AIDAmar

AIDAmar as seen in Amsterdam at the passengerterminal during her first season at the 7th of june 2012.

On the 1st of april 2012, the sixth member of the Sphinx-class of ships floated out of the building shed at the Jos L. Meyer wharf at Papenburg, northern Germany. Just like the two ships in the class before her, the ship was a slight modification to the original trio of ships, recieving one extra deck. The ship was laid down as yardnumber S.690 and measures some 71.300 tons. She has a lenght of 253,22 meters, is 32,20 meters wide and her draft measures 7,20 meters. Her total passenger capacity is 2500, on a two-per-cabin basis this number is set at 2174. She also has some 646 crewmembers aboard on her twelve passengerdecks. The normal speed for the ship is 218 knots and  she is driven by two five-bladed propellers. As a nice extra touch for people who book an inside cabin, within these cabins LED-flatscreens are placed at one of the walls where-on an image of the sea will be played. So AIDAmar is the first ship where you can have a seaview from an inside cabin! Also, just like her sisters from the re-designed Sphinx-class, the ship will have a micro-brewery where the ships own beer is brewed.

On the evening of the 12th of april, the ship started her transit over the river Ems towards the town of Emden and this transfer was completed the following morning. Her name had been announced at the 24th of november of 2010 and this was AIDAmar. Her official naming ceremony was to be held in Hamburg, Germany at the 12th of may 2012. Like all recent namings of AIDA ships, the ceremony was truly spectacular in the presence of three other ships of the company, AIDAsol, AIDAblu and AIDAluna. In my knowledge, it has never been seen before that four ships of one company were present at a naming ceremony and it was a very grand event for the port of Hamburg. The ship was named by a 20-year old inhabitant of Hamburg named Sissi Kuhlmann and after the official part, a fireworkshow was set off from five ramps in the river. Also, lightbeams from all ships made the sky above the city of Hamburg look like as it were midday (so to speak). At her naming, some 100.000 people were present to watch the event.

In her first season, AIDAmar sailed cruises in northern Europe, in the fall she sailed the Mediterranean and in winter she was stationed in the Red Sea.