Rostock, 21 September 2023 – A-ROSA is expanding its fleet for the 2024 season, with the addition of two ships. From April, both 110-metre-long premium ships will initially sail on the Rhine, under the names A-ROSA ALEA and A-ROSA CLEA, providing additional capacity on its most popular itineraries.

Then from the start of the 2025 season onwards, one ship will be transferred to the Seine in northern France and will sail from the heart of Paris to Le Havre on the Atlantic coast. At this point the current ship on the Seine, A-ROSA VIVA, will return to the Rhine.

In 2026, the second ship will be moved to the Gironde/Garonne in the Bordeaux region of France, both brand new rivers for A-ROSA.

Jörg Eichler, CEO of A-ROSA Flussschiff GmbH comments: “We are really excited to have contracted two more ships into our fleet at short notice and this move really couldn’t have come at a better time. It is predicted that by the end of the 2023 season we will have set new guest and revenue records, even surpassing the previous record year of 2019. This season we have also continued to consistently achieve high occupancy levels on all departures, and it looks really likely that we will set a record level of over 90 per cent of cabin capacity sold for 2023. Furthermore, we expect to finish the year with a year-on-year increase in revenue of over 40%.”

“We are seeing the greatest demand for bookings on the Rhine, so to initially start the ships on this river next season makes total sense.”

The two new A-ROSA ships will sail on the Rhine both north to Amsterdam and Rotterdam and south to Basel and Strasbourg. They will also regularly cruise the popular Moselle itinerary to Trier. A-ROSA ALEA and A-ROSA CLEA will be available for booking from October 2023.

Built in 2009 in the Netherlands, the new fleet members offer all the amenities that guests expect from A-ROSA. Each ship can accommodate up to 138 guests in 16 square metre cabins with either French balconies on decks two and three or windows on deck one, plus there are two or four 24 square metre suites, depending on the ship. Furthermore, each ship will feature a whirlpool, fitness room and three different lounges including an outdoor area on the bow of the ship. These two ships will follow the same successful culinary concept that is offered by A-ROSA ALVA on the Douro in Portugal, with buffet breakfast and lunch, whilst for dinner, starters and desserts are chosen from the buffet and the main course is conveniently served at the table.

Coinciding with the excellent interim figures and the new fleet additions, A-ROSA was recently awarded first place in a brand ranking of river cruise operators. The cruise study published by leading German trade publication fvw | TravelTalk was conducted by market research institute Innolink, with 191 travel agencies among the participants. A-ROSA was especially commended for the culinary offer, the service and cabin quality, the destinations and itineraries as well as compelling shore excursions.