Because of Corona
Holiday dreams shattered: Tui Cruises drastically cuts the number of passengers for the Caribbean trip
Tui Cruises’ “Mein Schiff 1” left for a Caribbean cruise on January 19, with only a maximum occupancy of 60 percent.
© Bernd Wüstneck
For many cruise guests on “Mein Schiff 1”, the journey was over before it even started: They were not allowed on board in Bremerhaven because Tui Cruises reduced capacity by a further 20 percent at short notice following Corona incidents.
Even the arrival of “Mein Schiff 1” in Bremerhaven on January 18 did not bode well. The 316 meter long cruise ship, coming from the Caribbean, had moored at Columbuskaje earlier than planned because the landing in Ponta Delgada on the Azores had failed. Too many Covid 19 infected people were on board. According to media reports, 121 had tested positive for the corona virus.
For the third long-term voyage of more than 35 days, the shipping company pulled the ripcord. Because following the occupancy rate had increased to 80 percent, she once more reduced the number of passengers to 60 percent for the trip beginning on January 19. That meant: On Wednesday followingnoon only 1650 passengers were allowed to embark – the “Mein Schiff 1” has a capacity for 2894 passengers at full capacity.
Dozens of travelers received the message, which began with the following sentence, just days before departure. “Dear guest, it is with a heavy heart that we have to cancel your booking for the ‘Mein Schiff 1’ from 01/19/2022 to 02/23/2022 at short notice.” The reasoning went on: “Against the background of the latest findings and experiences of the last few weeks, we decided at short notice to reintroduce stricter occupancy limits to protect guests and crew on longer trips.”
Letter of rejection three days before departure
According to the shipping company, only “a small proportion” of passengers is affected by the 20 percent reduction. The “Westfalia Sheet” on the other hand, mentions an order of magnitude of 600 cruise guests. According to Tui Cruises, the cancellation of the customers was “made following the time of booking”. Of course, it affected cruise passengers who had taken vacation, booked their journey to Bremerhaven and possibly also hotel accommodation before and following the cruise date.
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As compensation, the shipping company offered the “escaped” guests a refund of the travel price and a ten percent discount on a new booking until the end of the year.
The “Mein Schiff 2”, which was also traveling in Caribbean waters, canceled the voyage completely on January 17th. The number of crew members infected with the corona virus and in quarantine had increased so much that many restaurants had to be closed. The more than 900 passengers from Barbados were flown home early. For many of those who boarded in La Romana, Dominican Republic, the cruise lasted only three days.
After all in January, Aida Cruises has now also canceled all Caribbean cruises of the “Aida Luna” planned until the end of March. The ship’s next trip will not start until March 30, 2022 from Hamburg.
The lesson from the recent Corona incidents: If you want to go on a cruise in these weeks, you have to be extremely flexible.
Also read:
– Cruise and Corona: There is always a residual risk on board
– Corona on board: “Mein Schiff 6” also cancels the cruise
– Corona outbreak on “Aida Nova”: organizer ends journey – passengers have to leave