By
Michele Witthaus |
Representatives of Meyer Turku shipyard, TUI Cruises and the media braved temperatures of around -12 Celsius to observe the float-out for the new cruise ship, Mein Schiff 5, on Friday 15 January 2016. The ceremony included the firing of a cannon by a traditionally dressed group, a feature of all ship launches at the Finnish yard.
Following the signing of the contract in September 2014, work began on the ship in November 2014 with the keel laid in June 2015. With construction running on time, delivery is on schedule for July this year.
Jan Meyer, CEO of the Meyer Turku shipyard, and Ferdinand Strohmeier, VP operations for TUI Cruises, opened the bulkheads to flood the drydock and despite the extreme weather, the water flowed as planned.
Mein Schiff 5 will now spend the next six months in the outfitting quay at Meyer Turku before her delivery in the summer.
The vessels in the Mein Schiff series are all categorised as ‘well-being ships’ and Mein Schiff 5 is no exception, with a full-length swimming pool onboard, along with a range of fitness facilities geared to the tastes of the German-speaking target market.
Meyer said: “Mein Schiff 5 is a sister ship of Mein Schiff 4 but there are a number of changes that will really improve the guest experience. In our business we cannot stand still – we constantly develop.”
Some new elements guests can expect to enjoy on Mein Schiff 5 include TUI Cruises' interpretation of an Austrian easy dining concept called ‘Schmankerl’, as well as a Nespresso-branded café situated in the reception area of the ship. “This will be the first Nespresso café on any cruise ship,” explained Strohmeier. “The reception area is only busy at the beginning of the cruise and at the end. Space on a cruise ship is very valuable and we saw that we were losing a lot of real estate potential so we came up with the idea to use it throughout the day more frequently.”
He added that the German market would remain the focus for TUI Cruises and expressed confidence in the face of attempts by other brands to enter this market. “We have analysed that our product is ready for a six-ship scenario in this market. It gives us and our customers clarity. It’s good for our employers in Hamburg that they know our product and even more important for the guests that they know that when they come to us, they get a real German product.”
The ‘well-being’ concept drives design on each ship in the series, said Strohmeier. “Every time we start to develop designs for a ship we ask: does this go with our core concept of well-being?”
He expressed satisfaction with TUI Cruises' ongoing working relationship with the yard, which started with Mein Schiff 3 under STX Finland and continued with Mein Schiff 4 under the Meyer management. “The partnership is about being flexible and understanding the needs of our guests and trends coming up in the marketplace. We have to ensure each ship is built for the next 20 years so we have to think ahead to ensure the guests have the best experience.”
Meyer said that he found working with TUI Cruises on the Mein Schiff series a rewarding process. “For me personally, we are mostly building for foreign customers and so this is an interesting change for us in that we are building a German product for a German customer.” Referring to the 25m pool on each ship, he said: “This is something extraordinary on these ships. On other [brands’] ships, I have realised that people don’t actually swim in the pool. They just hang around it!”
He said that guests of Mein Schiff 5 could expect to see “a good number of improvements. The ship from outside looks the same but inside, there are substantial changes. These changes are very important value added to our product.”
Meyer Turku has a busy time ahead, with construction underway on both Mein Schiff 6 and the new Tallink ferry (both due for delivery in 2017). Mein Schiff 7 and 8 will follow, and there are also two Costa Cruises ships on order for completion in 2019 and 2020. The yard’s expertise in LNG-fuelled ships is growing as the Tallink vessel will run on LNG, as will the two Costa Cruises ships.
“We now have a good order book and the yard output will increase so we need to prepare well for this,” said Meyer. “A number of facilities at the shipyard had become old in recent years, with no investment taking place, so we are investigating carefully how future production at the yard should look and what facilities we need for future production. We will start the first investments soon.”