Mein Schiff 4

I know this is not a luxury ship, but the only people who dare sail on a German ship are in this forum. :)

TUI markets the Mein Schiff line exclusively to German speakers. It is a very successful concept with 5 ships sailing and 6 and 7 being built. Mein Schiff 4 carries 2 500 passengers on ships with Scandinavian type décor, German, French and Italian cuisine with lots of included restaurants and bars. Beer, wine and spirits/cocktails are also included. There are 3 specialty restaurants, a large bar and a coffee/chocolate shop for pay. We did not use them since the included venues offered excellent quality. I am comparing food and drink to the Oceania and Ponant lines.

My husband and I travelled with our adult son and his wife who does not speak German. It was not a problem since all crew also speak English, often better than German.

Itinerary: Kiel - Gdansk - Klaipeda - St. Petersburg - Tallin - Stockholm - Kiel

We booked private tours in Gdansk and St. Petersburg, a ship's tour in Klaipeda and did our own thing in Tallin and Stockholm.

The positive:

Food: Italian ice, German Bakery, high quality included alcohol, great cocktails, varied cuisine of good to excellent quality, a small 24 hour cafeteria in addition to the large buffet area, filtered water dispensers on each floor, draft beer, red and white wine spigots in the buffet.

Cabin and public spaces: tasteful décor in light colors, art work, clean, lots of storage space in cabin, an indoor and an outdoor pool, walking track. You can check your account on the TV screen in your cabin. Plenty of touch screens to see itinerary etc. in the public spaces.

The negative:

We felt that all the included restaurants could use more staff and more space. They felt crowded at most meals. Dinner took 2 hours even if we skipped some of the 5 course menu. You need to be there at 6 or at 8 to find a table in the included restaurants (non assigned seating).

Our adult children used Carnival and Royal Caribbean as comparison. They thought that the German children were mostly unsupervised by their parents and misbehaved such as running up and down the stairs and disturbing the bar keepers near the game room. Children in the dining rooms behaved remarkably well when sitting through lengthy dinners with their parents.

Oddities:

Cabins have no refrigerator but an expresso machine. Odd new age gimmicks like rose quartz rocks for the water carafe. Our son asked for a refrigerator which was provided for free. It was the size of the in-room safe and not cold enough for ice packs. (back problems)

The offer of a large bag of Euro 20 laundry was made towards the end of the cruise. Hold out until then, especially if you continue travelling after the cruise as we did.

Entertainment:

When we finally decided to go to the top show, it was cancelled due to the artist's illness. I attended one of the expert talks. People walked out.

Embarkation and disembarkation:

Embarkation went smoothly, but disembarkation was a shambles due to incompetent luggage distribution. Experienced Mein Schiff cruisers self disembark.

My parents have been on the Mein Schiff 2 a few times with one cruise upcoming. They were quite happy with it but we might have spoilt them by dragging them on the Europa last year. ;)

i will do Mein Schiff 2 for Canaries and Madeira in Feb 2017

because Europa and 2 are in too hot and humid area's until may - june

when it is not good - then i lost some 2000 €

i was very upset during my last Crystal and Seabourn cruises and those did cost me some 4000 €

we will see - aware it is not luxury

I got more feedback from our adult children. They thought that the ship was not more crowded than Royal Caribbean and Carnival ships of similar size. They also appreciated the small 24/7 buffet restaurant on Mein Schiff 4 that had all the essential food from the larger buffet. On Royal Caribbean, there were times after an excursion when only the pay-for restaurant was open.

All 4 of us would sail again with Mein Schiff for the right itinerary at the right time. The price for 4 people was about as much/little :rolleyes: as the price for 2 passengers on the Europa 2 on a similar itinerary at the Norwegian coast.

Bring your own thermos/lidded cup for the filtered water dispensers next to the elevators. (It's a 'green' feature to reduce plastic throw-away bottles.) The two glass mineral water bottles in the cabin are not free and too heavy to take on excursions. We bought Mein Schiff lidded cups in one of the stores. You get one if you book a bike tour with the ship.

The older couples sitting at tables for 4 seemed to be enjoying to talk to people who were brought to their table by the maître d'. I heard animated conversations. On American ships, we usually join tables for 6 with new people.

vistaman, I hope you will enjoy Mein Schiff.

cathaana, You probably did. ;-)

One more thing for those who book Mein Schiff on a Baltic cruise: The ship docks next to the ferry docks and to the hop on hop off boats downtown. It's a fast and easy trip to the Vasa museum, the castle and Old Town.

Just back from Mein Schiff 4 and I agree with many of the points that Floridiana has made. I will add some aspects to her good take on Mein Schiff and express some different views. Please bear in mind that this has been my first cruise so I have no other point of reference.

Junior suite and perks

Junior suites are roughly 1.5x the size of a standard balcony stateroom at 26 m2 plus a balcony of 8 m2. We liked that all of the suite felt spacious, including the bathroom and the veranda. On top of that extra space suite pax get a couple of perks, some of which we liked a lot:

• priority counter at embarkation, bypassing the queue. There has been no difference regarding disembarkation, which we found to be not as chaotic as described by Floridiana. We had booked travel via TUI cruises and procedures may be different if you arrange flights on your own.
  
• access to the X-lounge & X-sundeck, see below
  
• a complimentary mini-bar which is restocked twice a day plus unlimited capsules for your personal nespresso machine
  
• free unlimited Wi-Fi, quite nice considering the current price of online packages aboard Mein Schiff
  
• special reception with the Captain and a number of officers on the first evening
  

The X-lounge features both an indoor and outdoor area, facing to the bow of Mein Schiff 4. A concierge is there to help you including booking excursions and you'll find freshly printed german newspapers right on time for breakfast. Service is charming and unobtrusive, though not flawless.

A nice buffet with snacks on small plates & fresh fruits is available all during the day, including complimentary caviar and champagne (Pommery). The lounge opens for breakfast which is available from 7 to 10 am. While most of it is buffet style your omelett, eggs benedict etc. will be served.

The X-lounge used to close at 7 pm but a dinner option with four courses has been introduced just a couple of month ago which we often chose if we had no reservation for one of the specialty restaurants. You choose the main course which is served at your table whereas starters, soup and desserts are buffet style.

Passenger information system & WiFi

The on board information system can be accessed once you connect to the ships WiFi network. This web based system is free of charge so all your devices from smartphones to notebooks are good to go without downloading any apps. You get the same information as on the TV in your stateroom but we found it far easier to use via browser. Booked excursions, account balance etc. are password protected. Signal quality is good throughout the ship including outside areas and even our suites balcony. Good handover between access points without the need for a new login.

BUT logging into the internet is cumbersome and has you clicking through five screens even if your browser fills in your credentials. That would be ok if afterwards you could surf for as long as you'd like. However, there is a forced logout roughly every 45 minutes with you having to repeat this process over and over again. This occurs at fixed times so it may happen just a few minutes after logging in that you are kicked out again. It is terribly annoying.

Food & drinks

According to my wife (I drink tea only) the machine made "coffee" in the self serving restaurant Anckelmannsplatz as well as the 24h cafeteria does not deserve its name. A different type of machine at the bakery station ("Backstation") brews a drinkable alternative. Good coffee is available in the serviced restaurants and bars, but the best has been served in the X-lounge. She did not try the for pay coffee lounge.

We rate the quality of the food and of the service at the three Atlantik serviced restaurants as (very) good but not excellent. In any case the quality of the food is notably better in the for pay restaurants. This holds true for the service as well, to a large part probably due to a better staff-ratio.

• "Richard's feines Essen" is a gourmet style restaurant. While service was impeccable and food great we prefer a more down to earth atmosphere.
  
• Despite being advertised as japanese "Hanami" does offer dishes not only from Japan but a mix of asian cuisine. We thought that some of the dishes were tuned too much towards a german/western taste. Sushi was excellent though.
  
• We liked the "Surf & Turf" steakhouse best with its diverse meat offerings on display for you to choose from, the perfectly done steaks and other dishes as well as the excellent service. The atmosphere created by the whole team made it so much more enjoyable to eat there. Please note that some of the hot starters are nearly enough for a main course. If you sample just one of the for pay restaurants, we strongly recommend you visit Surf & Turf. Weather permitting we found the outside tables to be an additional plus.
  

There is a gourmet package available for 75 Euro per person to sample each of the specialty restaurants. Included are a four course dinner in both the Surf & Turf and the Hanami and a six course meal at Richard's. Signature dishes in each of the restaurants demand an extra fee, ie. Shabu Shabu in Hanami and Wagyu beef at the steakhouse. Drinks are not included in any of the specialty restaurants.

We do not drink wine but liked the cocktails.

The included alcohol for example Jim Bean or Johnnie Walker are usually household names in Germany. High quality liqueur is available and reasonably priced like 4 to 6 Euro for a good single malt scotch (4 cl). Have a look at the different bars as there are some whiskys available which are not included on the standard bar menus and not all venues carry the same bottles.

Spa & pools

There are several saunas with different temperatures available, some of which feature big one way mirrors for a great view. The relaxing area is facing to the bow and has outside loungers as well. This being a predominantly german ship you should be aware that people are naked in the mixed saunas and some like to tan in the nude while relaxing outside, too.

Massages have been a mixed bag. Both my wife and I had three massages each and both of us like them to be done as close to medical standards as possible as opposed to just a caressing with annoying spherical music in the background. She can recommend Gernot, who did a good one and seems to have taken a comprehensive education to give medical massages. Another one of hers was ok and one not so good. For me it has been two ok ones and one miss.

We did not try the gym, courses or beauty parlor.

The longest pool at sea is great for swimming laps at off times but can be crowded during the day. On sea days it can be challenging to find free outside deckchairs unless you arrive early, especially when looking for ones in the shade, but you could always find a place in one of the two hot tubs without them getting crowded. There is a smaller indoor pool which we did not use.

On-board activities

• Sushi workshop: a lot of work had already been done for you. All ingredients had already been cut and were beautifully layed out and you were guided through the process of assembling your own california roll, maki roll and two nigiri. The presentation has been a little lacklustre and not much information was given on top of the necessary instructions.
  
• Cocktail workshop: contrary to the sushi one this was very good and entertaining thanks to Mehmet and Edim. It is aimed at beginners though.
  
• Whisky tasting: with proper nosing glasses, dark chocolate and water the tables had been set up well for seven single malt whiskys covering most of the Scottish whisky regions. We would have liked more peated ones in the sample, but were clearly part of the minority as reactions to the Lagavulin showed ;) This tasting is aimed at participants who are new to the world of whisky but Julia has been an enthusiastic presenter and it was a very entertaining crowd. Recommended.
  

Entertainment

The Klanghaus, advertised as the only concert hall at sea, is a really nice venue. I listened to a piano trio there.

The main act during this cruise was solo pianist Joja Wendt who performed for one evening. His show in the main theater was quite entertaining and he did a good job of working with the audience, but he included many popular pieces and would be the wrong choice if you mainly wanted to listen to classical piano pieces only.

The only other show we saw in the theater has been the crew show which we liked a lot. More seasoned travellers mentioned that the number of acts used to be higher on past cruises but that did not spoil things for us. Cruise director Stephan Zimmermann did a tremendous job as a host.

Itinerary

We had chosen this Atlantic crossing from Mallorca via Gibraltar and the Canary Islands to the carribean specifically to include a lot of sea days and for us this has been the right decision. The choice of ports (Domenica, St. Kitts / Nevis, St. Maarten, Tortola) were interesting to us but this being our first time to the carribean everything was new and exciting anyway.

Excursions

Being lazy we did not venture on our own and had booked excursions at all ports. We feel that on average they were neither cheap nor a rip-off but bear in mind that we did not research local guides and tour operators and thus cannot judge prices in comparison.

All in all we were satisfied with the tours with the exception of the tour by cable car to the top of Mt. Teide on Tenerifa. Upon approaching the valley station we were told that it could not operate due to wind conditions. That would have been ok if it just happened. But later we learned that this information had already been available at the time our trip was about to start.

The main reason for choosing that trip forfeited before we got rolling we would have liked to be given the chance to decide for something different than an artificially elongated bus ride trying to make up for the time usually spent on Mt. Teide. Not only us but a lot of the participants of this trip complained and it seems the fare of the cable car tickets got reimbursed to at least all who did.

Fellow travellers

on our Atlantic crossing started with young babies but the majority of guests were 50+. There were only a small number of kids aboard for a ship of this size all of which seemed to be younger than six years as there were no school holidays in Germany. I can't judge whether TUI cruises is especially LGBT friendly, but there have been a number of gay and lesbian couples on board.

Most of the travelers being germans acted true to the cliché and on average weren’t overly outgoing types.

To wrap things up: Is it worth the money? Would we recommend it for someone who does not speak german?

TUI markets Mein Schiff as premium but not luxury and in our view this is exactly what you get, with the X-lounge and the specialty restaurants being above average. We would expect service to have fewer glitches, better food in the buffet restaurant and generally some more bells and whistles on a true luxury cruise. Having said that, we truly loved our time aboard and think that it is worth its price. The same holds true for our junior suite with its included perks, which we found very nice indeed.

As already noted by Floridiana the Mein Schiff fleet caters almost exclusively to cruisers who speak german. We have not seen any information in english with just two exceptions during our cruise. The first one being english language subtitles in the emergency drill video and the second one an announcement via PA for a crew drill.

However, you would not expect information in english to be available everywhere when travelling in Germany on your own either. I suppose your experience on board would be similar in a way. The staff usually speak english as a second language at least and with some of them it is better than their german. Many germans can speak at least some english, too, and are happy to practice when being approached. But do not expect to find someone to exchange witty remarks with easily.

i hope my first cruise on Mein Schiff 2 will be a better experience as my last cruise on Queen Victoria .

At least the prices for Champagne and special premium spirits and non complimentary wines are a lot friendlier as on Cunard ....:D

i am just back from 7 days canaries and Madeira ( unpleasant weather ) in Mein Schiff 2

for the amount paid i cannot complain - will i go back ? NO

i am not in the mood to write a full review : however:

drinks : very good quality , some mistakes by some bartenders (like thick lemon slice in a dry martini ? )

wines : included wines very soso but cheap champagnes ( comparing to some other "bigger" ships and even some in the luxury level )

service : accent is on friendliness

specialty restaurants : best is Surf & Turf

acceptable quality of cold cuts , decent cheeses , fruits, good cakes and breads and "danish"

did not like : no ice in cabin , very thin bathrobes and towels no face towels

mini bars not chilling at all ( i was not the only one )

fresh orange juice 2.9 € for a tall glass at breakfast

day of disembarkation you can stay on board for 25 € in bars lounges and restaurant until 5 PM

in brief : a once in cruise - lifetime experience