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  "description": "Mein Schiff 5 restarted from Heraklion on May 15, followed by Mein Schiff 4 from Trieste, with both summer programs scheduled into mid-October. ",
  "path": "/tui-cruises-returns-two-ships-to-service-after-hormuz-disruption/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-02T10:32:38.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.cruisenews.io",
  "textContent": "TUI Cruises has returned Mein Schiff 4 and Mein Schiff 5 to revenue service in the Mediterranean, ending a nearly three-month interruption tied to the Middle East conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Mein Schiff 5 restarted guest operations from Heraklion on May 15, 2026, followed by Mein Schiff 4 from Trieste on May 17.\n\nThe two TUI ships were the last of six cruise vessels caught in the Arabian Gulf disruption to resume passenger sailings. The disruption kept vessels in Gulf ports for about two months and forced cruise lines to cancel itineraries in Europe and the Middle East while repositioning plans were recast.\n\n“The past few weeks have presented us all with extraordinary challenges,” Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises, said after the ships cleared the region. Meier said the line was “all the more delighted” to return to regular operations and deploy its fleet as planned.\n\n## TUI ships resume Aegean and Adriatic programs\n\nMein Schiff 5 opened its summer program with a seven-night cruise from Heraklion calling at Chania, Valletta and Catania. The 2016-built ship carries 2,534 passengers at TUI’s published capacity and about 1,000 crew, and is scheduled to remain in the region through mid-October with calls that include Santorini, Rhodes, Marmaris, Limassol and Istanbul.\n\nMein Schiff 4 resumed from Trieste on a seven-night Adriatic itinerary visiting Italy, Montenegro, Greece, Croatia and Slovenia. The ship entered service in 2015 and is of similar scale, at roughly 99,000 gross tons with 2,506 passengers at double occupancy and about 1,000 crew; its Adriatic season also runs into mid-October before a Western Mediterranean repositioning.\n\n## Route out of the Gulf\n\nThe ships had been operating winter programs in the Arabian Gulf when military strikes in late February led to the suspension of the season. Mein Schiff 4 was held in Abu Dhabi and Mein Schiff 5 in Doha after the Strait of Hormuz was largely closed to maritime traffic. The closure affected the Persian Gulf’s main sea exit, a waterway where oil flows averaged about 20 million barrels per day in 2024.\n\nBoth ships began repositioning in mid-April and TUI sent them around Africa before crew rejoined in South Africa and Malta for the restart. Passengers and non-essential crew had previously been flown home, leaving essential crew onboard for shipkeeping and the eventual transit out of the Gulf.\n\nThe exit remained security-sensitive. United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations recorded a report of a splash near Mein Schiff 4 as it sailed in convoy off Oman with Mein Schiff 5 and MSC Euribia on April 18; no injuries or damage were reported on the six cruise ships leaving the Gulf.\n\n## All six stranded ships are now back\n\nThe broader group of stranded ships included MSC Euribia, Celestyal Discovery, Celestyal Journey and Aroya. Celestyal Discovery and Celestyal Journey restarted Eastern Mediterranean programs in early May, Aroya returned to Red Sea operations from Jeddah, and MSC Euribia resumed Northern Europe service after its repositioning to Kiel and Copenhagen.\n\nCelestyal Discovery was among the first cruise ships to leave the Gulf, followed by Celestyal Journey and a wider convoy that included the TUI vessels and MSC Euribia. Aroya later cleared the strait on its way back toward Saudi Arabia, completing the departure of the six-ship group from the region.\n\n## Financial effect for TUI\n\nTUI Group quantified the disruption before the ships restarted. The company said its cruise segment’s second-quarter underlying EBIT included about €20 million in charges directly attributable to the Middle East conflict, while first-half occupancy was 93 percent including the Iran effect and would have been 98 percent without it. In the second quarter, average daily rate across the cruise brands reached €223, up about 2 percent.\n\nTUI’s next capacity addition is scheduled for mid-June 2026, when Mein Schiff Flow is due to join the fleet. The group projects a 6 percent increase in available passenger cruise days in the second half of 2026, driven largely by Mein Schiff Flow.",
  "title": "TUI Cruises Returns Two Ships to Service After Hormuz Disruption",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-02T12:32:39.102Z"
}