AIDA Cruises is an American/British-owned German cruise line based in Rostock, Germany. The company was founded as Deutsche Seereederei with a ship called Völkerfreundschaft ("Friendship Between Peoples"), and entered the cruise industry in the 1960s.After the reunification of Germany in the early 1990's Deutsche Seereederei was privatised and became DSR. DSR acquired Seetours of Bremen and cruises were marketed under the Seetours brand.The company was acquired by P&O Princess Cruises in 2000. In 2003, P&O Princess merged with Carnival Corporation, to form Carnival Corporation & plc, the worlds largest cruise holiday company. Seetours was rebranded as AIDA Cruises in 2004.Following the merger, executive control of AIDA Cruises transferred to Costa Cruises Group, one of the main operating companies of the Carnival Group, with responsibility for the group's European brands.
AIDA Cruises is now one of ten brands owned by Carnival Corp, based at Miami, Florida, accounting for 6.5% of its share of revenue and has its own executive team, led by company President Felix Eichhorn. AIDA ships cater to the German-speaking market. As seagoing "club resorts", AIDA ships have on-board amenities and facilities designed to attract younger, more active vacationers.In October 2017, AIDAcara departed from Hamburg on the company's first round-the-world cruise. After a 116-day sailing, the ship returned to Hamburg on 10 February 2018. The ship visited Southampton, Lisbon, Madeira, Rio de Janeiro, Ushuaia, Easter Island, Tahiti, Singapore, the Maldives, and many other destinations.AIDAaura will take the company's second World Cruise in fall 2018. On 8 October 2018, the ship departed from Hamburg on a 117-day voyage visiting 41 ports in 20 countries on four continents. During this voyage, AIDAaura will become the company's first ship to visit several destinations including South Africa, Namibia, Melbourne, Tasmania, Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia.