Costa Cruises joins AIDA in return to cruising in September with two ships

Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises have confirmed that they’ll be resuming operations in September, with both cruise lines deploying two ships in the Mediterranean.

While Costa Cruises is an Italian cruise line, and AIDA Cruises is German, both are owned by Carnival Corporation, and both will be resuming services from September 6th.

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According to a press release from AIDA, they are planning to resume cruises from Kiel, Germany initially on September 6th aboard AIDAbella.

The first cruises with AIDAperla to the Norwegian fjords depart from Hamburg on September 12, 19 and 26, 2020.

Due to the current travel restrictions, these cruises will only be to the Norwegian fjords and passengers will not be permitted to go ashore.

“As the current development shows, the conditions for safe travel are unfortunately not yet in place in all travel destinations in Europe,” AIDA said in its announcement.

As a result, the cruise line has canceled all of its other scheduled cruises until September 30th and will be working with the various authorities to set the protocols for the resumption of cruising.

Costa Cruises, meanwhile, has announced it will resume services with Costa Deliziosa and Costa Diadema from September 6th, after receiving approval from the Italian Government.

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Costa Deliziosa will return to sea first on September 6, 2020, sailing weekly voyages from Trieste to Greece, while Costa Diadema will resume cruising on September 19th, 2020, operating seven-day cruises in the Western Mediterranean from Genoa to Italy and Malta.

“In order to offer the best possible holiday experience, while protecting the safety of guests, crew, and the residents of the local communities, Costa Cruises has developed the Costa Safety Protocol for its fleet, including new operating procedures in response to the COVID-19 situation,” the cruise line said in a statement.

The new safety protocols are in-line with Italian and EU regulations and have been developed by a panel of independent scientific experts in Public Health coordinated by V.I.H.T.A.L.I. (Value in Health Technology and Academy for Leadership and Innovation), a spin-off of the Università Cattolica of Rome.

Apart from Costa Deliziosa and Costa Diadema, the suspension of all other cruises have been extended until September 30th.