The German cruise company, a joint venture between TUI and Royal Caribbean, has a new ‘number one’ again after handing over its original Mein Schiff 1 to British sister company Marella Cruises earlier this month.
TUI Cruises officially took delivery of the new Mein Schiff 1 yesterday at a ceremony at the Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland. The vessel will sail to Kiel and then Hamburg for events at the two German ports before going into regular service later this year.
“In celebration of our 10th anniversary we are presenting ourselves and our guests a new Mein Schiff 1, which marks the start of a new generation of ships,” said CEO Wybcke Meier. “The expansion will continue next year with the new Mein Schiff 2 and then in 2023 with Mein Schiff 7, another ship of this class.”
Among the new vessel’s passengers in the coming winter will be customers of Schauinsland-Reisen. The German tour operator has agreed a deal with TUI Cruises to offer combined packages of a cruise and a beach holiday.
Customers will be able to book a holiday from Schauinsland’s winter 2018/19 programme that combines a TUI Cruises voyage and an accompanying land holiday. Three routes will be offered: the Canary Islands with the new Mein Schiff 1, the western Mediterranean with Mein Schiff 2 and the Orient with Mein Schiff 4.
According to Schauinsland, which already has similar agreements with Aida and MSC, such combined packages are increasingly popular, especially for travel agency sales. The tour operator is legally responsible for the complete package booking.
Meanwhile, TUI Cruises will also change its traditional numerical fleet naming for the first time next year. Its current Mein Schiff 2 will be re-named as ‘Mein Schiff Herz’ (‘My Heart Ship).
The reason is straightforward. A new-build Mein Schiff 2 will enter the fleet next year, meaning that a new name was needed for the original vessel, which will remain in the fleet until 2022.
TUI Cruises already grew rapidly last year. Revenues soared by as much as 30% to top the billion-euro mark while passenger numbers increased by just over 15% to 467,000. The very high revenue growth was partly due to early bookings for Mein Schiff 6.
