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Tui Cruises Mein Schiff 3 Bremerhaven to Majorca 11 Sep 2018


Tuffydog
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I am starting this thread for this cruise in September 2018 from Bremerhaven.

 

Looking forward to talking to fellow travelers, arranging a meet and greet on board (subject of course to the ships permission) and to discuss shore excursions options either with the ship or private at the various ports of call.

 

These ports are:

Le Havre France

Bilbao Spain

Le Coruna Spain

Lisbon Portugal

Cardiz Spain

Gibraltar UK

Barcelona Spain

Palma Majorca 23 Sep 2018.

 

This ship principally caters for Deutsche travelers however this thread is open to all Cruise Critic members. Posts will be accepted in Deutsche, or English and I will translate if required.

 

We will endeavor to bring together all travelers and have enjoyed ship sponsored meet and greet in the past. A rather special occasion was a welcome cocktail party and farewell event hosted by CMV on the Magellen on our Baltic Cruise last year.

 

A year away is a long time, but when you are from Down Under (Australia/Australien) you need to forward plan to make the distance viable with other tours/trips back to back.

 

My Great Grandfather was Deutsche and emigrated to Australia from Bremerhaven on 20 Nov 1857, 160 years ago. I am following in his footsteps albeit in a bit more luxury and less distance and travel time.

 

We will update our post monthly and more frequently when the time gets closer to sail.

 

Travelling together with Judi.

 

Past Cruises:

Ellinis (Chandris Line)- forunner of Celebrity Melbourne Australia to Southampton UK June 1977

Norwegian Jade Western Mediterranean Aug 2010

Amabella APT River Cruise Amsterdam to Budapest Sep 2010

Amalotus APT River Cruise Siam Reap to Saigon Aug 2012

Costa Atlantica Singapore to Phuket May 2013

Queen Elizabeth Venice to Rome Eastern Mediterranean Oct 2013

Queen Elizabeth Hong Kong to Singapore via Vietnam Mar 2014

Yangtze Gold River Cruise 3 Gorges Jun 2014

Celebrity Century Sydney to Fiji Oct 2014

Celebrity Solstice Sydney to Auckland Nov 2015

P & O Aria Brisbane to Papua New Guinea Feb 2016

CMV Magellan London/Baltic Aug 2016

CMV Magellan London/Norwegian Fjiords Aug 2016

Edited by Tuffydog
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Some minor corrections and additions to my earlier post:)

 

 

I am starting this thread for this cruise in September 2018 from Bremerhaven.

 

Looking forward to talking to fellow travelers, arranging a meet and greet on board (subject of course to the ships permission) and to discuss shore excursions options either with the ship or private at the various ports of call.

 

These ports are:

Le Havre France

Bilbao Spain

Le Coruna Spain

Lisbon Portugal

Cardiz Spain

Gibraltar UK

Barcelona Spain

Palma Majorca 23 Sep 2018.

 

This ship principally caters for Deutsche travelers however this thread is open to all Cruise Critic members. Posts will be accepted in Deutsche, or English and I will translate if required.

 

We will endeavor to bring together all travelers and have enjoyed ship sponsored meet and greet in the past. A rather special occasion was a welcome cocktail party and farewell event hosted by CMV on the Magellen on our Baltic Cruise last year.

 

A year away is a long time, but when you are from Down Under (Australia/Australien) you need to forward plan to make the distance viable with other tours/trips back to back.

 

My Great Grandfather was Deutsche and emigrated to Australia from Bremerhaven on 20 Nov 1857, 160 years ago. I am following in his footsteps albeit in a bit more luxury and less distance and travel time.

 

We will update our post monthly and more frequently when the time gets closer to sail.

 

Kevin. traveling together with Judi.

 

Past Cruises:

Ellinis (Chandris Line)- forunner of Celebrity Melbourne Australia to Southampton UK June 1977

Norwegian Jade Western Mediterranean Aug 2010

Amabella APT River Cruise Amsterdam to Budapest Sep 2010

Amalotus APT River Cruise Siam Reap to Saigon Aug 2012

Costa Atlantica Singapore to Phuket May 2013

Queen Elizabeth Venice to Rome Eastern Mediterranean Oct 2013

Queen Elizabeth Hong Kong to Singapore via Vietnam Mar 2014

Yangtze Gold River Cruise 3 Gorges Dam Jun 2014

Celebrity Century Sydney to Fiji Oct 2014

Celebrity Solstice Sydney to Auckland Nov 2015

P & O Pacific Aria Brisbane to Papua New Guinea Feb 2016

CMV Magellan London/Baltic Aug 2016

CMV Magellan London/Norwegian Fjiords Aug 2016

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tuffydog,

 

Is this your first cruise on Mein Schiff? If it is, I think you will enjoy it. Check out the bread and roll selection and the Italian style ice cream. We cruised on Mein Schiff 1 and 4 and have booked 5 and 6.

 

Mein Schiff caters exclusively to German speakers. Most of the crew speak English with Asian staff speaking it better than German, especially the Philippinos. All of the written material will be in German.

 

I doubt you will have any response here on cruise critic. Better arrange excursions on your own or through the ship. We have not been on this particular itinerary, but in the past, we mixed privately arranged excursions, ship's excursions or walked into town when feasible. All our excursions were prearranged before we started the cruise.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

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Hi Floridiana,

 

Thank you for your response. I am pleased that you have enjoyed various cruises on the Mein Schiff fleet. It will be my first on this line but I believe the ship is in the style of the Century Class common with Celebrity

 

Your comments are in line with my expectations of likely contacts from my post, but I thought it was worth a try!

 

I am learning Deutsche and part of my intention on this cruise is to immerse myself in the language.

 

My BH is not fluent in the language and I am hoping by posts on CC that we might strike up some limited contact with other like minded Cruisers. We found in the past that CMV cruisers didn't use CC to any great extent however the Group we established contact with was one of the best cruising contacts we established. CMV now have their own listing on CC.

 

We generally do undertake the mix of excursions that you have mentioned. One we thoroughly enjoyed in Warnemunde Germany was undertaking the Mollie Train from Rostock using local trains and trams. We were able to pre-plan and undertake locally on the day of arrival

 

Thank you for your interest.

 

Kevin

 

Tuffydog,

 

Is this your first cruise on Mein Schiff? If it is, I think you will enjoy it. Check out the bread and roll selection and the Italian style ice cream. We cruised on Mein Schiff 1 and 4 and have booked 5 and 6.

 

Mein Schiff caters exclusively to German speakers. Most of the crew speak English with Asian staff speaking it better than German, especially the Philippinos. All of the written material will be in German.

 

I doubt you will have any response here on cruise critic. Better arrange excursions on your own or through the ship. We have not been on this particular itinerary, but in the past, we mixed privately arranged excursions, ship's excursions or walked into town when feasible. All our excursions were prearranged before we started the cruise.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

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Bremerhaven and Bremen were important emigration ports in the 1800's for German individuals and families seeking new opportunities in the "new world".

The Magazine of Family Searching provided a report (approx 2016) about the Emigrant Ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven with some dark stories about the time.

In 1857, about the time of my Great Grandfathers emigration, the intending emigrants came to Bremen and then went by coasters and ferryboats to Bremerhaven.

In Bremen the port was possibly not suitable for ocean going ships so they built a new port in Bremerhaven in 1827. In 1849 they opened a new house for emigrants. 2000 emigrants were able to sleep and eat there. It was safe and if they were sick, they found help whilst they awaited their ship's departure date. In Hamburg and Bremen many poor emigrants lost their money and property.

In 1854 more than 76000 emigrants left from Bremerhaven.

Wikipedia reports: "The Auswandererdenkmal (German for Emigrant Memorial) is a statue in the port of Bremerhaven, Germany that depicts an emigrant family. Cast in bronze, it shows an emigrant family with the father looking forward toward the New World and the mother looking back as she leaves the old country. The statue stands by one of the city's main dikes, the Weserdeich, on the site of one of the original docks from which early emigrants departed.

The United German-American Committee began raising funds to erect the Auswandererdenkmal in Bremerhaven in 1985. Bremerhaven is an appropriate site for the statue as it was the largest port for emigration from Germany. Between 1830 and 1974, some 7.2 million Europeans traveled to Bremerhaven to board ships bound for the New World.

On August 8, 2005, a new museum was erected to re-create the history and routes of emigrants. The 3,500 square meter German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven offers visitors one of the largest theme experiences in Germany. The museum, designed to replicate an ocean liner, includes special exhibits, films and cultural events".

Attached are two pictures from the pier in Bremerhaven 1. 1926 and 2. 2015. It is the same pier where since 1830 the emigrant ships berthed. The name of the pier is still "The Pier of Tears"

 

 

I am hoping to visit the museum before boarding Mein Schiff 3..

 

 

923379256_Bremerhaven1926.jpg.0554c73227e1323f187741a860a385df.jpg

209278439_Bremerhaven22015.jpg.ec916a7cd9a60c57d750f38df9a50e11.jpg

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Hi tuffydog,

we won´t be on this particular cruise but we´ll try "Mein Schiff" for the first time in November, too. We are Germans but since we have cruised mostly with american cruiselines before, we love CC and met a lot of nice people at the M&M onboard (also from Australia :) ) .

I don´t live in the north of Germany so I won´t be able to tell you much about Bremen or Bremerhaven but if you have questions about Germany or "Mein Schiff" feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer

TUI is not well represented on CC, I found you thread looking for our cruise. There is a german forum called pooldeck24 which provides a lot of information about "Mein Schiff". Maybe you want to post there, there even might be a roll call for your cruise.

Hope you will enjoy your cruise and Germany! I hope to be able to visit Australia once, too.

Maria

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Hi tuffydog,

we won´t be on this particular cruise but we´ll try "Mein Schiff" for the first time in November, too. We are Germans but since we have cruised mostly with american cruiselines before, we love CC and met a lot of nice people at the M&M onboard (also from Australia :) ) .

I don´t live in the north of Germany so I won´t be able to tell you much about Bremen or Bremerhaven but if you have questions about Germany or "Mein Schiff" feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer

TUI is not well represented on CC, I found you thread looking for our cruise. There is a german forum called pooldeck24 which provides a lot of information about "Mein Schiff". Maybe you want to post there, there even might be a roll call for your cruise.

Hope you will enjoy your cruise and Germany! I hope to be able to visit Australia once, too.

Maria

 

Hi Maria, Thanks for your great response and offer of assistance.

 

I have registered with Pooldeck24 and will await activation. I have now read the cabin review on this ship and are happy with our choice for this trip.

 

I still find it a bit daunting reading pages in Deutsche as I am learning conversational Deutsche with a tutor and classes twice a week.

 

I will try to find the roll call on Pooldeck24 website or even start one up for this cruise.

 

I am not expecting much contact yet as we are a year away from sailing.

 

We hope that you can also visit Australia one day, we have traveled and lived in most states and love it too!

 

Kevin

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Great to read this.

I didnt know there are cruises from Bremen.

Im Dutch so i speak English and a little bit German (reading is fine).

 

Hi Sweetsugar,

 

Thanks for you post.

 

Recently the Hamburg Cruise Day 2017 was to host 6 Cruise ships coming into Hamburg Harbour, Mein Schiff 3 being the 6th.

 

It's propeller was fouled by rope and it couldn't make it.

 

It was quite a spectacle with nightime fireworks 20 support boats and approximately 8 tugs. You can view it on Youtube Hamburg Cruise Days 2017 or this link:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoIQRIPgQWs.

 

Enjoy. Kevin

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If you´re looking for information and fellow travellers for "Mein Schiff", you´re better of in a german forum for TuiCruises. Don´t know if I am allowed to tell the name of the forum here in public but you can send me a message and I´ll let you know.

 

 

I am originally from north germany and might be able to help out if you have any questions also I have recently visited Lisbon and Le Havre.

 

Our next cruise will also be on Mein Schiff.

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If you´re looking for information and fellow travellers for "Mein Schiff", you´re better of in a german forum for TuiCruises. Don´t know if I am allowed to tell the name of the forum here in public but you can send me a message and I´ll let you know.

 

 

I am originally from north germany and might be able to help out if you have any questions also I have recently visited Lisbon and Le Havre.

 

Our next cruise will also be on Mein Schiff.

 

Hi BlueBear4Travel,

 

I have found the Deutsche Forum and posted on the Cruise dates scheduled for Mein Schiff 3 (3rd Quarter 2018). My post was brief under the name Ruffydog (I have had a few Boxer dogs!) and the website deleted my reference to this site (as you say above- you are not allowed to provide links to a "competitor"- fair enough!). I will add to it as we get closer to the travel date.

 

I would be interested in excursion options that you undertook in Le Havre and Lisbon, what is good to see and whether privately arranged or shipboard tours.

 

Thank you for your input

 

Keviin

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Tuffydog,

 

Only Mein Schiff 1 and 2 are former Celebrity ships. The others are newly built for TUI and have a different lay-out. Mein Schiff 1 will soon be sold and replaced by a new build in the style of the other TUI ships. Mein Schiff 1 had very limited open space for the number of passengers, especially on a Norway cruise where the outside decks are usually too cold to sit.

I wrote a review on the luxury board of cruisecritic because somebody there had requested information.

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Le Havre:

We walked to the station and took a public bus to Honfleur. I think it was bus number 50.

We absolutely loved it, since Honfleur is really pretty. Unlike other old towns, here you really have one old house next to the other without any modern houses in between. Everything is nicely decorated with flowers and you can take a lovely stroll around the shops and the harbour.

 

Lisbon:

Our shipped docked close to Santa Apolonia station. We walked to the station and bought a day ticket for public transport. We then took the subway to Martim Moniz and took a ride on the 28 tram car. Be there early! At 9am lines already started to grow. We rode until close to Praca de Camoes and then joined a fantastic guided tour (free walking tour) with Sandeman´s New Europe. The end of the tour was at Praco do Comercio and from there (asked the guide for directions) we walked along the water to the market (Time Out Market Lisbon) to have some of these famous vanilla pastries (Pasteis de Belem).

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Le Havre:

We walked to the station and took a public bus to Honfleur. I think it was bus number 50.

We absolutely loved it, since Honfleur is really pretty. Unlike other old towns, here you really have one old house next to the other without any modern houses in between. Everything is nicely decorated with flowers and you can take a lovely stroll around the shops and the harbour.

 

Lisbon:

Our shipped docked close to Santa Apolonia station. We walked to the station and bought a day ticket for public transport. We then took the subway to Martim Moniz and took a ride on the 28 tram car. Be there early! At 9am lines already started to grow. We rode until close to Praca de Camoes and then joined a fantastic guided tour (free walking tour) with Sandeman´s New Europe. The end of the tour was at Praco do Comercio and from there (asked the guide for directions) we walked along the water to the market (Time Out Market Lisbon) to have some of these famous vanilla pastries (Pasteis de Belem).

 

BlueBear4Travel.

Thank you for your contribution. We have been to Hornfleur briefly in 2010 and remember the Timber church built in the style of ships timbers. We loved it and will try to do it again this trip. Lisbon travel options also noted and we head back there on a Tour after our cruise.

Kevin

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I forgot to mention something that might be helpful.

 

When booking this cruise, I made my way through the registration process in Deutsche and manged to successfully book.

I sent various emails to TUI to confirm payment details but they wanted to speak on the telephone to confirm. Now sitting on a phone in Australia listening to music on hold is very expensive and painful. Their email responses were also sent to acknowledge my various emails but I never received a formal response.

 

Alternatively your travel agent can arrange. I have a daughter who is a travel agent and she spoke to them direct on the Agents dedicated line but they wouldn't recognise the Agent possibly for commission purposes

 

I then sent a message on their Facebook page and got an instant response in English. and arranged a call back by TUI to complete the deposit payment. Very impressed with their Facebook response!!!

 

Kevin

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If you take a closer look at the pricing, you´ll see that on TUIcruises there is no service charge per day and no special drinks package, since all drinks are already included in the price.

 

Thanks for clarifying this point BlueBear4Travel.

 

So as I understand it, the Premium All Inclusive package covers all wines beers and spirits and cocktails are "free" during the course of the cruise (presumably up to a pre-determined price/quality) and available at all bars and restaurants (as appropriate to the venue)?

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

Kevin

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This will also be my first TuiCruise, but the way I understand it, yes. Only if you want a special champagne or let´s say higher quality whiskey you´ll have to pay for it.

Also they will have nespresso-coffee makers in the cabin (2 of these coffee caps per day free) and water dispensers on all decks where you can "draft" your own water to take into the cabin.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Windstarke 8

 

My kind Deutsche friend has sent me a book and DVD on the immigrant ships leaving from Bremen with the title Windstarke 8 which is a report of the sea passage of emigrants to Amerika. This was a 1919 build, 247 tons 3 mast top sail schooner Fridtjof Nansen and was "baptised" in Bremen.

 

He relates - The original SS Ohio my Great Grandfather traveled on in 1857 was a 3 mast barque of 450 tons. The emigrants lived in a tween deck unless they could afford cabins, and passengers were not allowed on deck.

 

The sailing ships took the same track through the North Sea to the English Channel like the MV Mein Schiff 3 will do.The sailing ships required easterly winds. The "Strait of Dover" which is a small channel where you can see both coasts in good weather, but is very dangerous for sailing ships with strong currents (6 miles speed) and changing winds. Often conditions included fog and raining.

 

Before entering the Atlantic Ocean, sailing ships waited in the Bay of Falmouth for convenient winds.

 

Steering southerly they passed the formidable Bay of Biscay, with high waves and wind. After passing the Cape of Finisterre, the wind is mostly northern, very good for sailing ships south bound.

 

Mein Schiff 3 will leave the track of the SS Ohio on the height of Gibraltar and will steer into the Mediterranean Sea. The sailing ships would then head south chasing the trade winds.

 

At the trackpoint Cape Verde islands near the equator, American bound sailnig ships steered westward direction toward the Antilles, those to Australia crossed southward to the Cape of Good Hope.

 

I am sure we will experience a considerable difference in the luxury and comfort on board Mein Schiff 3 compared to the cramped conditions of the Emigrant sailing ships and I hope that I can sight some of the highlighted points of interest that the original sailors would have used as landmarks in their voyage to the "New World" in the 1850's.

 

Kevin

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This will also be my first TuiCruise, but the way I understand it, yes. Only if you want a special champagne or let´s say higher quality whiskey you´ll have to pay for it.

Also they will have nespresso-coffee makers in the cabin (2 of these coffee caps per day free) and water dispensers on all decks where you can "draft" your own water to take into the cabin.

 

Yes. The drink menu in the bars had the list of all available drinks with the words inbegriffen (included) or the price on the following pages. I remember a bar and a section of the ship where everything had a price. We stuck to the included drinks. Prosecco with the appetizer, then white, red wine or beer or juices and water with dinner.

 

The water dispensers' purpose is to cut down on plastic bottles. Bring your own container to take on excursions. They do sell them in the ship's shops if you forgot one. There is a glass carafe for water in the cabin, not practical for excursions.

 

Mein Schiff 1 had a small refrigerator in the cabin as it is customary on American ships. Drinks in there were not free. The later ship purposely built for the German market did not have a refrigerator in our balcony/veranda cabin.

 

I think there is a section on the ship where you pay for drinks and coffee. The specialty restaurants are also for a fee, but there are enough included restaurants.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Floridiana,

 

I will look for the words inbegriffen and most likely manage my drinks from this section of the bar menu.

 

 

Thank you for the helpful tips regarding water containers.

 

 

I just informed my BH that she might strike nudity in the sauna but she can wear her swimsuit in need. Not sure how she will manage this!

 

 

Cheers.

 

 

Kevin

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