The most hotly anticipated ship this year has just been christened in Germany. Taking place at the Meyer Werft yard in Papenburg, 25,000 guests crowded the dock to witness the formal naming of the AIDAnova. This is the first ship in the Excellence-class.
The line also held a concert there called AIDA Open Air with Star DJ / Producer David Guetta. For the first time there was not a godmother or even a godfather, but instead an entire family: Sonja and Asad Mirza, and their two children Adrian and Sophia.
The handover from the yard to AIDA will take place in November.
What’s unique about this is the ship isn’t even finished yet. At the end of the month she will transit the Ems river and moor at Eemshaven, NL for her seatrials and final fitting-out. It is typically here that a handover ceremony occurs and then they’ll sail her to a large port for the christening. With this being a German line, sailing German pax, on a German built ship, it made sense to hold the ceremony at the yard in inland Germany.