- AIDA Cruises will stop using printed tickets for shore excursions as part of its Green Cruising strategy.
- All information about the excursions will be available to guests either on the board portal or on screens in public areas of the ship. Boarding cards will double up as tickets and will be scanned at the beginning of the journey.
- As a result of this initiative, 15 tons of paper will be saved every year across the fleet, the company said.
- Since 2013, AIDA has been printing out shipboard accounts only upon request from guests. And from last September, the company has been delivering the summary of services to guests in a new, digital MyAIDA travel plan. While the ships have digital photo stations for guests to order their vacation photos, the company also offers its guests newspapers and magazines at an iKiosk.
- The company has also reduced the use of single-use plastics as part of its sustainability strategy.
- AIDA Cruises will be the world’s first cruise company to test the use of fuel cells on a large passenger ship as part of the “Pa-X-ell2” research project on board of AIDAnova as early as 2021.
PRESS RELEASE
AIDA Cruises is the first cruise company worldwide to completely dispense with printed tickets for shore excursions. All information about the starting time and meeting point of the excursions is available to guests on the Board Portal or shown on the screens in the public areas of the ship. Guests’ boarding cards work as a ticket and are scanned ahead of an excursion by members of the crew.
Thanks to this measure 15 tons of paper will be saved per year across the fleet. This is a further building-block of the Green Cruising strategy which is ultimately aiming to achieve emission-neutral ship operations.
This responsible and economical use of resources has always been a keystone of environmental management at AIDA. A crucial factor here is the reduction of printed material and the use of digital modes of communication.
Shipboard accounts on all AIDA ships are only printed out at guests’ request, a measure that has already been in place since 2013. Since September 2019 guests have been receiving a summary of the services they have booked through MyAIDA, such as shore excursions or spa treatments, in a new, digital MyAIDA travel plan instead of a printed stateroom letter. In addition, the ships feature digital photo stations where guests can look at and order their favorite vacation photos. AIDA also offers its guests newspapers and magazines at an iKiosk.
The reduction of plastic and disposable items on board and, ideally, their complete avoidance, has been another key element of AIDA’s sustainability strategy. Single-use cups and lids have made way for reusable cups; single-use plastic cutlery has been completely eliminated. Plastic bags were replaced with paper bags in 2013; drinking straws or cocktail sticks are made from biodegradable starch or wood, while microplastic in cosmetic and spa products has long been banned. The cookies served with coffee are unpackaged, as are items of clothing that are returned from the laundry with no plastic covers.
At the moment, AIDA Cruises offers over 1,100 sustainable excursions (incl. bicycle, pedelec and Scuddy e-scooter tours), all marked with a tree symbol. These are chosen in accordance with social, ecological and cultural criteria which have been developed in collaboration with the sustainability initiative, Futouris e.V. By offering sustainable shore excursions, AIDA wishes to give its guests the chance to help conserve nature, support the local economy, and make a social contribution in its worldwide destinations.
