TUI Cruises have announced that their subsidiary, Mein Schiff’s, newbuilds will be enlarged versions of the existing ships and carry a different name. The 2018 and 2019 newbuilds were going to be called Mein Schiff 7 & Mein Schiff 8. They will now be called Mein Schiff 1 & Mein Schiff 2. The existing ships in the fleet with that name, the ex-celebrity ships, will be transferred out of the fleet by then.
The new ships, Mein Schiff 1 & Mein Schiff 2 will have the following details:
LOA: 1,033ft
Beam: 118ft
Draft: 26ft
GT: 111,500
Decks: 15
Flag: Malta
Crew: 1000
Pax: 2894
Note the funnel is connected to what appears to be a lounge. Very reminiscent of the Legend and Splendour of the Seas.
Full press release:
The production of a new generation of Mein Schiff ships started today at Meyer Turku shipyard, Finland, with the steel cutting ceremony. The new Mein Schiff 1, NB-1392, will be around 20 meters longer than the previous Mein Schiff ships and will have space for additional 180 cabins.
The steel cutting for hull number NB-1392 or the new Mein Schiff 1 was started by Georgios Vagiannis, Project Manager Newbuild, TUI Cruises, in a ceremony at the steel hall of Meyer Turku. The first steel cutting marks the start of production of a new generation of TUI Cruises ships. Mein Schiff 1 will be around 20 meters longer than the existing new builds and will have space for 180 additional cabins. Based on double occupancy, this means up to 2,894 guests will be able to enjoy the TUI Cruises well-being cruise experience. In addition the ship will feature various other guest experience and technical improvements. Mein Schiff 1 will be delivered in 2018 and will replace the existing Mein Schiff 1, and Mein Schiff 2 will replace the older ship in 2019. The first two TUI Cruises ships will be handed over within the TUI Group to Thomson Cruises.
With the new ships the Hamburg-based cruise line is continuing the consistent well-being concept the fleet is known for.
“The new Mein Schiff 1 will more than ever be built around the wishes of our guests,” Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises, explains.
The start of production also marks a new phase in the good and long cooperation between TUI Cruises and Meyer Turku.
“After intensive collaboration with TUI Cruises and substantial new design work, we are happy to see that our ideas are starting to become reality with cutting the first steel for the new Mein Schiff 1.” Jan Meyer, the CEO of Meyer Turku, comments and continues:
“For Meyer Turku the new design also shows how real improvements can be achieved even within a long series of ships. This nicely shows that working long-term with the leading ship owners, that we are iteratively improving on already good designs to new levels of performance, which otherwise would be hard to reach. In other industries this ideation, design, realization and reality feedback approach is called ‘design thinking’. Our approach is: It’s in the core DNA of shipbuilding.”