By
Laura Hyde |
German operator AIDA Cruises is to offer guests increased bandwidth and faster internet connectivity on all ships by October 2023 after completing the initial phase of a SpaceX Starlink broadband installation faster than expected.
“Our project team has already equipped three ships in the AIDA fleet with Starlink antennas and the field test has been very convincing,” said Steffi Heinicke, senior vice president guest experience at AIDA. “Guests and crew appreciate the faster internet connections and enjoy the more comfortable web surfing. Digital work onboard is also made easier. We are very much looking forward to offering this new standard on all ships very soon.”
AIDAblu, AIDAbella and AIDAstella are the first ships in the fleet to provide Starlink internet. This summer, AIDAprima, AIDAperla, AIDAnova and AIDAcosma will also connect to Space X’s Starlink low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology and associated IT infrastructure.
From October 2023, crew and guests on all 12 ships in the AIDA fleet will have faster internet access at sea and at more than 250 AIDA destination ports around the globe.
AIDA is one of the first of eight Carnival Corporation brands that will implement Starlink. The corporation began a fleet-wide rollout in December 2022, starting with the AIDA and Carnival Cruise Line brands.