AIDA Cruises returning AIDAprima to Dubai for 2020/21 cruise season

Three’s a charm for AIDAprima as the German cruise line AIDA Cruises announces itineraries for her third cruise season out of Dubai in the Arabian Gulf during the 2020/21 winter season.

AIDAprima will sail a 19-night cruise from Palma De Mallorca to Dubai on October 2^nd, 2020, arriving in Dubai on October 19^th and spending two nights in port at the end of the cruise.

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From October 21^st, 2020 she’ll then commence a series of roundtrip cruises from Dubai until March 5^th, 2021 – 20 in total.

Her very first cruise of the seas from Dubai will be a 9-night itinerary departing October 21^st, all the other Dubai cruises will be 7-nights. This first one will be longer because in addition to Muscat in Oman and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE, AIDAprima will also visit Bahrain and Doha.

All the 7-night cruises will alternate between western Arabian Gulf itineraries visiting Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Muscat from Dubai, and eastern Arabian Gulf itineraries visiting only Abu Dhabi and Muscat.

These eastern Arabian Gulf cruises may prove more popular among passengers as they’re most port-intensive, with AIDAprima spending a night in both Muscat and Abu Dhabi, and a full two nights in port in Dubai at the end of the cruise.

Staying overnight in port gives passengers a full two days to explore the ports of call, rather than just an afternoon or into the evening on a late departure. AIDA Cruises is one of the only cruise lines homeporting in the Arabian Gulf that will be offering an overnight in Muscat for the 2020/21 season.

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While Dubai is unquestionably the most popular cruise port in the Middle East, especially for cruise ships turnarounds and new cruise departures, AIDAprima, along with several other cruise lines homeporting in the region, will also be offering Abu Dhabi as an embarkation port.

The decision to interport between the two cities gives AIDA’s (primarily German) cruise passengers more choice over which city they’d like to fly into to board their cruise ship.

This will be AIDAprima’s third cruise season in the Middle East. She was first sent to the Arabian Gulf during the 2018/19 season, sailing a similar set of itineraries.

The 125,572-gross ton, 300-metre, 3,300-passenger cruise ships is one of the largest homeporting in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and also the only duel-fuel cruise ship operating in the region (as she uses LNG rather than diesel while in port).

With 13 restaurants, a huge beach club complete with lazy river and several water slides and a full three decks of lounges, cafes, bars and shops, she takes AIDA’s famous beach-resort-style cruising concept to the next level.