TUI, the Anglo-German travel company that is rebranding most of its units, will add two more shops in the next three years to its Thomson Cruises fleet in the UK after the introduction of TUI Discovery this summer.

“The introduction of TUI Discovery marks a new era for our cruise business in the UK which will continue with the introduction of two more TUI ships to the fleet over the next three years,” said Nick Longman, Managing Director of TUI UK & Ireland in a statement.

TUI Discovery is the former Splendour of the Seas of Royal Caribbean International and it will be followed in the UK next year by Mein Schiff 1 from the TUI Cruises fleet in Germany.

The third ship has not yet been named, but it could be Mein Schiff 2. Both of these ships were originally built for Celebrity Cruises, which is also part of the Royal Caribbean group.

TUI Cruises in Germany is 50/50 owned by TUI itself and Royal Caribbean. The UK cruise operation of TUI is called Thomson Cruises and it is fully owned by TUI.

However, TUI Cruises owns and manages TUI Discovery, while Thomson Cruises is in charge of its commercial operations. Thomson Cruises operates five ships, most of which are second generation ships from the 1980s that feature e.g. few balcony cabins.

Three of the five ships are operated on charter and TUI has stated that it wants to replace them with owned tonnage over time.