suddenly in vain. So also in the case of an Aida ship last year. The passengers were already on board when Aida Cruises suddenly canceled the first cruise of the "Aida Mira" just before leaving the port of Palma de Mallorca. Too many areas of the ship are not yet finished, the shipping company said.

Aida Mira: When the vacation dream bursts

It is very rare that a kick-off trip falls into the water at the last minute. However, it was more common in 2019 that cruise ships finished too late. Is there anything wrong with the construction? And what does that mean for vacationers who like to go on cruises?

The “Aida Mira” was not a new ship, it was sailing for the sister shipping company Costa before it was converted. According to Aida, bad weather made the renovation work on the outside areas difficult, hence the delay. Previously, several new builds by other shipping companies had been delayed. The result: canceled trips, rebooking, canceled vacation dreams.

Overview of late cruise ships

• "Costa Smeralda": The second cruise ship with liquefied petroleum gas (LNG) after the "Aida Nova" was originally supposed to welcome the first guests in October 2019. Due to delays in the Meyer shipyard in Turku in Finland, however, the first vacationers did not board until December 21. The reason according to the shipping company: The ship presented a special challenge in its construction.
• "Hanseatic nature": The Hapag-Lloyd Cruises expedition cruise ship was due to depart for its maiden voyage on April 13, 2019. But the construction work at the Vard shipyard in Norway dragged on. Two trips were canceled before the new building was able to set sail in early May. The "Hanseatic nature" was the first ship in a completely new class. The construction of a prototype is associated with factors that cannot be planned in detail, which could prove to be a challenge, explains Hapag-Lloyd Cruises about the reasons for the delay.
• "World Explorer": The first ocean-going cruise ship from Nicko Cruises – a project with the partner shipping company Mystic Cruises – was delayed by around three months and only went on tour in early August; several trips were canceled. The "World Explorer" was built in the Westsea shipyard in Portugal. The commissioning was delayed in particular by conversion measures that became necessary due to new requirements of the ship certification companies, Nicko Cruises said. It was about the cooling circuit on board.
• "Roald Amundsen": The first hybrid expedition ship from Hurtigruten received the first holidaymakers in July 2019 – the ship was originally scheduled to be completed in 2018. Here too, construction work was delayed, this time at the Norwegian Kleven shipyard. Numerous trips were canceled. The shipyard justified the shift with the complexity of the new building in a new series.

Cruise ships are complex construction projects

Is there a pattern with all the delays? "I don't see that," says the spokesman for Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Peter Hackmann. His shipyard completed three cruise ships on time in 2019. But the delays showed how demanding the construction of such large projects was: "In principle, it is absolutely comparable to the construction of airports, train stations or large concert halls." Some shipping companies also make comparisons with Berlin Airport BER.

Nicko Cruises explains: A frequent problem is delivery delays for parts that affect the rest of the process. Specifically: If a specialized contract partner does not meet the schedule, another supplier cannot continue working in another area.

Many new ship classes

Often small, technically complex and innovative ships of new series were delayed. Sisters of identical construction of ships that have already been delivered, on the other hand, are usually delivered as agreed.

Shipping companies and shipyards want to complete the ships as quickly as possible. Because every day in the shipyard costs. And every day the ship goes to sea with paying guests, a shipping company increases its sales. On request, they did not say why the companies no longer plan time buffers for such projects.

Maiden voyage with risk

The delays are annoying for vacationers. The shipping companies reimburse the travel price and also offer discounts on later trips or trips on other ships in the fleet. But often vacation was taken and not everyone can easily avoid it.

Against this background, can you book maiden voyages at all without any risk? "I think that depends very much on the individual situation and basic attitude," says journalist and cruise expert Franz Neumeier. It becomes difficult if you do not want to take any risks: “When cruising a cruise ship for the first time, you should be aware of the risk that it may fail or that the ship is not yet running smoothly. For example, what I would not do is go on a honeymoon or any other very special occasion for a maiden trip. ”

Germans love cruises

The passenger capacity of the German shipping companies has recently increased significantly due to several new buildings. Aida Cruises, for example, put the "Aida Nova" into service at the end of 2018, the first cruise ship to run on LPG. The new “Mein Schiff 2” joined the Tui Cruises fleet in February 2019.

The reason: Despite the debate about climate protection and sustainable travel, cruises have become even more popular in the past year. The number of German cruise vacationers rose by 18 percent in the first three quarters of 2019, said the industry association Clia.

From January to September, a total of 1.77 million passengers from Germany were counted on ocean voyages. According to Clia, data from the shipping companies. The most popular travel area was Northern Europe including the Baltic Sea (34 percent), in front of the Mediterranean (24 percent) and the Canary Islands (11 percent).

The German cruise market grew significantly faster than the pan-European one. Across Europe, 5.4 million passengers were counted in the first nine months of 2019, an increase of 8 percent. Figures for the entire past year should be available in March.

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