Mein Schiff Review

-- / 5.0
Editor Rating
38 reviews

Great transatlantic crossing on Mein Schiff 4

Review for Transatlantic Cruise on Mein Schiff
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qwertz
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Oct 2016

Just back from an atlantic crossing that we truly enjoyed. But please bear in mind that this has been my first cruise so I have no other point of reference.

Mein Schiff 4

All of TUI cruises ships are named "Mein Schiff" and number 4 is the second newbuilt in the fleet. Since entering service in May 2015 the ship has been kept in top condition. The design is modern and pleasing to the eye. The dresscode is casual and there are no formal nights.

Cabin Review

Cabin Junior Suite

Junior suites are roughly 1.5x the size of a standard balcony stateroom at 26 m2 plus a balcony of 8 m2. Storage is well organised into cupboards with shelves or hangers (enough of them, too) and drawers. Plus there is ample space below the beds even for big suitcases. The safe is too small for notebooks. Anything above a 10" tablet is likely too big.

The two single beds are pushed together and cannot be separated as is possible in a standard balcony stateroom. The bed linen covers both of them so that there is not much of a crack in between. We do not like soft mattresses that one sinks into and thus the beds were very much to our liking. In addition to reading lights the beadhead contains shelves for your glasses, books etc. Only one of the shelves offers a wall socket for ie. charging your phone during the night.

There are three more sockets above the tables, all of which are of the standard german type. They were always on so one can leave any devices for charging while not in the suite. Whether this is standard or due to us needing an electric mini fridge (free of charge) for storing medicine I cannot tell.

A mains switch operated everything else but these sockets. Thanks to it there's no need to fumble with a keycard in the dark.

A large tv is mounted opposite of the bed. Unfortunately it cannot be moved in another position which results in an awkward viewing angle for watching from e.g. the couch. A Playstation 4 is hooked up to it but we did not use it.

The table in front of the TV can be folded away either into the corner below the television or over the chest of drawers it is attached to with one side. I found the chair for this table provided a good support for the (lower) spine and was more comfortable than the one at the coffee table.

Backrests of the comfortable chairs on the balcony cannot be put in a fully horizontal position. A footrest is provided for each of them.

The bathroom again feels spacious. There is a double sink but no tub. A clothes line can be drawn across the length of the shower cabin. Toiletries are from Bulgari for her and Bogner for him. The wall socket in the bathroom will only work for an electric razor. 

It is odd that a dimmed light is always on in the bathroom and shining through small gaps at the top and bottom of its door. If one can only sleep in absolute darkness and turns off the mains switch then no lights are available at all before it is turned on again. Highly sensitive people on german language forums about Mein Schiff even recommend some tape to cover the small green light indicating the mains switch in the dark.

The hairdryer offers a long spiral cord and is not attached to a bathroom wall but kept in a drawer below the make-up mirror in the suite.

Number 10060 is placed in between the two staircases, slightly closer to the front one. We found that to be a good spot to be in. The cabin is quiet and sound insulation is good. Parties from the pool deck could be heard if the veranda door was open but they always ended at midnight.

Service has been good but not perfect and usually unobstrusive. We can recommend this junior suite and would choose it again.

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