Sunday, October 25 was meant to be embarkation day for one of the longest autumn cruises out of Germany. By the evening, Mein Schiff 3 was back at its Bremerhaven berth with crushed lifeboats on its side, a container ship next door carrying a tear roughly 10 meters long, and 2,428 guests wondering whether their trip to the Canary Islands had ended before the first sea day.
TUI Cruises confirmed the collision and said that, as far as it currently knows, nobody was hurt. The water police in Bremerhaven are investigating the cause.
What happened during departure
Mein Schiff 3 cast off from the Columbuskaje, Bremerhaven’s cruise quay, at about 5 p.m. with tugs alongside. The German Weather Service had warned of gusts reaching force 8 to 9, up to about 85 km/h, for the German Bight and the Weser and Elbe estuaries, with stronger gusts forecast overnight.
As the 293-meter ship passed the container terminal, a gust appears to have pushed it off its line. Local reports say neither the ship’s own engines nor the tugs could hold it, and it struck the MSC Victorine, a container ship lying at the terminal. The tugs then brought Mein Schiff 3 back to the Columbuskaje, where it remained on Sunday night.
A passenger video of the departure spread quickly on Sunday evening, including on Reddit’s r/Cruise forum. According to the German news agency dpa, which verified the footage, it shows the gap to the moored container ship closing, the impact, and debris falling. A woman can be heard saying, in German, that she thinks that is the end of the trip.
The damage reported so far
On the MSC Victorine, the side of the hull was torn open over about 10 meters. One report places the tear above the waterline, and Bremen’s ports authority said none of the vessels involved took on water. Containers on the freighter were also crushed.
On Mein Schiff 3, at least two lifeboats were destroyed and other boats stowed along the side were badly damaged. The condition of its hull is still being assessed. Radio Bremen’s buten un binnen reported that two tugs were damaged as well.
Accounts of how many vessels were involved still differ. Police first spoke of one container ship and later said three vessels were affected in total. TUI Cruises has said its ship touched one container ship. Reports also disagree on which part of Mein Schiff 3 made contact, with one describing the bow meeting the freighter’s stern and another the starboard side.
Why the cruise cannot simply leave
Lifeboats are the reason this is more than a scraped hull. International safety rules require a passenger ship to carry enough survival craft for everyone aboard, and Mein Schiff 3 had 2,428 guests and 922 crew on board, according to TUI Cruises. Authorities have not allowed the ship to head out into the North Sea while part of its lifesaving equipment is missing or damaged.
Getting back to sea means repairing or replacing the boats, then inspection by the classification society and approval from Malta, the ship’s flag state. None of that has a published timeline yet, and TUI Cruises has not said whether the sailing will be shortened, rerouted or cancelled.
Guests were told they could stay on board for now, with the usual onboard services running. Whether anyone will need to move into hotels ashore depends on how long the repairs take.
The itinerary that is on hold
The interrupted sailing is TUI Cruises’ 20-night Timeless Canary Islands round trip from Bremerhaven, scheduled from October 25 to November 14. After two sea days it was due in A Coruña on Wednesday, October 28, then Leixões for Porto on October 29 and Lisbon on October 30.
From there the route continues to Funchal on Madeira and four Canary Islands calls: San Sebastián de La Gomera, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Arrecife on Lanzarote and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. A stop in Agadir comes before five sea days back to Bremerhaven.
On Sunday night the ship’s live AIS position on Cruises.To still placed it at Bremerhaven at 0.0 knots, with A Coruña listed as the next call. Every lost day pushes the first port further out of reach, so a late start would most likely trim the Iberian calls or the Canaries leg.
If you are booked on the next sailing
The next Mein Schiff 3 departure in our schedule is a 14-night Enchanting Norway cruise from Bremerhaven on November 14, the same day the Canary Islands trip was due home. After that comes a four-night Oslo sailing from Bremerhaven to Kiel on November 28. TUI Cruises has said it will keep customers on follow-on sailings informed, and has not announced changes to either.
Mein Schiff cruises sold in Germany are package holidays under German law. If the operator cancels or materially changes a trip, travelers are entitled to a refund of the price paid, and the law gives the operator 14 days to pay it. Hotels, trains or flights booked separately to reach Bremerhaven fall outside that, so check their cancellation terms and any travel insurance before you set out for the port.
Watch the booking account and email address used for the reservation, and the Mein Schiff 3 page will show whether the ship has left Bremerhaven and where it is heading.
What is still unknown
The cause of the collision has not been established. The weather explains why it was difficult to control a tall ship in a narrow harbor, but the water police investigation will decide what actually went wrong, and police said they expected to release more information on Monday, October 26. The extent of the damage to Mein Schiff 3’s hull, the number of vessels involved and the date the ship can sail again are all open.