Mein Schiff 4 in Helsinki, 11 June 2015

Finally I had some time to put up photos here. And it's a brand-new cruise ship built in Finland, woo!

Mein Schiff 4

IMO 9678408
Built 2015, Meyer Turku, Finland
Tonnage 99 526 GT
Length 293,20 m
Width 35,80 m
Draugth 8,05 m
2 501 passengers (lower beds), 2 790 passengers (all berths)
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 28 00 kW
2 propellers
3 bow thrusters
Speed 21,7 knots

The Mein Schiff 4 is, as you should know, the newest ship of the German-market cruise line TUI Cruises. She was ordered from what was then called STX Finland's Turku shipyard in November 2012, when TUI Cruises took up the option for a sister ship included in the earlier order for the Mein Schiff 3. While the ship was under construction, the Turku shipyard was sold to a consortium of Meyer Werft and the Finnish State, although the Meyer family took full ownership of the yard before the Mein Schiff 4 was delivered. When the ship was delivered on 8 May 2015, she became the first ship to be delivered by Meyer Turku.

I was present at a press showing during the delivery day, as a representative of the Finnish Ulkomatala web magazine. A detailed report from the ship will be published in Ulkomatala's next issue, which will be out on 30 June (so next Tuesday). I also wrote a short reportage with images in English for MaritimeMatters, which you can read here. I plan to post a comprehensive tour of the ship here when I have the time to look through the images properly. Considering how busy I've been of the late, this might take a while, unfortunately.

The photos below show the Mein Schiff 4 departing Helsinki Länsisatama (West Harbour) on the afternoon of 11 June 2015, her first visit to our fine city. Photographed from Vattuniemi (the water was still too cold to wade to Sisä-Hattu). As always, click on the images to see them in larger size.

Quite a few people have criticized the looks of the Turku-built Mein Schiffs, but to be honest I think they look rather good for modern cruise ships. It's a clean, unpretentious design and's quite pleasant to my eyes. Plus the fact they chose to paint the hull something other than white is a huge bonus.

Water levels were unsuaully low, which naturally suggested photos such as these.

I'm sorely tempted to write something about Finnish nature and Finnish design appearing side by side here.

This photo would be better without the seagull.

The Mein Schiff 4 is a frequest visitor this summer, so "see you again!" is the most appropriate slogan here.

Next time: Another newcomer in the form of Le Soléal.