AIDAnova
AIDA Cruises · Cruise · In service · built by Meyer Werft
AIDAnova was the first cruise ship ever to run on liquefied natural gas, the 2018 proof-of-concept that Icon, Legend, World Europa and the rest all built on.
Derived metrics
Computed by ships.fyi from the core specification, see how we calculate these.
How big is it, really?
The AIDAnova's length overall, against things you already know the size of.
The 747-8 held the longest-airliner record for over a decade, until Boeing's 777-9 took it by about 19 inches (76.72 m), our sibling site aircraft.fyi measures everything that flies the same way.
One AIDAnova = 1.25 Titanics · 3.2 football pitches · 13 blue whales · 4.4 Boeing 747-8s laid end to end.
Plan a sailing on AIDAnova
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The numbers
| Length overall | ≈337 m |
|---|---|
| Beam | 42 m |
| Gross tonnage | 183,858 GT |
| Passengers | ≈5,200 (double) / ≈6,600 (max) |
| Crew | ≈1,500 |
| Propulsion | LNG dual-fuel: world first for a cruise ship |
| Delivered | December 2018 |
| Maiden voyage | December 2018, Canary Islands |
Put the AIDAnova next to something
Last verified: 2026-07-15 · Spot an error? business@luck.fyi
What makes it different
Every LNG-powered giant on this site, Icon, Star, Legend, World Europa, Jubilee, Wish, is following a trail AIDAnova cut in December 2018, when she became the first cruise ship in history able to run entirely on liquefied natural gas, in port and at sea.
The engineering risk was real: cryogenic tanks at minus 162 degrees Celsius inside a passenger ship, a new bunkering infrastructure that barely existed, and dual-fuel engines at a scale the industry had not certified before. Carnival Corporation absorbed that risk once and then rolled the same platform out across three brands.
Built for the German market, AIDAnova is easy to spot: the kissing lips and eyes painted across her bow are AIDA's trademark, wrapped around what was, at delivery, one of the ten largest cruise ships in the world.
The AIDAnova line
Excellence class
Who operates the AIDAnova
All 1 operator of record, verified 2026-07-15. Figures marked ≈ are approximate.
AIDAIDA CruisesGerman-market itineraries, Canaries in winter, Northern Europe and the Mediterranean in summer.1✓→