Finland-based Meyer Turku Shipyard floated out on Friday 15 January, the first ship being contracted and built totally under the ownership of the Meyer family, the Mein Schiff 5.
Mein Schiff 5 is a sister ship of Mein Schiff 4, which was handed over to its owner TUI Cruises last spring.
Acording to Meyer Turku, building of Mein Schiff 5 has advanced as planned and on schedule. The float-out and transfer of the vessel from the dry dock to the outfitting pier marks a shift from the construction phase of the ship hull to the outfitting phase.
Ferdinand Strohmeyer, Vice President Operations of TUI Cruises and Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku, were among the people participating in the opening of the dry dock valves.
“Step by step the good work of our team is coming together and the ship starts to look like a ship. Mein Schiff 4, the sister ship is well received by its guest – yet we cannot stand still and are implementing multiple improvements, big and small, on Mein Schiff 5 to further improve the guest experience. I’m confident that, once again, we will be able to deliver TUI Cruises a wonderful new cruise ship on time, ” said Jan Meyer.
When completed, the technically highly advanced Mein Schiff 5 will be 295 metres long and 36 metres wide.
Special attention in its design and construction was paid to energy efficiency. The cruise ship will have 1,267 cabins, of which approximately 90 per cent will be outer cabins and 82 per cent will have their own balcony. The ship will accommodate about 1,000 crew members.
Mein Schiff 5 is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2016.