Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and German tourism and shipping conglomerate TUI AG have announced that they will form a new German cruise line, TUI Cruises, as a joint venture.
This follows on the dissolution of a proposed joint venture between TUI and Carnival Corporation & plc, which would have incorporated both the new brand and Carnival’s existing AIDA brand, Germany’s largest. That deal was rejected by German anti-trust authorities.
TUI Cruises, to be based in Hamburg, will be a 50-50 joint venture between RCCL and TUI, and will begin service with one ship in early 2009. The ship will be a refurbished existing member of the RCCL fleet and will be followed by newbuilds in 2011 and 2012.
TUI AG already has extensive involvement in the cruise industry: it is the parent of Hapag-Lloyd AG, owner of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, and majority owner of TUI Travel plc, which is part owner of Island Cruises, another joint venture with RCCL, as well as owner of Thomson Cruises and expedition cruise operator Quark Expeditions.
Click here for a press release from RCCL, or here from TUI.
