AIDAprima accidents and incidents

04 December 2021Coast Guard Medevacs

On the evening of December 4, 2021, a 1-year-old toddler was medevaced at sea. The medical evacuation happened soon after the liner left homeport Hamburg, starting a 7-day "Metropolen Ab Hamburg" roundtrip itinerary (Dec 4-11) with call ports Rotterdam (Dec 6), Zeebrugge (Dec 7), Le Havre (Dec 8) and Southampton (Dec 9).

According to German sources, the Bremen City's Emergency Services received AIDAprima's call for assistance at ~10 pm (Dec 4), requesting the emergency evacuation of a little girl who needs to be hospitalized for urgent medical treatments. Further details were not announced.

For the medevac, the DGzRS (Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbruchiger/German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People) deployed the rescue ship Hans Hackmack (1996-built, MMSI 211235200) crewed with 3 emergency paramedics and an ambulance.

The toddler and her parents were offloaded from the cruise ship via an emergency evacuation hatch. They were transported to Port Cuxhaven, from where ambulanced to a local hospital.

September 2018Cruise Illness / Virus Outbreaks

In September 2018, the German news media Bild reported that around 300 people (passengers and crew) suffered from Norovirus symptoms (diarrhea, vomiting) and remained quarantined in their cabins.

The epidemic virus outbreak occurred during the 7-day "Perlen Am Mittelmeer 1" cruise (itinerary Sept 22-29) roundtrip from homeport Palma de Mallorca (Majorca Island, Spain) to Ajaccio (Corsica), Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno, and Barcelona. With a double-occupancy capacity of 4000 (pax+crew), the percentage of affected from the illness outbreak was around 7,5%.

According to Bild.de, several passengers first started feeling sick after a bus excursion on Corsica Island. Then the GI virus quickly spread throughout the ship, with some passengers waiting up to 5 hours to visit the infirmary. The cruise liner had to alter its scheduled itinerary, skipping Barcelona. In Palma, all sick passengers were transported to a farm (in the city's outskirts) to wait for their home flights. Reportedly, many of them refused to stay and took the first flights back to Germany.

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.

13 January 2017Ship Listing

On January 13, 2017, at ~9 pm in the North Sea, while returning to homeport Hamburg Germany, the ship suffered listing from extremely strong winds and rogue waves (up to 7 m / 23 ft high). All passengers were ordered back to their staterooms. AIDA Cruises confirmed the incident, reporting injuries to 3 passengers (2 with bruises, 1 with bone fracture).

During the hurricane, Elbe River (that connects Hamburg to the North Sea) was closed for ships. However, Hamburg port authorities made an exception for AIDAprima, allowing the ship to enter and reach its berth at the Steinwerder terminal at ~7:45 am (on January 14).

11 January 2016Fire Accident

On January 11, 2016, during construction, the vessel experienced a small fire accident at the Nagasaki shipyard in Japan. The accident occurred at 8:30 pm local time. All workers and crew were immediately evacuated. No injuries were reported.

The shipyard’s fire team, helped by local authorities, quickly extinguished the fire. The fire started on Deck 7 during laying electrical cables near the ship’s Theater lounge (Theatrium). The cause for the fire was “technical defect in the electrical wiring”. The affected area was ~15 m2 / 160 ft2.

December 2015Structural 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 ship’s 3rd set of sea trials was finished at the end of December 2015.

The original MHI contract was USD 650 million for each of both AIDA vessels, 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.