| IMO | 9753193 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 99,500 GT |
| Length | 293.6 m |
| Beam | 35.83 m |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 2534 |
| Service speed | 21.7 knots |
| Builder | Meyer Turku |
| Yard | Perno shipyard |
| Hull number | 1389 |
| Launched | 2016 |
| Maiden voyage | 2016 |
| Operator | TUI Cruises |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Mein Schiff 5 is the third of the Blu Motion-class newbuilds with which TUI Cruises — the German premium line jointly owned by TUI and Royal Caribbean — replaced its secondhand beginnings with a purpose-built fleet. Delivered by Meyer Turku in June 2016, ten days ahead of schedule, she refined the formula set by Mein Schiff 3 and Mein Schiff 4: a ship of just under 100,000 GT for about 2,534 guests, engineered for unusually low energy consumption and emissions, and sold to the German market on space, quiet and included dining rather than attractions. She has spent her career with TUI Cruises under the Maltese flag, and in 2026 marked ten years in service.
Key specifications
The dataset records 99,500 GT, 293.6 m by 35.83 m, 2,534 capacity, 21.7 kn and hull 1389 at Meyer Turku's Perno yard. Her classification-society figures, quoted in her own article from the DNV vessel register, are close but not identical: 98,785 GT, 295.26 m long and 36.24 m in beam, with a crew of 1,030; the tonnage difference is a rounding and re-measurement matter logged in the batch notes, and the dataset's 99,500-class figure is the one TUI's own marketing used at launch. Her machinery is diesel-electric — Wärtsilä 8L46F and 12V46 engines driving twin shafts — with three bow and two stern thrusters. The dataset's operator history mentions Celebrity Cruises alongside TUI; the ship has in fact never operated for Celebrity (the association is with TUI Cruises' co-owner Royal Caribbean's stable, and earlier Mein Schiff hulls were ex-Celebrity ships — but not this one). That entry is logged as a suspected dataset error.
Design and construction
She was ordered on 26 August 2014 and laid down at Turku on 30 December 2014, launched on 15 January 2016 and delivered on 20 June 2016. The Blu Motion design was a group effort between TUI Cruises and the Finnish yard (begun under STX Finland, completed under Meyer Turku ownership), and its priorities were environmental and spatial: TUI claimed energy consumption about 4 per cent lower than Mein Schiff 3, itself an efficient design, and fitted a combined exhaust after-treatment system — a scrubber with catalytic converters — credited with cutting sulphur emissions by about 99 per cent and nitrogen oxides by about 75 per cent. Within the class, Mein Schiff 5 is distinguished by detail changes rather than redesign: the glass roof over the enclosed pool fitted to her sisters was removed, a further outdoor pool — the Lagune — was added on the top deck, the reception area was remodelled, and a Japanese restaurant by Berlin chef Tim Raue joined the dining line-up.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
Like all TUI Cruises ships she carries the fleet's possessive branding — Mein Schiff, "my ship" — with her number in sequence. She was christened at Kiel in summer 2016 by the German singer Lena Meyer-Landrut, winner of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest; trade reporting of the delivery notes thousands watching from shore. She was handed over on 20 June 2016, sailed for Kiel the next day, and began her maiden voyage on 16 July 2016, opening with a Baltic and Scandinavian season from German ports before her first winter in the Caribbean aimed at German-speaking guests.
Career by operator
| Years | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2016– | Mein Schiff 5 | TUI Cruises |
One name and one operator throughout: Mein Schiff 5 has been a TUI Cruises ship since delivery, registered at Valletta, Malta. Her career pattern has been the line's standard deployment for the class — northern European summers from German homeports and winter seasons further south — and her fleet role settled as the third of four near-identical Blu Motion ships, between Mein Schiff 4 (2015) and Mein Schiff 6 (2017), before the stretched Mein Schiff 1 and 2 and the LNG-fuelled inTUItion class enlarged the fleet around her. A drydock refurbishment in Dubai in early 2026, part of a fleet modernisation programme, refreshed her interiors for her second decade.
Onboard character
The Blu Motion ships' era-defining trait is restraint: a high space ratio, long included-dining list, and public rooms designed for calm rather than spectacle. Mein Schiff 5 kept the class signatures — the multi-storey glass Diamant aft facade, the large spa and sports areas, the concert-style theatre, the choice of included speciality restaurants that TUI markets as premium-inclusive — and added her own markers, the open-air Lagune pool and the Raue-designed Hanami Japanese restaurant. In the German market the class defined a product category: cruising as a floating premium resort for guests who wanted the ship itself quiet, spacious and largely all-inclusive.
Major refits and incidents
No casualty is recorded for her in the sources used. One operational episode stands out in her own article: on the outbreak of the 2026 Iran war she was in the Gulf and remained at Doha, Qatar, for 47 days before departing on 17 April 2026 through the Strait of Hormuz in company with Celestyal Journey, Mein Schiff 4 and MSC Euribia — an enforced lay-up by geopolitics rather than by any fault of the ship, after which she returned to normal service. Her 2026 Dubai drydock (see Career) is her first major modernisation.
Sister ships and class
The Blu Motion class comprises Mein Schiff 3 (2014), Mein Schiff 4 (2015), Mein Schiff 5 (2016) and Mein Schiff 6 (2017), all built at Turku to the same basic design, with minor ship-to-ship differences. The design was then stretched for the new Mein Schiff 1 (2018) and Mein Schiff 2 (2019) and developed further in Mein Schiff 7 (2024), before TUI moved to the larger LNG inTUItion class with Mein Schiff Relax (2025). Mein Schiff 5 sits in the middle of the original quartet — the version where the design reached its settled form.
Fate and where she is now
She is an active TUI Cruises ship, ten years into a career that has been, the Gulf episode apart, a model of the line's steady German-market operation. No sale or transfer has been announced; with her 2026 modernisation completed she remains a core unit of the Blu Motion quartet.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cruise_ships; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Schiff_5; https://www.marinelog.com/news/meyer-turku-delivers-mein-schiff-5-ahead-of-schecule/