AIDA Cruises deploys enterprise IT across floating cities

AIDA Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation’s 94-ship fleet, has built a network architecture across 11 vessels.

Each ship operates two redundant data centers located in different fire zones.

Per ship: approximately 10,000 mobile devices, 300 PC systems, and 180 servers — 90% of servers are virtualized.

Across the 11-ship fleet, about 12,000 Cisco network devices are managed; cabin APs are one per cabin and corridor APs sit about every 25 meters; ruggedized APs cover outdoor and atrium areas.

Connectivity uses VSAT and Starlink (VSAT for stability, Starlink for higher bandwidth with negotiated pricing); AIDA is evaluating additional providers including Amazon’s Leo/Kuiper; major upgrades align with dry dock schedules and hardware is replaced roughly every five years.