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I Took a Budget River Cruise and It Wasn’t What I Expected (TUI)

I’ve just disembarked a European river cruise on a cruise line that cost around 1/3rd of most other river cruise lines, it was a very eventful cruise in lots of ways and a few very odd things did happen.

Normally if you want to take a European river cruise you’re looking at £300, £400 per night.

Some cost £1000 per night but I paid less than that for an entire week, including flights, cruising on the Danube with TUI staying in a superior balcony cabin. 

Why Did I Book a TUI River Cruise?

I’ve taken river cruises in the past on the more luxurious lines but when TUI announced that they were starting river cruising I hoped that TUI would be the answer to river cruising on a budget. 

For that price though, I didn’t know what to expect and I was wondering what they’d have to cut compared to other lines.

I figured there must be a reason why the other cruise lines charge so much.  

We did have quite a few issues on the cruise, more than on most other cruises I’ve taken, but we were on the first sailing of the season, so didn’t expect everything to go perfectly, the main thing for me was would I get what I paid for, this is the cheapest I’ve ever seen a river cruise so I didn’t expect much.

My Pre-Cruise Expectations

Lots of people had told me pre-cruise that I’d be bored on a river cruise, I’d been told quite often that I should expect to be the youngest person on board and I’d heard that TUI’s food wasn’t the best.

For under £1000 for a week though, I wanted to give it a go for myself.  

What Did Our Cruise Include?

Our cruise included flights from London and we set sail from Budapest.

When we arrived, we were met by a TUI rep and taken on a TUI transfer to our ship the TUI Skyla. It is possible to book a TUI river cruise alone but most people onboard booked as a package with flights and transfers.

TUI river cruises also include excursion credit and drinks with meals, so I was hoping not to spend much extra during the cruise. 

Check-in Was Easy

When we arrived and boarded the TUI Skyla, I was amazed not only by how amazing the little atrium was but also by how easy the check-in process was.

We showed the person at reception our passports, were given our cruise cards and that was it!

Our room was already ready and we could start enjoying the ship straight away.

We were meant to be boarding the ship earlier but our flight was delayed by a couple of hours which meant that we didn’t get there until almost 5pm. 

The TUI Skyla, although she is new to TUI, isn’t actually a new river ship, she’s about 10 years old.

Looking at her, she looked very modern and I didn’t realise at that time that she was as old as she was, a few things did happen later on the cruise that reminded me of the ship’s age but the design of the ship was very modern and I liked it.

What is Onboard The TUI Skyla?

Like most river ships, the TUI Skyla is made up of 4 main decks, a top deck with lots of seating, deck 3 with the main restaurant and lounges on it and decks 2 and 1 which are mostly cabins.

The little atrium area in the middle spans decks 2 and 3.

There wasn’t a swimming pool on board but there was a little wellness area that could be booked. There was a sauna, a hot tub and a few little chairs here. 

Quite a few people had told me that I’d be bored on the river cruise ,so I was looking forward to seeing what would happen in the lounges.

There were actually two lounges onboard which I’d not seen on a river ship before. 

What is in The Atrium?

In the atrium, there is the reception desk, the cruise director’s desk and also a coffee machine that was available to use 24 hours a day.

By the coffee machine, there were a couple of cookie jars that were constantly refilled with different types of little cookies which were good, they did often trick me though when I thought they’d be chocolate chip and turn out to be raisins, but still, a good effort.

From here you could also go up to the top deck or down to the cabins on deck 1. 

Are TUI River Cruises Wheelchair Accessible?

TUI river cruises aren’t wheelchair accessible. There wasn’t any elevator or lifts on board their ships and on TUI’s website, it says that TUI river cruises aren’t wheelchair friendly.

Most river cruise ships won’t have a lift to the top deck but they’ll still have one within the ship but the TUI Skyla doesn’t have any lift at all. 

River Cruise Ships Dock Side by Side

Interestedly sometimes river cruise ships will dock side by side so you might find guests from other ships walking through your ship’s atrium to get to the next ship over.

It is really odd to have the cabin of another ship directly facing yours if you’re not expecting it, and I did see a lady completely naked at one point but it is fun to get to have a sneaky peak into other ships as you walk over or through them.

We Had Booked a Superior Deck 2 Cabin

As soon as we got on board we headed to our cabins. I was taking this cruise with my brother and parents and between us, we had one cabin on deck 1 and one on deck 2. Usually, me and my brother are in the cheapest cabin on the ship but the tables had turned on this cruise, we were actually the ones on deck 2! 

I wouldn’t normally pay more than I have to for a cabin but pre-cruise I had found out that the cabin that I had booked, a standard cabin, had a fixed double bed and cruising with my brother that was not going to work. 

I had to phone TUI pre-cruise to upgrade my cabin.

I paid £59 to upgrade my cabin so that I didn’t have to share a bed with my brother and that was well worth it. 

We ended up in a superior deck 2 cabin while my parents were downstairs in a superior deck 1.

I do wish this had popped up at the time of originally booking but the lady I spoke to at TUI was very helpful and it didn’t take long to fix. I might have missed it because I was too busy trying to get cash back and use discount codes.

I found a £400 discount code and got 10% cashback though so I wasn’t going to miss that. 

To learn how to find cashback and discounts when you cruise, check out my How to Cruise For Less cruise course.

Some Cabins Are Below The Waterline

I’ve been on river cruises before but haven’t ever stayed in a cabin below the waterline.

We didn’t know at this point just how little time my parents would spend in the room before getting an upgrade due to a rather strange problem but it was long enough for us to experience what it was like overnight and while sailing. 

The cabin was the same size as the superior cabins on other decks and our initial impressions were good. The cabin was a good size and seeing the water rush by the windows was really cool.

I wouldn’t recommend a cabin like this to somebody that gets claustrophobic, because you are under the water but overall, we thought that it was a nice cabin.

The bed was big and comfy, there was plenty of storage and it all felt very new. 

The Bathroom Doors Were Made of Glass…

I didn’t really pay much attention to the glass bathroom doors at this point but this would start to become a problem quite soon and it was one of my least favourite things about the ship, it’s just a terrible design.

Another thing to note here is that there were only two plug sockets in the cabin, both European sockets.

It was okay, but more would have been appreciated as one socket was used to charge our excursion packs (an audio device that lets you listen to your guide) and also to boil the kettle, which we did quite a lot during the cruise. 

Dining Times on River Cruises Can be Quite Fixed – But we Were Hungry!

By this point we were very hungry, we’d been travelling since early morning and apart from a sandwich in the airport for breakfast and a rice crispy bar on the plane, we hadn’t had anything to eat.

I knew though that usually river cruise lines are quite regimented when it comes to mealtimes, due to the smaller kitchens and kitchen teams usually if you miss a meal that’s it until the next meal.

We had missed lunch but I really hoped that we wouldn’t have to wait until 7pm for dinner. 

TUI Provided a Light Lunch, Phew!

Luckily we found that TUI had put on a light lunch of sandwiches and cake in the main lounge which was much appreciated. We never saw any light lunch or snack options like this again on the cruise though, which was a shame.

The dining times did feel quite fixed compared to other river cruise lines but I liked the fact that when it was meal times, we could just go and sit down in the restaurant.

On some cruise lines, you’ll have a fixed table and a fixed time, but that wasn’t the case with TUI. We could eat dinner anytime between 7-9 and usually lunch between 12-2. 

Most days breakfast finished at 9am which was an issue for me, on a cruise I don’t like to get up that early unless, of course, I have a reason to get up early, some of our excursions met before 9am which is pretty common on river cruises. 

Our bags arrived in our cabins shortly after we did, we unpacked and it was time to go to a welcome talk in the main lounge.

The Crew Are Always Available

One of the best things about river cruising is that you really get to know the crew, they do have time off but it doesn’t feel like they ever do.

If you need somebody or something you can always find them. 

The captain was lovely and said that if we had any questions at any time we could just pop by the wheelhouse and ask him.

He showed us what he was doing and how the equipment worked. I can’t imagine being able to do that on an ocean cruise. 

Most people who work on river cruise ships have multiple jobs, our cruise director team Suzy and Sonia would not only do the normal cruise director duties like hosting the welcome talk but they were also both brilliant singers who would sing for us in the evenings and would do things like making sure we all went on the right excursions.

They literally picked us up from the airport and would wave us goodbye as we went on the excursions and were both really friendly and lovely. 

It felt like if we ever had any issues they were there to help and if you are somebody who is nervous travelling, I think that’s very important. 

I Would Get Static Shocks CONSTANTLY!

It was around this point that I got the first static shock from the ship, I’m pretty used to getting static shocks on cruises but this was something different entirely, the ship was supercharged with electric.

I later found out that the carpets were made of recycled fishing nets and being nylon, is why it happened.

It wasn’t even just when I’d touch things that I’d get a shock, I’d be walking down the corridor and it would jump onto me and electric shock my elbow or whatever was closest.

It wasn’t a problem and was actually quite funny. 

Our Danube Itinerary

The cruise that we had booked was a 7-night cruise visiting Germany, Austria and Slovakia on the river Danube.

Check out TUI river cruises on the Danube on their website here: TUI River (affiliate link).

There was £120 per person of excursion credit included in what we paid and some of the tours like the walking tours only cost £15 per person so we were able to book an excursion almost every day with our credit.

Below is a photo of us on a Bavarian beer and boat tour.

We did buy a couple of more expensive excursions but nothing compared to the prices of the excursions on the big US ocean cruise lines.

Drinks Were Included With Meals

Dinner was served from 7-9 pm and we were very hungry by this point.

We went to the main restaurant and sat at a table for 4 at exactly 7pm.

There were tables for 2, 4 and 6 and each were just first come first sit.

As with most river cruises, drinks were included with meals. Wine was offered to us but I don’t really drink wine so I asked for a soft drink, I knew that it was a coke ship so I asked for a Coke Zero and my dad had a beer as he prefers beer to wine. 

Wine refills were continually offered throughout meal times but we almost always had to ask if we wanted another refill of anything else.

The Coke was served in tiny glasses so I usually made sure that I got at least one refill. I am addicted to every type of diet cola though. 

To learn more about what is included on a TUI river cruise, check out this post next: Are TUI River Cruises All-Inclusive?  Your Guide to What is Included.

This Was The First Sailing of The Season

It was quite interesting to see how the dining played out as the cruise progressed.

At the start, I think that the crew had to walk all the way to the bar to get any drinks that weren’t wine but by the end of the cruise, they had bottles of Coke Zero lined up on the side ready for us.

The crew were all very friendly and helpful but we did feel that they were busy and were running around working very hard.

This was the first sailing of the season so everybody was kind of learning how things worked and the best way to do things. Turns out the best way to serve lunch is with some form of diet cola on tap for me. 

We Sailed Away From Budapest at Night

After dinner we sailed away from Budapest, most of the guests headed to the top deck and we set sail down The Blue Danube, which really wasn’t very blue, sorry to burst that bubble.

It was amazing to see all of the sparkly lights and bridges, Budapest’s parliament building was lit up and it was beautiful.

We didn’t get to spend as much time on the top deck on this cruise as we would have liked, due to the weather but this was an experience that I won’t forget. 

Our Glass Bathroom Door Did Become a Problem

After dinner, we were tired from our long day travelling so we had another drink in the lounge and then decided to call it a night. It was at this point that we discovered the problem with having a glass shower door.

I don’t know about you but if I was designing the walls of a bathroom the last material on my list would be glass. Looking at it, it looked as though it was frosted and so we assumed this meant that we wouldn’t be able to see through it. 

As soon as we used the bathroom in the evening though we realise that this wasn’t the case. The below is a photo of me pretending to sit on the toilet, taken from the main cabin.

If we used the bathroom with the lights on at night you could see EVERYTHING that the person was doing.

During the day if the lights weren’t on it wasn’t too bad, you could see if somebody was sat on the toilet or standing but you couldn’t see every single movement in the same way that you could at night.

The actual bathroom was nicely designed, the shower was big and powerful and there were Molton Brown toiletries which were nice.

It’s just a shame that there really was no privacy. 

I shared a photo when I was onboard and had quite a few comments that said:

“Just make your brother leave the room when you want to use the bathroom”.

Now I don’t know about you but I usually like to shower in the evening or morning, it seems very mean to wake up, make my brother get fully dressed to go and sit down the corridor while I shower, if he wanted to shower too he’d have to come back and then I’d switch places I suppose? Not ideal. 

It wasn’t a huge problem we just showered in the dark and told each other when we were showering so we could look the other way but I’d still like to sign a petition to ban the use of glass in bathroom doors.

There wasn’t a lock on the door either and the toilet was within a metre of my brother’s sleeping head.

Thankfully it was just my brother and if I woke him up by going to the toilet in the night, well that’s just tough but I wouldn’t have liked to share this room with friends. 

Our First Stop Was Bratislava in Slovakia

Our first stop on our cruise was Bratislava and we didn’t dock until the afternoon.

The weather was actually quite warm at the start of our cruise, I made the mistake of only looking at the start of the week when I was packing and that meant I wasn’t really prepared for how the week would end up, that was totally my mistake.

I wish I packed a hat and gloves. 

Our Air Conditioning Didn’t Work

Our cabin was really really warm at the start of our cruise, the type of heavy warmth where the sun had been coming into the ship and our air conditioning didn’t seem to do anything.

It made the right noises but honestly was like an old man blowing warm air into the room. 

I went to reception and the lady working there was very happy to help, she came straight to our cabin to have a look and called maintenance for us.

They said that the air conditioning was working as well as it could and that they couldn’t do anymore. 

The weather got colder and colder as our cruise went on so it didn’t affect us but I’m glad we reported it to the reception, because if I was cruising in warmer weather without working air conditioning I’d not have been happy, I spoke to quite a few other guests onboard who said the same thing.

This was the first sailing of the season though, so this is the type of thing I expect they’ll fix as the season progresses, it’s probably just because the air conditioning hadn’t been used for so long. 

The lady who was working at the reception desk said that I was good at feedback, I’m taking that as a compliment! 

River Ships Usually Dock in The Middle of a Town or City

Bratislava was the only port where we didn’t have an excursion booked, so we just wandered up the hill and took in the amazing views.

On river cruises, you dock right in the middle of the town or city and it’s unbelievably easy to just wander off. There’s no queueing or security like you’d find on a big ocean ship you just come and go as you please.

Towards the end of the cruise, we wandered off to go to Aldi to buy a chocolate bunny just because we felt like we wanted a snack. 

Disembarking Was so Easy

When getting off of the ship we had to hand in our room keys, which were just these white reprogrammable cards and we would be given a shore card with our room number on it.

This is how they knew who was on the ship and who was on land. I’ve also taken river cruises with other lines that have had a similar method but some do have a process more similar to ocean cruises where you scan your own cruise card. 

The good thing about river cruises is that because there are so few guests they’re able to be more accommodating, if there’s a tour that goes out early or gets back late they can move events or things like dinner so that people don’t miss out.

They did move afternoon tea to a time when I was on an excursion though, so I missed out on that sadly. I love afternoon tea! 

We Would Often Arrive in The Afternoon and Stay Late

On a river cruise, you’ll sometimes arrive into port early in the morning, sometimes you’ll arrive in the afternoon.

You might leave in the afternoon or not until late at night, it just depends on how far the ship has to go. We were docked in Bratislava until the evening but came back onboard for dinner.

Dinner was served from 7-9 pm and after this, there wasn’t any more food on the ship, apart from the cookies of course. 

Do TUI River Cruises Have Dress Codes?

The only dress code in place on TUI River Cruises is that guests cannot wear beachwear in the main lounge or restaurant. Guests are encouraged to wear trousers, a dress or ‘smart’ shorts. TUI do have one gala night per week but the dress code is entirely optional.

I had got changed into a dress for dinner but as the cruise went on I did this less and less, mostly because it was so cold on the cruise but also because there really aren’t any dress codes onboard.

Most of the time I just was wearing leggings and a jumper/hoodie. 

Our Cabin on Deck 1 Had a Very Strange Problem…

It was around now that mum and dad started to have issues with their cabin on deck 1.

You really could feel the vibrations in the cabin when the ship was sailing and you could hear the water going by which wasn’t something that I had really understood before this cruise. That wasn’t the problem though and is to be expected when cruising on deck 1.

What wasn’t expected was that the door of the cabin kept randomly opening. It happened once when I was taking photos for my cabin review.

For more details about the cabins check out this post: TUI River Cruise Cabin Review – (Photos, Deck 1 & 2 Superior Cabins)

I thought maybe my parents had come back, or that housekeeping were coming into the room but there was nobody there. 

This would happen quite often so my mum went to reception to report it.

They sent a maintenance man to look at the door but the next night it kept happening again. Mum and dad had to literally barricade their door with all the spare furniture that they had because their door just wouldn’t stay closed even if it was locked. I’m sure something electrical had broken but either way, it wasn’t fixed.

The next day my parents were upgraded to a cabin on deck 2.

Luckily the ship wasn’t at full capacity so they were able to do that.

The TUI Skyla has a capacity of 150 and we only had 94 guests onboard. Typically, there are 40 crew onboard.

The Scenery When Sailing Was Incredible

Sailing from Bratislava in Slovakia, to Krems in Austria was the first time on the trip that we really experienced the traditional river cruising scenery that you see on the river cruise adverts.

You know the ones, people sunbathing on the top deck with a glass of champagne.

It wasn’t quite like that for us but I did have a cup of tea and managed to take my jumper off briefly which was amazing.

We passed under multiple bridges and for one bridge we were told that we had to sit down and couldn’t stand up.

The wheelhouse where the captain sails the ship dropped down to half height and even the crew ducked as we went under.

When you’re going under a bridge like that you know that it’ll fit, you trust the captain completely but it still doesn’t stop you from flinching as the bridge zooms closer!

On some river cruises, they’ll close the top deck completely when going under bridges.

We Enjoyed Our Walking Tours – and They Were Cheap!

In our port stops of Krems and Linz, we had a walking tour with a local guide.

Each walking tour only cost £15 and lasted around an hour and a half.

These tours gave us a great overview of the area and we were able to explore more afterwards if we wanted to. We learnt a lot about the history of the places that we visited and it was great to visit places that I’d never considered before.

That’s one of the great things about river cruising, you find all kinds of new places to visit. 

When going on excursions we had to use these VOX boxes.

They allowed us to tune into a channel which our guide was on so we could hear them in our ear. This meant that we could wander off slightly to look at things without being left behind.

This usually worked well but when we were in Linz our group got split into two and I was in the second group who couldn’t get in through a door.

We could all hear our guide in our ears who was stuck further ahead saying ‘where are they? Oh no we’ve lost half the group’.

Thankfully she came back to get us. 

We Had 4G Most of The Time and Free WiFi!

Another massive pro of river cruising is that because you’re so close to land at all times you almost always have phone signal and I used 4G for most of my cruise.

It was even good enough to do my normal weekly live stream so thank you to everybody who came to that one.

I propped up my laptop on a bin on my bed and I think it worked quite well until we sailed away without me noticing and I lost signal.

That just shows how smooth river cruise ships are though, I didn’t even notice. 

Make sure you don’t miss out on my live streams by subscribing to my YouTube channel here: Emma Cruises .

Your comments and questions really help me to form these videos, I had questions about the ages of the other passengers, the evening entertainment and at this point, I said that we hadn’t docked side by side with another ship, but that was to change soon, hence me seeing a random lady naked. 

The TUI Navigate App Was Great

Most river cruise lines do also include WiFi but I usually found that my 4G was faster.

The one thing that the WiFi was really good for though was using the TUI navigate app.

It isn’t actually an app it’s a web page you load when on the cruise but it had lots of useful information in it.

To access it visit Navigate.Tui when connected to the ship’s WiFi.

Here was the daily schedule and this could be updated at last minute if it needed to be.

There weren’t any paper versions of the daily schedule available so if you are taking a TUI river cruise, it’s important that somebody has a tablet or phone or laptop.

I don’t doubt that they’d print you one if you asked for it, but the app was good. 

As well as the daily schedule, there was also information about our itinerary and our ship.

We would use this to check our onboard spend although it didn’t always correlate with what we actually had bought. At the end of the cruise, our bill on paper was more than it had been on the app but we knew that a few drinks were missing from the app so it was okay.

What Was on The Daily Schedule?

Before taking this river cruise I had a LOT of people tell me that I would be bored.

The impression that a lot of people have is that there’s nothing happening actually on the ship but that really wasn’t the case.

Sure it’s not like ocean cruises where there are 5 things going on at once but there was usually something happening somewhere and definitely in the evenings.

During the day they might have yoga or a light stretch on the top deck, they did a few games here too but it really was too cold most of the time. We also had port talks most days and even had a very interesting lecture about the history of the Danube. 

In the evenings we had live music from Suzie and Sonia, a guest singer, a couple of quizzes, a comedian and we even had a German band who had really got the audience involved. 

They handed out instruments for some people to play and even made a couple of people dance including my friend Steve. Well done Steve!

If you wanted it there was entertainment most evenings until around midnight. I have to admit I was rarely awake that late as we had to get up early most days. 

In Passau, We Took a Beer and Boat Excursion

When we visited Passau in Germany we went on what I think was my favourite excursion, it was a Bavarian beer and boat excursion and we tried lots of different types of beer on this amazing boat.

We sailed from Germany across the border into Austria and back.

We also had a walking tour and a tour on the bus.

Our guide Eva was the best, she was so enthusiastic and happy and always laughing to herself, her laugh was infectious and we all came away from that tour very happy, possibly partly because of the beer.

During the walking part of the tour, we saw lots of very colourful houses and flood markers marked on the side of a house.

We Passed Through 22 Locks!

During our journey toward Vienna, we went through multiple locks.

The captain said that on our cruise we would pass through 22 locks in total. I’ve been through locks on river ships before but never as many as 22! 

It was really creepy but cool to be inside our cabin when we went through a lock. It would get darker and darker until the view would just be of a dripping wet concrete wall.

It was like being in a cave.

We did go through locks at night and sometimes you would feel the ship bump a little, but it never woke me up. 

In some locks we would be able to go out to the top deck when passing through the lock, the water level would either be dropped down or raised up. We would often have another ship in the lock with us too, so we would wave at each other and check out each other’s ships.

This would normally be a Viking ship, before this I knew that Viking were the most popular river cruise company but I had no idea just how many river cruise ships they have.

They have 76!

The Viking ships were everywhere and it definitely made me curious as to what a Viking river cruise would be like.

Everywhere we went we would see the Viking river cruisers with their Viking umbrellas. I did use one of these umbrellas in Norway during 2018 and can confirm it’s a great umbrella.

I did look up how much it would have cost me to pick Viking instead of TUI and it was around 3x the price. 

What is The Food Like on a TUI River Cruise?

The food was always well cooked and I think that the kitchen team did a great job with what they were given but it was obvious that they were on a budget.

The sizes of the meals were really inconsistent and sometimes I’d end up with a main course like the below which were absolutely tiny, I felt like I was being put on a diet.

Of course you can ask for more food and I’m sure this is something that they’ll work out as time goes on.

We did try a couple of local dishes onboard like Austrian pancakes which were nice and they always had multiple vegetarian options. I did find the labelling of the menu to be strange though.

The below symbol, which usually means vegetarian or vegan actually meant ‘vegetarian or can be made vegetarian’.

I’m vegetarian so I always had to check when ordering one of these dishes that it didn’t include meat and if it did, I had to ask for it without. 

On what is called ‘Gala night’ we had a 7-course meal but the menu was fixed. I explained along with lots of other people, that I was vegetarian and they were able to provide vegetarian options with no problem. 

My main was some sort of cheesy eggplant dish which was tasty. Eggplant is what we would call an Aubergine in the UK.

If you are vegan or have some sort of food intolerance or requirements, you will meet with the maitre d’ and they’ll work with you to plan your meals ahead of time.

There weren’t any food labels on the foods when it was a buffet, so sometimes I did just take a lucky guess. 

Some of the dishes that we had were really tasty and nothing was ever wrong with it but it definitely isn’t the type of gourmet food that you’d get on other cruise lines. If you’re a real foodie, I’d suggest another river cruise line.

If you’re like me though and just happy to have somebody else cook your dinner and do the washing up, you’ll be happy. 

There is a ‘Bistro’ Area Beyond The Main Dining Room

TUI advertised the fact that they had two restaurants onboard but in reality it wasn’t really two restaurants.

There was the main restaurant and then slightly down a level was an area called The Bistro, this was a more relaxed area where you could grab a couple of things to eat, but it really was just grabbing a couple of things. 

You couldn’t get to the bistro area without going through the main dining room, so I don’t think I’d class it as a separate restaurant and it wasn’t always open.

That might be to do with the reduced capacity though.

The area down here was really nice with glass on three sides but we never had a reason to sit down here during our cruise as we always ate from the main dining room. 

Who Was on The Cruise?

Another thing that I was told pre-cruise is that I should expect to be the youngest person onboard.

River cruising has this reputation of being for older people, even more than ocean cruising is.

I do understand where that stereotype comes from as on my last two river cruises I was definitely the youngest person on there by a long way.

On our cruise, there were a few other people my kind of age but the majority was older. This cruise was an adult only cruise so there were never going to be families onboard.

When the passengers for the cruise after ours came on though, there were a couple who I think might have been younger than me.

There were people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and probably 90s on this cruise. 

The average age was probably somewhere around 50. I don’t know I’m really not good at guessing peoples ages just by looking at them, but I never felt out of place on the cruise. Nobody assumed that I worked there or anything like that. 

We Were Docked Overnight in Budapest

We were able to see the next guests coming on because we actually spent two days in Budapest at the end of the cruise and our flight wasn’t until quite late the second day.

For a while there was pretty much double the amount of people on the ship which was pretty hectic. Budapest is lovely though and I’d definitely recommend a visit, there is so much to see and do and it’s very walkable. 

We Had a Half Day Tour in Vienna

Another place that we visited on our cruise was Vienna.

We had a city tour which lasted around half a day and it was so cold, I think I’ve just about got back the feeling in my hands and face now.

We didn’t have to wear face masks on the ship but I wore them most of the time when outside just to keep my nose from falling off. I’d definitely like to come back to Vienna. 

I Talked to Lots of Other Guests About Their Experiences

On a river cruise you do get to know your fellow guests much better than on ocean cruises. I chatted to many people about their experience and heard the same kind of feedback from most. 

Most said that they enjoyed the cruise and for the money that they paid they felt that it was good value.

I didn’t meet anybody who said that they hadn’t enjoyed the cruise even if some had things go wrong like lost luggage, broken toilets or doors opening themselves, most of us agreed that we could tell that the staff were working very hard and we hoped that a few of the teething issues that our ship experienced would be fixed as time went on. 

Be Careful if You’re Docked Next to Another Ship!

I knew that I’d get to know my fellow guests on this cruise but I didn’t expect to get to know a guest on the ship nextdoor in quite so much detail.

When we came back from a walk around Budapest I saw that we were still docked next to another ship so I decided ‘oh this will be a cool thing to show on my YouTube channel’ I’ll film as I walk into the cabin. Luckily I didn’t pick up my camera for some reason and I saw across and into the next cabin somebody in their bathroom.

I couldn’t really make out who or what it was, so I went for a closer look and that’s when a lady walked out of the bathroom and into her cabin completely naked!

Bear in mind that this was only a couple of meters ahead of me and the only thing separating us was two glass balcony doors. She never saw me, or if she did she wasn’t bothered at all.

My brother was saying:

“ Emma, close the curtains, close the curtains! “

which I did and I don’t think I opened them again until that ship was gone. 

Would I recommend a TUI River Cruise?

If you’re somebody who’s never taken a river cruise I think TUI are a great place to start.

You’ll definitely know if river cruising is for you after a week or so onboard without paying the normal river cruise prices. If you’ve cruised before with another river cruise line like Amawaterways or Viking you’ll definitely notice the difference. 

Check out TUI river cruises on their website here: TUI River (affiliate link).

To find out how my first ever river cruise went, including the onboard swimming pool that turns into a cinema, check out this video which now has over a million views.

This is my most watched video on the channel so make sure you check it out:

TUI have a £300 discount running at the moment for next year and theres no minimum spend, check them out:  TUI Discount . (Affiliate link).

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Freckle and Curl

TUI Danube River Cruise Review

We completed our 7 Day Tui ‘East Danube Explorer’ river cruise in July 2022. In this article we will look to give you a better idea on what to expect if you were to book a TUI river cruise or similar. We will provide you with insight into both the good and bad.

We booked our cruise only a few weeks before the cruise itself. As a result, we got ourselves a great deal. This appears to be usually the case with Tui packages. As you get closer to the time and if there is available space, the price will dramatically decrease. In our case it was around a 50% price reduction. At the time of writing, if you were to book the same river cruise 1 year out, you would expect to pay £1449 per person (excluding any sort of room upgrade). We paid £798 per person, and paid an additional £364 as a room upgrade. We did not opt to have the all inclusive drinks package which was £20pp per night (£280 for a couple for the week).

The price includes:

• Full Board  – breakfast, lunch and dinner at two restaurants and a range of drinks are included; standard tea, coffee and juices with breakfast, as well as soft drinks, beer and wine with lunch and dinner.
• £120 per person as credit towards daily excursions (eg: tours)
• Transfers to and from the airport

2. The Ship

Our tour was on the TUI Skyla. This ship features:

• 2 Restaurants (one formal, one buffet)
• Spa (spa pool, loungers, sauna)

We found the ship to be great and challenge the other cruise companies that target a more luxury market. All rooms and facilities appeared to be new and modern. Most importnatly when travelling it is quiet, and all you could hear when moving was the sound of the water.

Free WiFI is onboard but we found it to be fairly patchy and non-existent in our room. As a result, we had to rely on mobile data.

see here for more specifics

We paid an additional £364 for the room (cabin) upgrade and we are thankful we did. If you do not opt for an upgrade you will be placed in a standard room at the deck 1 level.. Whilst the room itself is much like the others available, what you lose is the view. You’re effectively below the water level and have two port windows to peak out of at the top.

We selected the ‘Deck 2 French Balcony Cabin’ the great benefit of this option is the sliding doors that open up. You can relax in the comfort of your own room looking out at an unencumbered view as the world passes by.

The room featured a large double bed that was very comfortable along with equally high grade pillows. A TV with a few English channels (BBC, Euronews, Comedy Central – some shows in english and some not). Unfortunately the casting feature on the TV did not work in our room, I think because of the poor WiFi. Mini fridge was a great feature that allowed you to pickup your own drinks/foods from the towns and store these away. We purchased beer, coca-cola and a bottle of bourbon on day one which allowed us to sit nicely with a drink at our french balcony.

Plenty of storage spaces to unpack you’re personal items and clothes. The bathroom was fairly standard with a sink, toilet (like on an airplane), and comfortable sized shower. Pressure on the shower was not a problem at all. All tap water on the boat was filtered which allowed you to drink from the tap without buying any sort of plastic bottle alternatives.

All three meals are inclusive every day and in many occasions have the opportunity to decide whether to eat at the port location or onboard. Spotted around the ship were also Coffee machines with treats such as biscuits.

Breakfast time is between 7am-9am. There is a buffet option where standard breakfast foods are available. This includes full english breakfast items (beans, bacon, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, hashbrown etc), cereals, yoghurt, continental breakfast, and pastries. In addition to the buffet you have the option to order from the Chef. Through the Chef you can order eggs cooked to your preference, eggs benedict, and omelettes. For drinks you will be served standard coffee, tea or you can grab yourself a juice. We aren’t the biggest breakfast eaters and usually don’t bother eating breakfast, however on the cruise we did every single day in order to fill up before the activities shortly following. One downside we found with the breakfast was there was a lack of fruit options. We are fairly healthy eaters and between the meals we felt we were missing some of the standard nutrients we expect in our daily diets. Therefore when the option for fruit was there, we stocked up when we ordered. For snacks, we also grabbed a couple pastries at breakfast to take with us in our bags during the excursions.

Lunch/Dinner

Both Lunch and Dinner and three course meals with an appetiser, main, and desert. For each part of the meal you were usually presented with 3-4 various options including at least one vegetarian option. In terms of taste we were pleasantly surprised for most of the options we selected. There was always a standard chicken or salmon option but we tried our best to try the more unique options when they were available.

One of the nights had a special ‘Indonesian’ menu that was considered experimental. This was by far the best meal we had aboard the ship. So much so that we ordered two mains each (staff were more than happy to oblige!). This makes sense as much of the cooks are Indonesian or from other Southern Asian countries, allowing them to flex their traditional dishes. What we were disappointed to see was the turnout for this option from the other passengers. What we noted was that a majority of passengers aren’t the most adventurous when it comes to their meals. We certainly hope this continues in the future and hope TUI really push this option to passengers as I think they could have done a better job to recommend it.

For drinks the Beer and Wine was flowing. It was unlimited and in most cases your waitress/waiter could not wait to supply you with an more drinks (very handy when you didn’t pay for the unlimited drinks package). There were a few different Beer options with a light and dark beer variation. For Wine you had both White and Red with each night having a different bottle from a new region. The quality was very good, and much better than what we expected (we expected the cheap stuff – it was not).

During the long cruise day where we were moving from Belgrade to Budapest, we had to be onboard for more than 24horus. As a result, they planned a gala night to make things a bit more interesting. This included a 6 course meal where you only had to make one decision regarding the main. This felt quite fancy with the little beautifully presented dishes. Bon appetite (I think staff are told they have to say this, and you will hear it so often it will become quite funny).

Our criticisms of the food are limited to a few different areas. The meat options usually didn’t hit the spot in portion size and the vegetarian options (like pasta) sometimes felt like it was a bit bland and missing ingredients. We would have also hoped for a bit more international flavour to mix things up. However, you can still eat off ship when you’re at the ports if you’re a very picky eater.

5. Port Time and Excursions

One thing that this cruise does is organise optional excursions for you to pick. Included in your ticket price we were given £120 each to use towards excursions. This paid for around 4 excursions. If you wanted more, then it was pretty reasonable priced at around £10-40 depending on how much is involved. There was usually 1 or 2 different excursion options available each day, one in the morning and then one afternoon/evening based excursion.

In all ports a historical walking tour was an option. The guided were local and would provide a wealth of knowledge and answer any questions that you may have. In our rooms we were provided with ‘Vox boxes’ which were little frequency radios with earpieces which allows you to hear the guide from a good distance away.

Each excursion had a rating on how hard the physical activity was (ie Walking). This allowed an individual to decide what they could and could not do. We are young (30) and fit so none of the walking was difficult for us, but for some of the older folk, they did struggle. So it’s best to fully understand the amount of walking that is involved.

If you’re not wanting to do an excursion and instead want to do your own thing that you can do that. That’s what we did in a number of ports. Maps are provided at the front desk which does highlight some key sights which was helpful, but in most cases we just opted for google maps and trip advisory to plan our day. When leaving the boat pay attention to the time you must be back onboard, otherwise you might be left behind.

We did 3 TUI excursions on our cruise:

Wine & History In And Around Novi Sad – Novi Sad, Serbia

Overview: Fortresses, ancient cities and wine houses are all part and parcel of a sightseeing tour in Serbia. This four-hour tour starts in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city. Follow your guide on foot to the mighty Petrovaradin Fortress, perched right on the banks of the Danube. You’ll have an hour to explore and find out how this stronghold became a centre for art and music. Then you’ll hop on a coach and drive to the ancient city of Sremski Karlovci. Take a 30-minute guided walk through its pretty streets before arriving at a wine house – a winery. This city has a rich history of wine production, and you’ll have an hour-long tasting session to find out more about it before heading back to your ship at Novi Sad.

Bohemian Belgrade – Belgrade Serbia

Overview: You can see Belgrade’s bohemian side on this tour. For starters, you’ll be taken to one of the city’s music halls for a folklore performance. This hour-long show gives you a taste of Serbia’s mish-mash past, with songs played using traditional Slavic instruments and dancers kitted out in authentic outfits. After, you’ll be dropped in Skadarlija, AKA the Bohemian Quarter. This place is more of a street than a quarter, but its cobblestone lane is brimming with some of the city’s oldest restaurants and bars. There’s the option of snapping up a traditional snack at one of the eateries – like grilled Serbian sausages or meat skewers, washed down with wine. Then you’ll hop on the bus back to the ship.

Lepenski Vir Archaeological Site and Golubac Fortress – Donji Milanovac, Serbia

Overview: This tour ticks off a pair of Serbia’s must-see antique attractions. After a 15-minute drive from the port, you’ll arrive at Lepenski Vir – an 8,000-year-old archaeological site that’s been dubbed ‘the first city of Europe’. In the museum here, you’ll watch a video presentation about the history of the area. Then you’ll head into the main hall to see what’s left of the old settlement. These remains were discovered in 1960, and historians believe they date as far back as 6500 BC. You’ll see where the old huts used to stand, as well as artefacts like carved stone heads and tools. When you’re finished, you’ll travel to the town of Golubac’s waterfront fortress. This giant stronghold was built in the 14th century, and sits on the shore of the Danube. During a riverside stroll, your guide will tell you about the battles that took place here between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. And before you start the journey back to the port, you’ll have some free time to explore the castle on your own.

6. Onboard Entertainment

An itinerary is set for each day with a number of different hosted and self hosted events throughout the day. Generally each evening the onboard musicians will provide a few hours of music whether it be a DJ set of 80’s classic hits or cranking out a ballad. On the first night in Budapest there was traditional dancers who put on a show for the guests in the main function room. During the day there was the odd Yoga session and some small games on the top deck (shuffleboard and a homemade mini golf course). Throughout the ship there was various board games, card games, and chess/checkers boards. We honestly didn’t do much of this, and rather entertained ourselves on top deck or in our own room, however people certainly did enjoy all of these.

What we did enjoy was the first night when we left Budapest, the tour manager Tony gave a fact session as we first left the port along the Danube river in front of the beautiful lit up buildings including the parliamentary building. The same was also done when we were passing through the ‘Iron Gates’ which was absolutely stunning first thing after breakfast.

7. Demographics

If I asked you to imagine the type of people on a river cruise what do you imagine?…. well you’re probably spot on. River cruises in general do market and attract an older crowd and because TUI is British company you will end up with 95% of White British people above the age of 60. We are a 30 year old couple and we did stand out as a very strange sight to the rest of the passengers. Some other passengers would jokingly ask what us young people are doing and were very interested to get our thoughts on the trip, as we were an anomaly. Honestly we did expect to be much younger than the others but did expect to see maybe one or two couples of similar age (or below 45) but that certainly was not the case. It did not ruin the trip, but it did detract from the social side of things as it was always going to be a bit harder to fit in. Whilst we do live in the UK we are also still not British so that did add another component to feeling a bit like outsiders. Regardless we did not go into this trip expecting to meet a bunch of new friends or party it up. It was planned to be relaxing and fairly calm which it most certainly was. The crowd are fairly calm and level headed, so if you are used to a trip to Benidorm where you drink and party yourself into a coma, then look elsewhere, you won’t get what you’re looking for here. Same with if you’re under 55 and looking to make a bunch of mates on the trip, it’s going to be unlikely unless you do get along with much older people (eg: there was a lovely deaf couple celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary onboard). We must say though, that everyone we did talk to were really nice and certainly went out of their way to say hello. Our boat only had about 70 people onboard (max ~150) so you will see the same people and you will be on excursions with them (which has some forced mingling). Because of this, if you’re used to a normal big ocean cruiser where you can hide in the crowd, you won’t get that here. Many passengers are elderly and have mobility issues, so when on excursions or doing anything as a group just be prepared that it will be slower than what you’re used to.

8. Conclusion

Overall, the river cruise was a great value for money. It also ticked off a number of new places we had never been to before. There are a lot of different river cruise options, so definitely pick one where you prioritise the ports that sound interesting to you. TUI has done a fantastic job to have a more entry level cost to river cruising. In comparison to other companies running, TUI has undercut them by a hefty margin and I can’t see how others could really rationalise the extra cost. Would we do it again?…. at this stage probably not. It does feel like a one time thing for now (a once and done). However, that is not TUI’s fault, i think that’s more to do with the target demographic that this industry caters to. So until a river cruise company goes after working age people, we will give it a miss for now….. unless financially it makes more sense to do a river cruise to see new spots we want to get to. Are we glad we did it? certainly, definitely a novelty experience.

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Mein schiff 9, mein schiff relax, mein schiff 7, mein schiff 2, mein schiff 1, mein schiff 6, mein schiff 5, mein schiff 4, mein schiff 3, tui al horeya, review of tui cruises.

TUI Cruises GmbH (tuicruises.com) is a 50-50 Joint venture company between TUI AG (Germany) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (US corporation). The Hamburg -based company was founded in 2008 and operational since 2009. On April 22, 2018, the cruise line celebrated its 10th anniversary. In 2018, TUI fleet's capacity was 14,784 berths, serving 0,5+ million passengers annually. By year 2024, TUI will have annual capacity ~800,000 passengers - compared to 2017 (500,000), 2018 (550,000) and 2019 (650,000, berths 17,500),

TUI Group fully owns three England-registered subsidiary companies (TUI UK Ltd, TUI Airways Ltd, TUI Ireland Ltd) plus one Ireland-registered (Adehy Ltd).

On February 7, 2020, TUI AG announced that Hapag-Lloyd Cruises (valued ~EUR 1,2 billion) becomes part of TUI Cruises. The contract with RCCL was signed in Hamburg (Feb 7), the cash transaction from RCCL (~EUR 700 million) was closed on July 6, 2020.

The Hanover Germany-based TUI Group (British-German multinational) is currently ranked the world's largest leisure and travel company. It was founded in 1923 and until 2002 was named "Preussag AG". TUI Group's companies specialize in hospitality and tourism services worldwide, with a portfolio including passenger airlines, cruise shipping (shipowner), package vacations, hotels and resorts, travel agencies, retail shops. TUI Group's current CEO is Sebastian Ebel, who (in October 2022) succeeded Fritz Joussen (2013-2022).

TUI Cruises GmbH's current CEO is Wybcke Meier (since 2014). In March 2023 was created the "Mein Schiff Destinations Department". Other executives include Marcus Puttich (director of destinations), Dennis Tetzlaff (VP of fleet operations and newbuilds), Denis Wiechert (VP of product management and guest experiences).

For 2021-Q1, TUI Group reported 2,8 million bookings (all brands/subsidiaries), or 56% of 2019's, with 20% higher average prices and overall loss EUR 698,6 million (EUR 146,7 M loss in 2019). Cruise shipping revenue was EUR 0,6 million (EUR 238,4 M in 2019). TUI Group secured 3x financing packages (with its major shareholders, banks and Germany's Economic Stabilization Fund). The 3rd package (EUR 1,8 billion) was completed in late January.

For FY2021 (fiscal year), TUI Group reported EUR 27 million (~USD 30,6M) in cruise revenues (~EUR 445,6M less than FY2020), EBIT loss EUR 277,5M (~USD 314M), avrg ship occupancy rates ~40%. By brand, the number of passenger days was 1,227M (TUI), 0,114M (Hapag-Lloyd), 0,153M (Marella). Average daily rates by brand were EUR 132 (TUI), EUR 514 (Hapag-Lloyd), GBP 124 / EUR 145 (Marella).

In September 2023 TUI signed with VIKAND Solutions (Dania Beach Florida-based medical group specializing in maritime healthcare) to deliver fleetwide biomedical equipment and provide support (lifecycle asset management, preventative maintenance, repairs, support).

In January 2024, TUI signed a partnership with Marquard & Bahls (1947-founded, Hamburg-based company specializing in energy and chemicals) to supply with methanol Mein Schiff 7 (fleet's first methanol-powered vessel vessel). The deal was signed by Wybcke Meier (TUI's CEO) and Volker Ebeling (Mabanaft's Senior VP of New Energy, Supply & Infrastructure).

(new brand) TUI River Cruises UK

In April 2019, the shipowner TUI AG terminated the charters of its 3 riverboats and established the UK-focused brand "TUI River Cruises" (tui.co.uk/river-cruises). The new brand was scheduled to start operations in summer 2020 but due to the global health crisis, its inauguration was postponed for August 2021 (delayed ~1,5 years).

The sisterships are named TUI Isla , TUI Maya , TUI Skyla .

In 2024-2025, TUI expands the river fleet with two more boats - TUI Al Horeya (2024/Egypt's Nile River) and TUI Alma (2025/Portugal's Douro River).

TUI River Cruises is a separate company part (fully-owned subsidiary) of TUI AG (British-German travel and tourism corporation). TUI Group also owns the companies Marella Cruises UK and Hapag-Lloyd-Cruises .

River travel aficionados can choose from various itineraries and optional shipboard and land packages. Standard (basic) TUI river cruise pricing is inclusive of alcohol (beers and wines by the glass) and soft drinks with all meals, as well as of gratuities (onboard tips), service charges and bicycles (offered complimentary to all passengers in call ports of the current cruisetour itinerary). Premium drinks packages are optional (offered at extra cost). All TUI riverboats have balcony suites. Shore excursions range from sightseeing tours (guided by local experts) to bike tours.

The new river cruise company offers GBP 120 (~EUR 140 / USD 155) per person in OBC (onboard credit) towards all land tour bookings. TUI river ships are named TUI Maya , TUI Skyla and TUI Isla , each with capacity 155 passengers plus 40 crew, LOA length 135 m (445 ft), 4 decks (3 with cabins). Standard cabins are sized 12 m2 (130 ft2) and with fixed double beds.

TUI riverboats' venues include:

• (Deck 2) cabins, Lobby (Reception Desk, Tour Desk, Library), wellness facilities (Spa, Gym, Hair Parlor)
• (Deck 3) cabins, Observatory Lounge, Bar Lounge, Bow Terrace, 2 restaurants (Bistro Buffet, Verdastro Dining Room). Verdastro Restaurant serves buffet-type breakfast and a la carte lunch and dinner (with waiter service). Bistro Restaurant is for buffet-style dining only (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Observatory is the show lounge with live entertainment in the evenings (musical performances, stand-up comedy acts, crew show, themed dance parties).
• (Deck 4) Sundeck with games area (shuffleboard), shaded seating (Sundeck Lounge), sunbathing area with padded loungers, sunbeds, daybeds.

In December 2019, TUI signed an exclusive partnership with Live Business UK (one of Europe's largest entertainment program developers and suppliers) for the TUI River Cruises company. By this deal, Live Business UK prepared the onboard entertainment programming for the boats and is also responsible for recruiting cruise directors, hosts, ship musicians, guest performers, local tour guides and other experts.

Company history

During the company's 10 years of service (2008-2018), the six Mein Schiffs handled around 2,2 million passengers, visited over 200 seaports and covered around 2,9 million km (1,8 million ml). TUI's sister-brand is Marella Cruises (UK source market).

For FY2018 (fiscal year), TUI Group's earnings (from the 3 cruise brands - TUI, Marella, and Hapag-Lloyd) increased by 10,7% - to EUR 901,9 million. Company's turnover was EUR 324 million (26,8% increase over 2017). Group's average daily rates increased to EUR 178 euro (TUI, up from EUR 173), EUR 141 (Marella, up from EUR 131) and EUR 615 (Hapag-Lloyd, up from EUR 594).

In 2015-2016, TUI Group had a turnover of EUR 17,8 billion (company's record) and operating result of EUR 1B. Corporation's portfolio consisted of 14 vessels (TUI, Thomson-Marella, and Hapag-Lloyd brands), several large tour operators, around 1600 travel agencies (including online portals), over 300 hotels (around 214,000 beds) and 6 airlines (over 150 aircraft).

The list of TUI-owned airlines includes Corsair International (France), TUI Airways (UK), TUI fly Belgium, TUI fly Deutschland, TUI fly Netherlands, and TUI fly Nordic (departures from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway).

In FY2016 (the fiscal year 2016), TUI Cruises had 60% growth (over FY2015) in earnings, with EBITA of EUR 130 million (EUR 81 million in FY2015). The reported growth came from the corporation's two main markets - Germany and UK.

TUI Cruises started operations by acquiring Celebrity Galaxy (owned by Celebrity Cruises - another RCCL subsidiary). The ship left Celebrity's fleet on March 16, 2009. After buying Celebrity Galaxy, the vessel was refitted at Lloyd Werft shipyard ( Bremerhaven, Germany ) arriving on March 27 for 38-day, EUR 50 million conversions. Galaxy was re-christened on May 15 in Hamburg and renamed "Mein Schiff" (meaning "My Ship" in Deutsch). TUI planned to build two 100,000 GT, 2500-passenger ships in 2011 and 2012.

• On May 27, 2010, was revealed that Celebrity Mercury joins TUI fleet as "Mein Schiff 2"(renamed in 2018 to Mein Schiff Herz/now Marella Voyager ). Before the refit, "MS Mein Schiff" was renamed to Mein Schiff 1 (now Marella Explorer ). Schiff 2 entered service in February 2011 after an extensive drydock reconstruction .
• On September 27, 2011, TUI and STX Finland announced shipbuilding contract for a 97,000 GT vessel ( Schiff 3 ) with delivery in 2014. The vessel is 968 ft (295 m) long, with 1250 staterooms (most of which are balconied) and capacity 2500 passengers and 1000 crew. The contract included an optional second ship, that was ordered on November 5, 2012 ( Schiff 4 ). Schiff 3 entered service on April 22, 2014.
• In March 2015, RCI ( Royal Caribbean International ) announced selling Splendour of the Seas to TUI Cruises in 2016-Q2. TUI leased the vessel to Thomson UK (now Marella) replacing MS Island Escape (now Ocean Gala ).
• In May 2015 TUI Group announced that as part of fleet modernization strategy, Schiff 1 and 2 will be transferred to Thomson/Marella over the next few years to upgrade TUI's UK fleet.
• In 2018, TUI signed a partnership deal with "Merkur Casino Mare" (part of Gauselmann Group) for the onboard gambling on Schiff 1 (since 2018), Schiff 2 (since 2019) and Schiff 3 (since 2021). The ship Casino features 6x electronic roulettes plus 14x other Merkur gaming machines, and a separate gambling lounge with 4x M-Box Buzzer (multi-gaming machines) and a blackjack table for live gaming. For 2020, Gauselmann AG reported revenue EUR 2,56 billion (~USD 3B / ~GBP 2,2B). Since 2012, Gauselmann owns the British company Praesepe Ltd (now Merkur Casino UK) which owns the Cashino brand (street gambling arcade chain).
• In mid-October 2021, TUI announced that Schiff Herz will be transferred in 2023 to Marella Cruises UK . Following a drydock, the boat will be renamed "Marella Voyager", starting operations for Marella on June 3, 2023.

The Hannover travel group TUI AG (listed at London Stock Exchange) keeps an upbeat outlook of cruise shipping activities. The company owns 100% of Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten and 50% of TUI Kreuzfahrten.

In August 2015, TUI announced EBITA growth (Q3) by EUR 11 million, which reflected the full-year profit of Schiff 3 (operated since June 2014) and the launch of Schiff 4 (June 2015). In addition, Hapag-Lloyd's remarkable turnaround and EUR 4 million benefits from refinancing ms Europa 2 meant that TUI had EUR 21 million increase in underlying EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization).

In May 2015, TUI AG Supervisory Board and RCCL-Royal Caribbean confirmed the purchase options for Schiff 7 and Schiff 8 (later renamed "Schiff 1" and "Schiff 2", delivered respectively in 2018 and 2019), as the German market reported further growth. The new liners are slightly larger (2860 lower berths each), built by Meyer Turku Finland . The deal was fully financed within TUI Cruises (joint venture) - without further contribution from TUI AG and RCCL.

Schiff 5 was launched on January 15, 2016, following the 14-month construction period. Around 1500 employees are involved in the building of each TUI vessel.

In mid-July 2018, TUI ordered two new ships (161,000 GT-ton, 4000-passenger) - this time from the Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. Their scheduled deliveries are in 2025-Q1 ( Schiff Relax ) and 2026-Q2 ( Schiff 9 ). TUI's "Italian" liners are LNG-powered and from the company's new InTUItion-Class (fka TUI XL-Schiff).

In October 2018, TUI announced the "Wasteless" initiative aimed to eliminate disposable plastic products fleetwide (and also in land-based operations - provision suppliers and office staff) by the year 2020. Plastics will be replaced by alternative products made from renewable resources. The eco-initiative started with the newbuilds, on which in all cabin bathrooms, shower gel and shampoo dispensers are refillable, terry slippers are bathrobe's pockets (not packed in plastic), laundry bags are from bio-based plastic, coffee-to-go cups for crew are from bio-based plastic, drink stirrers are wooden. In November 2019, TUI reported ~30 million single-use plastic items replaced with renewable/sustainable materials-made alternatives.

In 2018, the German travel market reached ~2,2 million cruisers, of whom ~26% were served by TUI.

TUI Schiff Restaurants and Bars

TUI Schiff sonnenbereiche und poolbereiche (sundeck and Lido-deck pool areas)

(Coronavirus crisis) passenger shipping pause 2020-2021

Due to the COVID pandemic, TUI River Cruises suspended passenger shipping operations by canceling all voyages with pre-scheduled departures March 15, 2020, through August 15, 2021. TUI Cruises Germany ("Mein Schiff" fleet) suspended operations on March 23 and restarted on August 21 with Schiff 1 (7-day Norwegian Fjords roundtrip from Kiel) and Schiff 2 (7-day Norway from Hamburg). Schiff 6 started on September 13 (through November 7) with 7-day roundtrips from Heraklion (Crete) to Piraeus-Athens and Kerkyra (Corfu Island).

TUI River Cruises were planned to resume on November 26, 2020 ( Christmas and New Year itineraries ) but were eventually canceled through August 2021 (the brand was inaugurated on August 15, with TUI Maya from Frankfurt).

All affected bookings were automatically canceled and fully refunded in FCC (future cruise credit) notes for the full cost of the cruise. The FCCs can be used for paying a new voyage (with rebooking) or fully refunded (100%) in cash after 12 months.

Next are listed all TUI liners and their first departure dates/homeports/regions in 2021 - Schiff 3 (May 10/Norway from Bremerhaven), Schiff 4 (Apr 23/UK-Baltic from Hamburg), Schiff 5 (May 13/Mediterranean from Heraklion Crete), Schiff 6 (May 9/Mediterranean from Palma de Mallorca), Schiff Herz (Sept 3/Mediterranean from Palma de Mallorca). Schiff 1 and Schiff 2 started Canary Islands cruises in January, with 7-day and 14-day roundtrips from Gran Canaria.

The latest cancellations affected Schiff 5's Asian program (Hong Kong) and Schiff 6's Arabian Gulf program (from Dubai).

Itinerary of TUI Cruises

The next table provides a concise review of the TUI fleet's deployments (as homeports and destinations/regions). For detailed itineraries (call ports, port dates-times, and cruise prices) just follow the ship links.

TUI River Cruises

"TUI River Cruises" is a 2019-founded (operational since 2021) brand and a subsidiary of TUI AG. The new company specializes in passenger river shipping in Europe and is generally UK-focused (as source market).

TUI's riverboat fleet consists of three fully refurbished ships - TUI Maya , TUI Skyla , TUI Isla . The boats usually operate roundtrips from the homeports Passau and Frankfurt (Germany), Amsterdam Holland and Budapest Hungary .

In January 2022, TUI announced the restart dates of the riverboats after winter 2021 season was suspended due to Europe's increasing COVID Omicron cases. TUI's Rhine program was first halted before Christmas 2021 when Germany's government imposed travel restrictions on UK tourists.

TUI's river operations were planned to resume with TUI Skyla on March 28th. The "Magic of the Danube" itinerary (7-night roundtrip from Budapest ) visited ports in Slovakia, Austria, and Germany. Prices started at GBP 1120 per person with double occupancy.

TUI's first 14-night voyage started on April 8 ( TUI Isla ). The "European Icons" itinerary started in Amsterdam and visited ports in Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary, ending in Budapest. Prices started at GBP 2010 pp.

TUI's Rhine voyages started on April 8 with the "Rhine Germs" itinerary visiting Koblenz and Speyer (Germany Rhineland-Palatinate) along with Basel Switzerland . The 7-day roundtrip is from Frankfurt am Main (Germany Hesse) , fares started at GBP 1170 pp.

Themed voyages started on April 1st ( TUI Maya ) with the "Vines and Valleys" Moselle River itinerary.

In December 2023, TUI River Cruises announced a fleet expansion with two new vessels - TUI Al Horeya (Nile River boat/inauguration in 2024) and TUI Alma (Douro River boat/inauguration in 2025).

TUI Cruises related cruise news

TUI Cruises appoints environmental officer as Godmother for Mein Schiff 7

As the construction of Mein Schiff 7 nears completion at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, TUI Cruises has disclosed insights into the vessel's...

Marella UK's Asia & Middle East cruises (ship Discovery 2) canceled due to Red Sea crisis

TUI has made the decision to cancel Marella Cruises UK's Asia and Middle East program from November 2024 to the end of April 2025. In a...

TUI Cruises deploys two ships (Schiff 7 and Schiff Relax) to Canary Islands in winter 2025-2026

TUI Cruises, a TUI Group-Royal Caribbean Group joint venture, has announced its planned itineraries for the winter season of 2025-2026, revealing a...

UAE renews partnership with TUI Cruises to boost Dubai's cruise tourism hub status

The UAE/Emirates has reaffirmed Dubai's position as a premier hub for cruise ship tourism by extending its collaboration with TUI Cruises for the...

Marella (TUI UK) cancels Red Sea repositioning cruises due to safety concerns

Marella Cruises has made the decision to cancel a series of repositioning sailings on Discovery 2 ship due to concerns regarding the Red Sea area...

TUI Cruises' ship Mein Schiff 7 to run on green methanol supplied by Mabanaft

Mabanaft has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TUI Cruises, outlining plans for the supply of green methanol in the future. The...

Scaffolding collapse during Mein Schiff Relax construction leads to worker injury

On Friday morning, January 19, at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone (Italy), a serious accident occurred during the construction of the cruise...

TUI Cruises reveals plans for 3 new ships

TUI Cruises (a joint venture between RCG/Royal Caribbean Group and TUI AG) has unveiled plans for the construction of three new vessels in the...

TUI River Cruises starts Douro voyages in 2025 with newbuild ship TUI Alma

TUI River Cruises unveiled its first newbuild boat. The custom-built vessel will be deployed on Portugal's Douro River, marking TUI's river fleet...

Fincantieri secures $461M 'Green' Loan for construction of TUI's ship Mein Schiff Relax

Fincantieri has entered into a 'green' construction loan agreement, securing up to US$461 million from Intesa Sanpaolo (IMI Corporate &...

•   show more news

• TUI History
• About TUI Group
• Vision & Values
• Our business

In recent years, the TUI Group has developed into one of the world's leading tour operators. The journey began in December 1968 when several German tour operators joined forces to form Touristik Union International. Here we have summarised the most important milestones:

1968: The “Touristik Union International” is being formed.

70s: Expansion of the hotel portfolio with the launch of the Robinson brand and participation in various vacation hotel operators such as Iberotel, Grecotel and RIU.

80s: Development of various European source markets. TUI establishes itself as the one-stop shop in Europe for vacations and travel.

1997: TUI becomes part of the industrial conglomerate Preussag AG.

2002: Preussag AG becomes TUI and in future stands on the pillars of tourism and container shipping. In addition, the well-known TUI Smile is introduced as the brand logo.

2007: TUI merges its tour operator business with the British First Choice - TUI Travel PLC is created.

2008: TUI Cruises sets sail under the "Mein Schiff" brand, initially with two modernized ships, in order to establish itself in the market.

2014: Reunification with the subsidiary TUI Travel PLC - TUI becomes a globally integrated tourism group investing in, developing and operating hotels and cruise ships.

2015: Establishment of the core hotel brand TUI Blue and expansion of the TUI Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises fleet.

2018: With the acquisition of the Italian Musement platform, the Group builds the Group's third growth pillar: the experience and activities business.

2022: The Group returns to normality after the Corona pandemic. No standstill, but growth and further development are the motto. The product range becomes broader, hotels and flights can be booked as individual components, travel packages are put together dynamically - TUI becomes a year-round travel and leisure companion – with more customers and more market share.

2023: The Group presents its ambitious sustainability agenda. With scientifically based targets validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), TUI aims to become the first climate-neutral travel group.

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MORE LANGUAGES

• TUI History in German
• TUI History in Turkish
• TUI History in Spanish
• TUI History in Greek

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