AIDA Cruises, the German unit in the Carnival Corporation & plc group, said it had been forced to cancel a number of planned short cruises from Rostock as it had not received final approval for its plans from Italy, the flag state of its fleet.

“The concepts and certifications for the restart of our cruise operation have been successfully developed and confirmed with the responsible authorities. Contrary to our expectations, the final formal approval for the start of the short trips from August 5, 2020 by our flag state Italy is still pending,” the company said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, we therefore have to cancel the planned short trips with AIDAperla and AIDAmar with departure dates between August 5 and 12, 2020,” AIDA Cruises said.

The company stated that after intensive preparations with the support of many national and international authorities and health experts, we have developed comprehensive concepts for the restart and implemented all increased hygiene standards and measures to protect against COVID-19 on board our ships.

“We assume that we will receive the last formal approval by the flag state Italy in a timely manner,” the company noted.