Aida Cruises Cancels Trips Due To Mysterious “IT Restrictions”
German cruise line AIDA Cruises is dealing with mysterious “IT restrictions” that have led to the cancellation of New Year’s Eve cruises embarking this past weekend.
Aida Cruises is a subsidiary of multinational cruise giant Carnival Corporation and predominantly caters to German-speaking passengers.
In an email seen by BleepingComputer, Aida told passengers for the AIDAperla cruise ship that their trip was canceled due to IT restrictions affecting the companies’ phone systems and email.
A translation of this email is below:
“We are currently affected by IT restrictions. Unfortunately, we are currently not available to our customers by phone or email. This particularly affects the necessary communication with guests arriving for the AIDAperla on December 26, 2020 (e.g. the MyAIDA portal).
Therefore we unfortunately have to inform you that the journey to the AIDAperla planned for December 26th, 2020 is not possible. We very much regret that we have to cancel the trip.
Of course, you will be reimbursed the full travel price. In addition, you will receive a voucher  for a future trip in the amount of the cruise portion of the canceled trip.
As soon as it is technically possible again, we will contact you as soon as possible.”
In addition, AIDA Cruises is displaying a message on their websites telling customers that it is not currently possible to reach them via phone or email.
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“We are currently affected by IT restrictions. Therefore, our customers cannot reach us by phone or email,” an advisory explains on Aida’s website.
According to German media NDR, passengers on Aida ships reported problems with the IT systems while on the ships.
NDR also states that a German public prosecutor’s office is investigating whether this is a cyber attack on the AIDA cruise line.
Sister cruise line is also having IT issues
Costa Crociere, another subsidiary of Carnival, is also currently affected by an IT outage that is preventing visitors from booking trips using their online reservation system.
Other than the fact that both companies are owned by Carnival and the outages’ timing, BleepingComputer has not been able to determine if a ransomware attack or other cyberattack is causing the outages.
AIDA Cruises, Costa Crociere, and Carnival Corporation have not responded to our emails about the disruptions and trip cancellations.
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