Last year, when I was in Montreal, Quebec on my $26 day trip from Toronto via Megabus Canada, I had a chance to take an outside look at the cruise ship AIDAbella. Not a ship to regularly stop in Montreal, this was a bit of a treat for a guy who spends a little time as a Cruise/Travel Consultant. Equally as rare, docked right beside the AIDAbella was the globetrotting Crystal Symphony.
The AIDAbella is one of eleven ships belonging to AIDA Cruises and has been in service since 2008. She was christened by international model Eva Padberg. I have no idea who that is but she must be famous in certain circles.
She, the AIDAbella – not Ava Padberg, was built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany. The vessel has a gross tonnage of 68,500 and is 827 feet or 252 metres in length. The ship has 14 decks with eleven accessible to passengers.
The AIDAbella has 1,025 staterooms on board with a normal capacity of 2,050. However, she can fit up to 2,450 passengers max. 646 crew make for a pleasant cruise. The ship is registered out of Genoa, Italy but German is the language of choice spoken onboard all AIDA Cruises boats. Word is, there is a nude sunbathing area near the rear of the ship.
This ship was scheduled to leave Montreal two days after I was there. She was basically shadowing the Crystal Symphony on a Canada / New England cruise that would end in New York City.
So what’s the scoop on AIDA Cruises? As mentioned, there are eleven ships in the fleet and all operate exclusively in German. Formerly known as SeeTours, AIDA is part of the Carnival Corporation and is the German branch of Costa Crociere.
Yes, Costa Crociere, the same company that operated the ill-fated Costa Concordia that capsized off the coast of Italy. In fact, Captain Francesco Schettino (The Coward Captain, as he come to be known) was at the helm of the AIDAblu in 2010 when he was manoeuvring a dock job too fast and caused damage to the ship.
AIDA Cruises introduced ‘club cruising’ in 1996 and all ships still adhere to this model. The boats somewhat resemble a low cost all-inclusive resort. All dining is via large buffet restaurants. There are no dress codes. The ships have a focus on wellness and fitness.
Another interesting angle to AIDA Cruises that will not be found on any other other major cruise companies is that the crew, when off-duty, are freely allowed to mingle with passengers. You would have to believe that would vastly increase the chance of success for single passengers looking to score.
The HD video below is short and taken on the same day as the images above. Unfortunately, security was pretty high around this ship and the Crystal Symphony was blocking her on one side.
