Her delivery was marred by delays; complications arose from her engineering being the first-of-its-kind for a ship of her scale. In October 2018, the first postponement was announced, cancelling all scheduled preview cruises. A small fire had also broken out during its construction in the shipyard, delaying her sea trials. Her maiden voyage was then scheduled for 2 December 2018 from Hamburg. Later, in November 2018, a second postponement was announced. Her sea trials were scheduled to begin on 16 November 2018 and all work was scheduled to be completed by 30 November 2018. AIDAnova was delivered on 12 December 2018 and her maiden voyage was on 19 December 2018 for a seven-day cruise from Santa Cruz de Tenerife around the Canary Islands and Madeira.
