AIDA Cancels Middle East Season, Shifting to Europe
AIDA Cruises is changing course for the upcoming winter season.
The German cruise line has officially cancelled all AIDAprima sailings to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi for winter 2025-2026 due to the “unreliably assessable situation” in the Middle East.
The decision affects not only the season but also the ship’s repositioning voyages in fall 2025 and spring 2026.
The news, announced July 11, 2025, comes amid a period of heightened political instability in the Middle East. They began with escalations near the Red Sea and Persian Gulf by Iranian-backed pirates attacking commercial vessels.
More recently, however, rising tensions between Iran, Israel, and the U.S. have some passengers feeling concerned about cruising in the region.
Instead, AIDAprima will stay closer to home, operating a series of itineraries in Northern Europe, Scandinavia, and the Canary Islands during the same timeframe.
In a statement released by the cruise line, AIDA Cruises said the move was made to give passengers more certainty and peace of mind.
“With this decision, the company wants to provide its guests with reliable clarity about their holiday trips in the coming winter season as soon as possible,” it read.
“At the same time, the safety of guests and crew is a top priority,” it added.
AIDAprima was scheduled to sail a repositioning cruise from Hamburg, Germany, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in October 2025. It has been calling on Dubai since its first arrival in November 2022.
That non-defunct itinerary spanning over a month included calls in Europe, the Canary Islands, Africa, Mauritius, and Oman.
The original season included multiple 7-night voyages from a Dubai homeport to Abu Dhabi and Sir Bani Yas in the U.A.E., and Khalifa Bin Salman in Bahrain or Muscat, Oman.
The 3,300-passenger ship was also scheduled to conduct another repositioning voyage in early April 2026, returning to Hamburg for the 2026 spring and summer.
Passengers already booked on cancelled sailings will be offered unrevealed alternative cruises.
As compensation, AIDA Cruises is giving affected guests a voucher worth 10 percent of their original cabin fare (excluding travel and insurance), understanding that booking prices have increased since guests’ original purchases.
The vouchers are valid on future bookings made through September 30, 2025, so passengers need to decide quickly where they want to go, or lose out on their vouchers.
New Itineraries
With its withdrawal from the Middle East, AIDAprima will now sail a variety of regional routes. In October 2025, the ship will operate cruises from Hamburg to Norway and major cities in Western Europe.
From there, the nearly 125,000-gross-ton vessel will shift to Baltic Sea itineraries including stops in Helsinki, Finland; Tallinn, Estonia; and Stockholm, Sweden.
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December 2025 brings seasonal sailings from Kiel, Germany, to Christmas markets in cities like Gdansk, Poland, and Riga, Latvia.
AIDAprima will also mark a first for the fleet by spending Christmas Day in Stockholm.
In January 2026, the ship is scheduled to sail a 23-day “Great Winter Break Canary Islands” voyage roundtrip from Kiel. This journey will take passengers along the coast of Western Europe.
In offering this route, Kiel becomes a year-round port for the first time in AIDA history.
To accommodate these changes, the 69,203-gross-ton AIDAbella will pick up some of AIDAprima’s originally planned Canary Islands and repositioning sailings following the ship’s refurbishment.
AIDAbella will undergo a major overhaul in Marseille, France, from January 21 to March 11, 2026, as part of the cruise line’s “Evolution” modernization program.
Bookings for the revised itineraries aboard AIDAprima and AIDAbella will open July 30, 2025.