Astoria Grande Marks 30 Years After Launching AIDA Cruises
Built at Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Turku, Finland, the vessel was christened in Warnemünde on June 7, 1996, with Christiane Herzog as godmother.
Astoria Grande, the former AIDAcara and the first ship built for AIDA Cruises, has reached 30 years of service. Delivered in mid-1996, the 1,186-passenger vessel now serves the Russian market under the Astoria Grande Cruises banner.
The ship introduced AIDA’s club-ship concept to Germany, with a product aimed at attracting first-time cruisers.
Astoria Grande is its current operator’s only cruise ship. It returned to service in early 2022, sailing from Sochi on itineraries covering the Black Sea and Turkey.
That deployment followed the vessel’s sale in June 2021. Aquillon Shipping announced the purchase with plans to establish a Russian cruise operation, and the ship subsequently took its current name.
The sale ended an AIDA career that had stopped during the industry-wide pandemic shutdown in 2020. Unlike most of the German brand’s other ships, AIDAcara did not return to service for the company when operations resumed.
From AIDA’s first ship to a world cruise
Built by Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Turku, Finland, the approximately 193-meter vessel measures about 38,600 gross tons. It entered service as AIDA and was christened at Warnemunde on June 7, 1996, with Christiane Herzog, wife of then German President Roman Herzog, serving as godmother.
Lars Clasen, then president of AIDA parent company Seetours International, described the original intention as bringing the “freedom of land-based” resorts aboard in a 2002 interview with Cruise Industry News.
Restaurants used open seating. Clasen said more than 90 percent of the ship’s original restaurant capacity was in self-service venues.
The vessel became AIDAcara in December 2001. In its early years, the ship sailed in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Canary Islands and Northern Europe, later adding South America and the Middle East.
In early 2017, the ship embarked on its first full world cruise.
Cruise Industry News’ anniversary account did not include a statement from Astoria Grande Cruises.
For 2026, Astoria Grande is scheduled to broaden its itineraries to include destinations in Greece. The planned expansion will also take the vessel into the western Mediterranean.
