Carnival Corporation & plc. announced on Monday, August 3, it had to cancel the planned out of Germany short cruises on AIDA while it still waited for approvals from Italy.
The cancellation of 2 of the line's August sailings is not due to the 10 crew who tested COVID-positive. Instead, AIDA's restart is being held up by its flag state.
In July, the company said it would resume operations in August, months after all cruise operators were forced to stop sailings because of the pandemic.
However, now the trips aboard AIDAperla and AIDAmar between August 5 and 12 have been canceled.
AIDA revealed it would reimburse payments to passengers who had booked voyages and allow them to rebook a different trip, with an onboard credit of 50% of the travel price.
“The concepts and certifications for the restart of our cruise operation have been successfully developed and confirmed with the responsible authorities. Contrary to our expectations, the final formal approval for the start of the short trips from August 5, 2020 by our flag state Italy is still pending”.
“Unfortunately, we therefore have to cancel the planned short trips with AIDAperla and AIDAmar with departure dates between August 5 and 12, 2020.”
“After intensive preparations with the support of many national and international authorities and health experts, we have developed comprehensive concepts for the restart and implemented all increased hygiene standards and measures to protect against COVID-19 on board our ships. “
“We very much regret this delay. We would have loved to welcome our guests back on board from August 5, 2020. We assume that we will receive the last formal approval by the flag state Italy in a timely manner.
All guests whose trip cannot take place as originally scheduled will be informed immediately.
AIDA very much wants guests to enjoy their AIDA holidays at a later date. To this end, we offer our guests the opportunity to rebook to a different cruise from our wide range of travel offers. AIDA appreciates guests for their confidence by offering them an on-board credit of 50% of the actual travel price.
We will automatically reimburse the travel price already paid and all services already booked on MyAIDA, according to the payment method made.”