TUI Cruises announced the line had canceled all sailings in South Africa for the following season, affecting the scheduled voyages aboard Mein Schiff 3.
The first voyage affected by the cancelations is an 11-night trip from Palma de Mallorca (Majorca Island, Balearic Spain) to Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands) on October 23, 2022.
TUI's cancelations run through the entire season, until March 3, 2023, when Schiff 3 was due to start the relocation voyage (RepositionCruises.com) from Cape Town (South Africa) to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands).
In a letter to passengers, TUI said that there were 2 reasons for the cancellations - interest in South Africa cruises had declined essentially/it wasn't however conceivable to evaluate the extent to which the scheduled program for cruise ships of that size could be executed again.
‘’Unfortunately, the interest in our trips to South Africa has fallen sharply. In addition, we are currently unable to assess the extent to which our on-site program for cruise ships of this size - also taking into account the current corona situation in the country - can be carried out as planned. In order to give you security to plan in advance, we have decided to cancel these trips early.
"We are pleased to be able to offer an attractive alternative: this year we have already offered long-term Caribbean cruises from/to Germany with success. In addition, we are heading to Norway for the first time at the end of February, and were able to experience the wonderful winter landscape and the impressive northern lights together with our guests. We will be offering these extraordinary voyages again in the coming winter season on Mein Schiff 3.’’