AIDAperla accidents and incidents

22 October 2023Crew / Passenger Deaths

(overboard) On October 22, 2023, while navigating off Kent England's coast (near/northeast of Ramsgate) the ship reported that a male crew was missing and presumed overboard.

HM Coastguard (alerted at ~9 AM BST / ~8 AM UTC) conducted a search and rescue operation by dispatching (from HM Coastguard Airbase in Lydd) a rescue helicopter assisted by a Beechcraft King Air (fixed-wing plane). The RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) dispatched lifeboats from Ramsgate and Dover to assist in the search.

Via the PA system, the Master (Captain Boris Becker) notified the passengers about the overboard at 10:45 AM (9:45 UTC). The ship turned around and headed toward the search area (approx 100 km/60 mi away from the current position). AIDAperla arrived and started the search at 1:30 PM (12:30 UTC) staying for about an hour.

HM Coastguard called off the operation at ~6:30 PM (17:30 UTC). The body was not found.

The incident occurred at the beginning of the 9-day voyage from Hamburg to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (one-way itinerary Oct 20-29) with call ports in Spain (La Coruna/Oct 23, Vigo/Oct 24) and the Canary Islands (Arrecife Lanzarote/Oct 27, Rosario Fuerteventura/Oct 28, and Las Palmas Gran Canaria/Oct 29).

April 2020Other Incidents

(crew repatriation) On April 22, 2020, AIDA Cruises announced a plan to use the AIDAperla ship to repatriate all the non-essential shipboard staff-crew from 6x AIDA liners (Luna, Mira, Nova, Stella, Diva, Mar).

On April 24, to AIDAperla (anchored off Port Bridgetown, Barbados) were transferred crew from AIDAluna (anchored in the same area). Then, Perla started a 10-day Transatlantic crossing to the Canary Islands, arriving in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (May 4) to pick up crew from AIDAnova and AIDAmira.

On May 6, Perla docked in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to collect crew from AIDAstella, then proceeded to Hamburg (Germany). On May 15, the liner docked in Port Hamburg and disembarked all the non-essential crew, who were repatriated via charter flights from Hamburg Airport.

19 January 2019Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

(attempted robbery ashore) On January 19, 2019, while the liner was docked in Port Castries (St Lucia Island), two German female cruise passengers (mother and daughter) were attacked by two men. According to the police report, the incident occurred at ~10.am, and near Serenity Park (in Sans Souci). An eyewitness reported hearing the women screaming and struggling, while the two young men attempted to steal the mother's pouch and daughter's camera. The thugs run away when a passerby headed in their direction. Both women sustained multiple bruises. The women then immediately returned to back to the ship.

The incident occurred during the 14-day "Karibische Inseln 2" cruise (itinerary Jan 17-31) roundtrip from homeport Bridgetown (Barbados) visiting Kingstown (Grenadines), Castries (port stay 8 am - 6 pm), Guadeloupe (Pointe-a-Pitre), Dominica (Roseau), Antigua (St Johns), Dominican Republic (La Romana), Aruba (Oranjestad), Curacao (Willemstad), Bonaire (Kralendijk) and Grenada (St Georges).

20 September 2018Cruise Illness / Virus Outbreaks

On September 20, 2018 (early morning), the liner docked in Rotterdam (Holland) with 70 passengers suffering from Norovirus symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea). The crew increased onboard hygiene measures after the GI infections occurred. By late morning, Dutch emergency services stated that half of the sick passengers had recovered and released from quarantine.

The incident occurred at the end of 7-day Metropolen cruise (itinerary Sept 15-22) roundtrip from homeport Hamburg to UK (Southampton), France (Le Havre, Paris), Belgium (Zeebrugge) and Rotterdam.

Note: When the itinerary doesn’t include US cruise ports, the ship is not required to report to CDC, thus no official illness report would be issued.

30 June 2017Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

(overboard) On June 30, 2017, a 24-year-old male passenger naked jumped from the ship. The young man appeared to be on drugs. He was traveling together with his grandmother. The incident occurred in the morning (at ~6:30 am) while the ship exited Palma de Mallorca’s harbor. The man, swimming through the harbor, was saved by port guards, brought back onboard, then taken to a local hospital. The incident happened at the end of the 7-day Mediterranean cruise (inaugural itinerary June 24 - July 1) from Barcelona to Palma (Majorca Island, Spain).

2013Structural and Technical Issues

In 2013 (2 years into the shipbuilding project) the Mitsubishi company replaced many of the project’s management and engineering teams, including external specialists (non-Japanese). Detailed design works were finished in mid-2015.

The original MHI contract was USD 650 million for each of both AIDA vessels (Prima and Perla), including the ship design work. The Mitsubishi company booked a loss of USD 1,7 billion, including the compensation to AIDA Cruises. There were even rumors about MHI exiting the cruise ship building business.