AIDA is working closely with sister brand Costa Asia to promote its Shanghai program.
Costa entered the China market in 2006, and AIDA's growth has propelled Germany to the world's second largest source of cruise passengers.
'The expansion of our product portfolio to include an AIDA Cruises ship on the fastest-growing market in the world is a strategic step for the further successful development of Costa and AIDA,' Costa Group ceo Michael Thamm said.
'With our lifestyle-oriented and innovative product, we will provide further important momentum for the emerging Chinese market and thrill entirely new groups of guests,' added Felix Eichhorn, president, AIDA Cruises.
AIDAbella will be readied for China service during a refit in spring 2017. Without changing the AIDA brand essence, the ship and its services will be oriented to Chinese tastes. For example, the Brauhaus (brewery) will continue to offer Bavarian conviviality while the buffet restaurant, renamed World of Asia, will add a hot pot restaurant called Hot & Spicy. New on board will be German brands like Rimowa and Hugo Boss.
Introduced in 2008, AIDAbella has carried more than 750,00 passengers to destinations including the Baltic, the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean, the Orient, Southeast Asia, the US and the Caribbean, charting more than 600,000 nautical miles.
The ship will bid farewell to its German fans with Southeast Asia cruises. From mid-December 2016 to early March 2017, AIDAbella will sail from Bangkok (Laem Chabang) on eight 14-day cruises through Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia.
A 19-day repositioning cruise from Limassol, Cyprus, to Cochin, India, sails Nov. 9.
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