Aida Cruises is getting rid of yet another of its small cruise ships without saying what it will do with the vessel.
The Germany-based Carnival Corp brand said on Thursday that the 1,266-berth AIDAaura (built 2003) “will leave the AIDA fleet” in September.
The ship, which was built by Nordic Yards of Germany and is flagged in Panama, has a market value of $61m and a demolition value of $11.8m, according to VesselsValue.
The AIDAaura is the fourth small passenger ship in AIDA Cruises’ fleet that the brand has culled in the past year.
Carnival said that the ship’s “farewell season” will begin on 9 January in Cape Town and end in August with voyages to Iceland and Greenland after boarding about 1m passengers since going into service two decades ago.
Calls to New York-listed Carnival were not immediately returned.
In June of last year, Carnival announced that it will not return the 1,266-berth AIDAvita (built 2002) to service from its Covid-19 pandemic lay-up, but the company did not disclose its plans for the ship.
In January 2022, the brand sold the 1,248-berth AIDAmira (built 1999) to UK-based Ambassador Cruise Line.
The buyer renamed the vessel Ambition with plans to return it to service this year, but it actually secured a six-month contract in August 2022 from the Scottish government to house Ukrainian refugees in Glasgow.
AIDA Cruises sold the 1,186-berth AIDAcara (built 1996) in June 2021 to Russian cruise start-up Aquilon Shipping, which renamed it the Astoria Grande. Its current owner is Goodwin Shipping.
