COSTA neoRIVIERA cruise vessel 1999

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a cruise vessel under yard J31 by Chantiers de l’atlantique St Nazaire, France for Renaissance Cruises.
28 February 1997 first section placed.
02 January 1999 launched as the MISTRAL
Tonnage 47,276 grt, 24,096 net, 4.226 dwt, dim. 216.0 x 28.80 x 6.90m. (draught).
Powered by four 12-cyl. Wärtsilä diesels, 31,680 kW, twin shafts, speed 22.5 knots.
Accommodation for 1670 passengers and 670 crew.
25 June 1999 delivered to Festival Cruises, Mata-Utu, France. IMO No 9172777.

AIDAMIRA is a cruise ship currently operating for AIDA Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. The ship most recently operated as COSTA neoRIVIERA for sister brand, Costa Cruises, before officially debuting for AIDA Cruises in December 2019.

MISTRAL
The ship was originally ordered by Renaissance Cruises in the summer of 1996, but the order was later withdrawn. The yard and bankers together held ownership of the ship through a company called Auxiliaire Maritime. During construction at Chantiers de l'Atlantique, the order was taken over by Festival Cruises, which would be receiving its first new-build vessel. Festival Cruises chartered the ship for the first 12 years, with the option to purchase the ship after the first six years. The ship was floated out on 2 January 1999 from the shipyard and was christened on 25 June 1999 by Claude Deschamps, wife of French football player, Didier Deschamps.
She sailed her maiden cruise on 17 July 1999, a 7-day cruise from Genoa to the Greek islands. She was later deployed to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean after her inaugural Mediterranean season. [She later operated primarily from Cuba.
Festival Cruises collapsed in 2004 and most of the company's fleet, including MISTRAL, was sold off

MISTRAL was initially sold back to Alstrom Group and chartered to Viajes Iberojet and operated by Ibero Cruises, having been marketed as Iberostar Mistral. MISTRAL was officially sold to Iberojet at an auction and subsequently renamed GRAND MISTRAL, debuting for the cruise line on 30 May 2005.
In 2007, Carnival Corporation & plc formed a joint venture with Orizonia Corporation under Orizonia's Iberojet Cruceros brand, with Carnival owning 75% and Orizonia owning 25% of the company. With this, GRAND MISTRAL would now be owned and operated by the new joint venture company.
GRAND MISTRAL exited the Ibero Cruises fleet in November 2013 after being transferred to Costa Cruises.

COSTA neoRIVIERA
In August 2013, Costa Cruises announced that GRAND MISTRAL would be transferred to Costa Cruises, effectively canceling the South American itineraries from Santos, Brazil operated by Ibero Cruises. Costa reportedly invested €10 million into transforming the ship to integrate it into its fleet. A month later, Costa announced that the transferred ship, which would be renamed COSTA neoRIVIERA, would take a central role in launching a new sub-product that would focus on smaller ships with longer port calls, more overnights, and new exotic locates among its offered itineraries. In October 2013, Costa revealed that she would be based in Dubai, with her debut set for 24 November 2013.
COSTA neoRIVIERA exited Costa's fleet in October 2019 after it was announced on 25 May 2018 it would be transferred to the sister brand, AIDA Cruises.
AIDAMIRA

COSTA neoRIVIERA entered dry dock at the San Giorgio del Porto shipyard in Genoa on 30 October 2019 for a $55 million transformation to integrate her into the AIDA fleet. She departed the shipyard on 28 November 2019 and arrived in Palma de Mallorca on 29 November 2019 for her christening.
AIDAMIRA was officially christened by Franziska Knuppe (a German model and an actress) on 30 November 2019 in Palma de Mallorca.
AIDAMIRA is the fourth ship to be in AIDA's "AIDA Selection" program, along with AIDAAURA, AIDACARE, and AIDAVITA, which utilizes the fleet's smaller ships to perform longer itineraries calling in exotic locales. Her inaugural cruise was scheduled to leave on 4 December 2019 to Sète and Barcelona but was canceled last-minute due to continued renovations requiring her to stay in Palma de Mallorca until 4 December. She will then leave for her maiden season in South Africa, offering 14-day cruises from Cape Town. She will return to the Mediterranean from May to September 2020, sailing within the Eastern Mediterranean region from Corfu.

Coronavirus quarantine
On 15 March 2020, six passengers on the ship were isolated, after flying on a plane with a sailor who later tested positive with the coronavirus. More than 1,700 are now trapped on the cruise ship, docked at Cape Town, South Africa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDAmira
Niger 2017 800F sg?, scott?