AIDAmira: based in Cape Town for cruise season 2020/21
After her first ever South African cruise season was cut short by the Coronavirus pandemic, AIDAmira has been confirmed for a second cruise season out of Cape Town during the upcoming 2020/21 season. Arriving in Cape Town in November, 2020, AIDAmira, which formerly sailed as neoRiviera for Costa Cruises, will offer a set of 14-night roundtrip itineraries from the Mother City.
Each of these cruises will be identical in terms of the ports visited, but the order in which the ship calls at each changes.On every cruise, AIDAmira will visit East London, Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Luderitz and Walvis Bay in Namibia.Between Port Elizabeth and Luderitz, she will call back in Cape Town overnight, and will also stay overnight in Walvis Bay, giving passengers two full days to explore these two destinations on each cruise.The first roundtrip Cape Town cruise will set off on November 2nd, 2020, and she’ll sail a dozen of these itineraries until March 22nd, 2021. On April 5th, 2021, she’ll depart for the 20-night repositioning cruise up the west coast of Africa to Palma De Mallorca in Spain.
That repositioning voyage includes calls in Luderitz and Walvis Bay again, as well as Banjul in Gambia, Tenerife and Arrecife in the Canary Islands, and Malaga in Spain.
Carrying just 1,730 passengers at double occupancy, AIDAmira is similar in size (pre-stretching) to MSC Cruises’ MSC Opera (which is also homeporting in Cape Town for the coming cruise season).
After they acquired the ship in 2018, AIDA Cruises sent her into dry-dock for a thorough refurbishment that saw all her Costa DNA stripped out to be replaced with the German cruise line’s signature bright, loud, modern decor.AIDAmira is the fourth ship to join the AIDA Selection program, along with AIDAaura, AIDAcara, and AIDAvita, which uses the fleet’s smaller ships to perform longer itineraries calling in more exotic destinations.
For South Africans tempted to try a different roundtrip cruise in their home market, expect the German equivalent of MSC’s Italian hospitality. AIDAmira feels modern and chic following her $55-million refurbishment and the cruise experience in low-key and relaxing.
Packed into her relative small 48,000-gross ton size are seven bars, four restaurants and cafes, a theatre, spa and gym, kids club (with its own pool area), retail area, and casino.
So confident are AIDA Cruises in the appeal of South Africa as a cruise destination, that they have already confirmed her for another season in 2021/22.
