Marella River Cruise

Tui has decided to launch their own river cruise ships next summer.

They have bought three 155-passenger Ships and they will sail seven-night itineraries along the Danube, Rhine, Main and Moselle.

THey will offer 19 itineraries which will go on sale on April 25. The lead-in price for a seven-night sailing is £1,099, as with most of their ocean ships tips and service charges will be included.

Marella Cruises managing director Chris Hackney said

the new river programme would be sold only in the UK market

“This is just the start for us,” he said. “In terms of how big we get it depends on appetite at this stage – we have just launched. But there is an opportunity for us on the main European rivers going forward. At the moment we are concentrating on sailings from Amsterdam and we will probably go as far down as Serbia.”

He said the scope was considerable and suggested the line could offer sailings on the Douro in Portugal, which was becoming a “very popular” river cruising destination.

“We looked at the typical customer base that was going on an ocean cruise, but there were also customers who had not sailed on Tui’s ocean cruises that wanted to go on a river cruise and explore,” he said.

“Tui River Cruises will have that great service that we offer with Marella Cruises and it will sit under the Tui umbrella,”

Every guest will receive a £120 credit for excursions including bike tours, cookery classes and sightseeing tours,

Facilities on board will include three restaurants: the main dining room, a lighter dining area, and an al fresco barbeque restaurant.

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