AIDA Cruises is an American/British-owned German cruise line based in Rostock, Germany. The company was founded as Deutsche Seereederei (German Shipping Company) with a ship called Völkerfreundschaft ("Peoples' Friendship"), 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 took 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 became the company's first ship to visit several destinations including South Africa, Namibia, Melbourne, Tasmania, Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia.

Ships

Current fleet

• AIDAcara. Built: 1996. Gross tonnage: 38,531 tons.
• AIDAvita. Built: 2002. Gross tonnage: 42,289 tons.
• AIDAaura. Built: 2003. Gross tonnage: 42,289 tons.
• AIDAdiva. Built: 2007. Gross tonnage: 69,203 tons.
• AIDAbella. Built: 2008. Gross tonnage: 69,203 tons.
• AIDAluna. Built: 2009. Gross tonnage: 69,203 tons.
• AIDAblu. Built: 2010. Gross tonnage: 71,300 tons.
• AIDAsol. Built: 2011. Gross tonnage: 71,300 tons.
• AIDAmar. Built: 2012. Gross tonnage: 71,300 tons.
• AIDAstella. Built: 2013. Gross tonnage: 71,304 tons.
• AIDAprima. Built: 2016. Gross tonnage: 125,572 tons.
• AIDAperla. Built: 2017. Gross tonnage: 125,572 tons.
• AIDAnova. Built: 2018. Gross tonnage: 180,000 tons.

Future ships

• AIDAmira. Planned delivery: December 2019. Gross tonnage: 48,200 tons. Currently sailing as Costa neoRiviera.
• Unnamed. Planned delivery: 2021. Gross tonnage: 180,000 tons.