AIDA Cruises has officially welcomed the AIDAmira to its fleet as model and TV host Franziska Knuppe christened the ship successfully on Saturday evening at 11 p.m. in Palma de Mallorca.

A fireworks display above the Majorcan port, that lasted around 20 minutes, opened the christening party. Star guest Johannes Oerding delighted the 1,000 guests on board with his hits on the former Costa vessel, which was converted over the course of a month for AIDA service in Genoa at a cost of $55 million.

Another highlight of the christening evening aboard AIDAmira was the charity event for AIDA Cruise & Help. The event was hosted by Mary Amiri.
Auctions included an original Rizzi, exclusive experiences with the other star guests on board such as a market tour with star chef Stefan Marquard, who also created the christening menu, as well as a bottle of champagne signed by the evening’s star guests.

AIDA President Felix Eichhorn was pleased to hand over a check of 78,500 euros to Reiner Meutsch and his foundation FLY & HELP at the end of the evening.

“I would like to thank all our guests and partners who helped us with our project that we take closely to heart, the construction of schools in developing and emerging countries,” said Felix Eichhorn. Proceeds will go to a school being built in Namibia. This is the seventh school project built by AIDA Cruise & Help in cooperation with the Reiner Meutsch Foundation.

After a debut cruise in the Mediterranean, which will see the ship leave on Dec. 4 for port calls in Sete and Barcelona, the vessel heads for its inaugural season in South Africa.

From May to September 2020 the AIDAmira will be sailing from Corfu on cruises in the Eastern Mediterranean. The itinerary takes in Athens, Santorini, Crete and Brindisi in Apulia. A separate itinerary calls in Malta, Sicily, Crotone in Calabria, Olympia and Cephalonia. The two routes can be combined, and booked as a 14-day cruise.