| IMO | 9678408 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 99,500 GT |
| Length | 295.0 m |
| Beam | 35.8 m |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 2506 |
| Service speed | 21.7 knots |
| Builder | Meyer Turku; STX Finland |
| Yard | Perno shipyard |
| Hull number | 1384 |
| Launched | 2015 |
| Maiden voyage | 2015 |
| Operator | TUI Cruises |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Mein Schiff 4 — "My Ship 4" — is a cruise ship of TUI Cruises, the German premium line jointly rooted in TUI AG and Royal Caribbean. She was the line's second purpose-built newbuild, delivered in 2015 as a close copy of Mein Schiff 3, the ship that had established TUI's modern fleet a year earlier. Where the first two Mein Schiff ships were converted second-hand tonnage from Celebrity Cruises, numbers 3 and 4 began the era of ships designed from the keel up for the German market.
She has spent her whole career with TUI Cruises under her original name, registered in Valletta, Malta.
Key specifications
The dataset records 99,500 GT, dimensions of 295.0 by 35.8 metres, a maximum capacity of 2,506 passengers and a speed of 21.7 knots. Her article gives 99,526 GT and 2,506 passengers with a crew of 1,030, and a length of 293.2 metres; it also lists a beam of 42.3 metres. Propulsion is diesel-electric, by Wärtsilä engines driving two shafts with fixed-pitch propellers, with three bow and two stern thrusters.
Her size put her in the large-ship class of the mid-2010s without reaching megaship scale — roughly 100,000 tons carrying about 2,500 guests, a notably low density that was central to TUI's premium positioning.
Design and construction
She was built at Turku, Finland, at the Perno yard that appears in the dataset — a yard whose ownership changed around her: ordered from STX Finland on 27 September 2011, she was completed under the Meyer Turku name after Meyer Werft took over the Turku operation, which is why the dataset credits both "Meyer Turku; STX Finland."
Her keel was laid on 6 April 2013. The Turku newbuilds for TUI were designed with energy-efficient technology and emissions-reduction measures that the builder and line promoted as cutting emissions by around 30 percent against comparable ships, and each ship in the series was reported to generate nearly 5,000 person-years of work at the yard. Design work was shared among firms including Wilson Butler Architects, CM Design and Tillberg Design.
As her article puts it, for the most part Mein Schiff 4 is a copy of Mein Schiff 3 — a deliberate near-repeat order, refining a proven platform rather than introducing a new design.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
She was floated out on 10 October 2014. She was completed and delivered to TUI Cruises on 8 May 2015, and entered Kiel, her first port, on 14 May for a series of short inaugural cruises.
Her christening at Kiel's Ostseekai terminal on 5 June 2015 was staged as a public spectacle: about 1,000 guests inside the ship's theatre and an estimated 25,000 spectators ashore. Her sponsor, former Olympic swimmer Franziska van Almsick, was raised above the foredeck wearing a 15-metre christening robe weighing some 300 kg before smashing a bottle of Pommery champagne against the ship; fireworks closed the evening. The next day, 6 June 2015, she sailed from Kiel on her maiden voyage.
Career by operator
| Name | Operator | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Mein Schiff 4 | TUI Cruises | 2015–present |
Onboard character
Her character is that of the TUI "Wohlfühlschiff" — the feel-good ship — concept applied at scale: a premium, largely all-inclusive product aimed overwhelmingly at German-speaking guests (about 80 percent of TUI's passengers, per industry profiles). Against the American resort ships of the same tonnage, the design emphasised space and quiet: a genuine 25-metre lap pool carried over from Mein Schiff 3 — a rarity in an industry of splash pools — generous wellness space, and dining variety without the ships' public rooms being turned into a theme park.
Being a near-copy of her sister was itself the character statement: TUI had found a formula its market liked and repeated it with detail refinements, including an expanded wellness area, rather than chasing novelty.
Major refits and incidents
No major refit or casualty is recorded for this ship in the sources used for this guide. Her early history is routine: inaugural short cruises from Kiel in May–June 2015, then regular seasonal deployment patterns typical of the TUI fleet. Routine drydock maintenance is not catalogued in the sources used.
Sister ships and class
Her direct sister is Mein Schiff 3 (2014), of which she is a near copy. The same Turku design family continued with the modified Mein Schiff 5 (2016) and Mein Schiff 6 (2017), and then with enlarged versions — the new Mein Schiff 1 (2018), Mein Schiff 2 (2019) and Mein Schiff 7 (2024). Together these ships form the Blu Motion family that carried TUI Cruises from a two-ship converted fleet to a modern purpose-built one.
Fate and where she is now
The dataset records her status as active and her fate as "Operating." She remains in service with TUI Cruises under her original name, a mid-career ship in the fleet she helped establish.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cruise_ships, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Schiff_4, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TUI_Cruises