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The first cruises start again


Germancruiser
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It was THE big news yesterday. Aida, Tui- Cruises and Hapag Llyoid  restart cruising in 10 days. All out and into  Hamburg. All just seadays. All shortcruises- up to 5 days. The new regulations I haven´t seen as of yet. It might be small- but it is indeed a beginning. The size of the ship is not relevant as it seems. Hapag has rather small ships, Aida and Tui send their big ships back to sea. I suppose they want to see how it works out. The capacity is limited to 60%- and so they addvertise!

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The regulations regarding distancing, masks etc. can be found on their websites (eg. TUI, HL).
 

Cruises are not all out of Hamburg but also Kiel and Warnemünde, later Travemünde and Rostock.

 

Most important information (since this is an international board):

The cruises mentioned above, as well as cruises started by other cruise lines in other countries, are not just limited in capacity but also to certain nationalities!

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Interesting. I'm seeing my parents in Germany next month maybe I should have a look at Aida. Although I've always avoided it because the last thing I'd like to imagine on my vacation is to be on a ship packed with other Germans. 😄

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3 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

Interesting. I'm seeing my parents in Germany next month maybe I should have a look at Aida. Although I've always avoided it because the last thing I'd like to imagine on my vacation is to be on a ship packed with other Germans. 😄


I hear ya!!!!! I feel the same - about any "monocultural" cruise!

However, if you are thinking about it, I would highly recommend looking at TUI rather than Aida. 
Unless you want to try a German Carnival cruise 🙂

TUI is comparable with Celebrity in regards of quality - so it might be the better fit.

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1 minute ago, Miaminice said:


I hear ya!!!!! I feel the same - about any "monocultural" cruise!

However, if you are thinking about it, I would highly recommend looking at TUI rather than Aida. 
Unless you want to try a German Carnival cruise 🙂

TUI is comparable with Celebrity in regards of quality - so it might be the better fit.

 

Mein Schiff?

 

I see they have a bunch of cruises scheduled and on sale including to Russia (St Petersburg) and the Baltics.

 

Any idea if this is just wishful thinking or are these cruises actually sailing in August?

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46 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

Mein Schiff?

 

I see they have a bunch of cruises scheduled and on sale including to Russia (St Petersburg) and the Baltics.

 

Any idea if this is just wishful thinking or are these cruises actually sailing in August?

 

Yes, Mein Schiff. 
TUI cruises is a joint venture of Royal Caribbean and TUI. So the quality standards are similar. They started many years ago with two older Celebrity ships (I think Mercury and Horizon) and became pretty successful. Now they are planning Mein Schiff 8 and 9 already - well, before Corona...

And the ships are modern and nice.

 

I am not even guessing if or when the regular cruises like Baltics will start to sail.

However, they offer short cruises from Hamburg to Hamburg for July / August. I have no doubt they are going to sail. Regarding the circumstances the price is not even bad. And TUI is all inclusive! Even gratuities.

Due to our personal background we are not keen on cruising all German. "Getting away" for us includes language.
However, if I was ever to be found on a German ship, it would likely be a Mein Schiff.
Aida would cause an allergy in me 🙂

 

But as always, everything is subjective...

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Aren't Mein Schiff ships old celebrity ships?

 

They once started with former Celebrity ships but started their own new built ships in 2014. The youngest came into service just last year.

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24 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Aren't Mein Schiff ships old celebrity ships?

 

Only the former Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 (ex Horizon and Mercury) when the cruise line started.
They were later renamed, like Mein Schiff ❤️ (Heart) and replaced by new built ships.  The new Mein Schiff 1-6 are in service already. 7 is under construction in Turku and 8 and 9 are planned (LPG ships).

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3 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

If the price is right I'd go for it but not for 700 EUR / 3 days. That's over the top!

 

Depends, they start from 200 / night incl. beverages, gratuities and all.
Not such a bad price regarding the circumstances. Celebrity would try to charge as much as they can 😉 
And they would find people paying the price 🙂

 

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2 hours ago, Miaminice said:

 

Depends, they start from 200 / night incl. beverages, gratuities and all.
Not such a bad price regarding the circumstances. Celebrity would try to charge as much as they can 😉 
And they would find people paying the price 🙂

 

 

Well I haven't paid for a cruise in years thanks to MGM so even a dime is more than I usually pay. 😛

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3 hours ago, Miaminice said:

 

Only the former Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 (ex Horizon and Mercury) when the cruise line started.
They were later renamed, like Mein Schiff ❤️ (Heart) and replaced by new built ships.  The new Mein Schiff 1-6 are in service already. 7 is under construction in Turku and 8 and 9 are planned (LPG ships).

Even if a suite was free with free airfare, I surely wouldn't fly to Germany now!

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11 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Even if a suite was free with free airfare, I surely wouldn't fly to Germany now!


😉 you wouldn’t be allowed in anyway... and also not allowed to board the ship.

 

Besides the flight, however, you’d be a lot safer in Germany. 

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18 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Even if a suite was free with free airfare, I surely wouldn't fly to Germany now!

 

Chances are if you hold a U.S. passport you won't even be allowed to board a flight to Germany. Especially from NY! 😉

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Oh my- what that Virus changed. Even my aversion sailing on all German ships. As Miaminice mentioned - I prefer a rather international group.

So I find myself trying Mein Schiff 2 for a four nighter out of Hamburg. A cruise to nowhere - they call them  " The Blue Journeys"!

Aida - is the German version of Carnival- very true- each to his own- some love it.

So I look forward to my four nighter in two weeks time. Never did I took a cruise on such short notice.

 

 

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So I did the online check in - partly , some parts are not yet open. Also there is questionare to fill out- similar to the one we all filled out previously about Noro.

There is no back to back allowed on this " Blue Journeys"- which makes sense in my opinion.

Also there is one technical stopp in Oslo. Mandatory - same as  the - Jones Act of the US- I suppose!

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2 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

So I did the online check in - partly , some parts are not yet open. Also there is questionare to fill out- similar to the one we all filled out previously about Noro.

There is no back to back allowed on this " Blue Journeys"- which makes sense in my opinion.

Also there is one technical stopp in Oslo. Mandatory - same as  the - Jones Act of the US- I suppose!

It is not mandatory in Europe, e.g. AIDA and Hapag do the cruises to nowhere without a technical stop.

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On 7/10/2020 at 11:59 AM, Miaminice said:


I hear ya!!!!! I feel the same - about any "monocultural" cruise!

However, if you are thinking about it, I would highly recommend looking at TUI rather than Aida. 
Unless you want to try a German Carnival cruise 🙂

TUI is comparable with Celebrity in regards of quality - so it might be the better fit.

Hi can just say I had a cruise with TIU in October and it was the worst cruise I have ever had ,the ship was nice good cabin ,lovely itinerary .But the tone was set on day one when we went for lunch and asked the waiter for two glasses of wine and he directed us to the wine on tap machine .We tried it and it was Punching above its weight to call it wine .The choice of wine with dinner was really poor and one night I asked could I have a Malbec which was marginally better but when I asked could I have that in the bars it threw  them into overdrive ,the head waiter was called and I was made really uncomfortable they said they would have to charge me an extra £1 really about six waiters surrounded me .This would definitely not happen on Celebrity .

The choices In the AI package are abysmal and cannot be compared with Celebrity ,RCL,NCL,HAL and obviously Cunard or Azamara and I appreciate the cruise was a lot cheaper but part of the experience is having a nice wine with meals .

The food to in the main was very poor ,went to the buffet once and the choices were non existent , nothing cooked to order ,hardly any fruit other than bananas and apples .

We only booked this cruise because a family member who we trust his views had previously had two cruise with them on another ship we were on the Explorer 2 and he was on the Celebration ,he said the feel on his ship was good ,entertainment was good .

One night there was entertainment on deck and I was embarrassed for the singer ,cringe   Worthy and not a descent wine to take the pain away .

The staff were friendly and that’s the best I could say about this cruise no no comparison with Celebrity .

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20 minutes ago, margo2011 said:

Hi can just say I had a cruise with TIU in October and it was the worst cruise I have ever had ,the ship was nice good cabin ,lovely itinerary .But the tone was set on day one when we went for lunch and asked the waiter for two glasses of wine and he directed us to the wine on tap machine .We tried it and it was Punching above its weight to call it wine .The choice of wine with dinner was really poor and one night I asked could I have a Malbec which was marginally better but when I asked could I have that in the bars it threw  them into overdrive ,the head waiter was called and I was made really uncomfortable they said they would have to charge me an extra £1 really about six waiters surrounded me .This would definitely not happen on Celebrity .

The choices In the AI package are abysmal and cannot be compared with Celebrity ,RCL,NCL,HAL and obviously Cunard or Azamara and I appreciate the cruise was a lot cheaper but part of the experience is having a nice wine with meals .

The food to in the main was very poor ,went to the buffet once and the choices were non existent , nothing cooked to order ,hardly any fruit other than bananas and apples .

We only booked this cruise because a family member who we trust his views had previously had two cruise with them on another ship we were on the Explorer 2 and he was on the Celebration ,he said the feel on his ship was good ,entertainment was good .

One night there was entertainment on deck and I was embarrassed for the singer ,cringe   Worthy and not a descent wine to take the pain away .

The staff were friendly and that’s the best I could say about this cruise no no comparison with Celebrity .

 

 

I may be wrong, but I think you may be looking at two different products. I would hazard a guess that you are referring to TUI - the old U.K. Thomson brand cruises now called Marella - and the above poster is referring to Mein Schiff (German part of the TUI group) and a completely different experience. Personally, I’ve always felt that the U.K. Thomson/Marella (TUI) fleet is not in the same classification as X etc. and their prices reflect this.

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