{"version":"1.9","identifier":"ce9f11cd-f2a1-4c86-8a8c-e89529b36018","language":"en-US","title":"Mein Schiff 3 hits two container ships leaving Bremerhaven; Canary Islands cruise canceled","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://cruisesfrog.com/news/mein-schiff-3-bremerhaven-collision-canary-islands-cruise-canceled","datePublished":"2026-10-26T13:01:17.557023Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T13:02:01.389234Z","authors":["Patrick Karsh"],"excerpt":"Storm gusts pushed TUI Cruises' ship into two berthed freighters on October 25. No one was hurt, but the ship needs shipyard repairs and its 20-night trip is off.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/ce9f11cd-f2a1-4c86-8a8c-e89529b36018/66286fadbcd1327f3fc0f8c2a956f0a6.jpg","keywords":["ship"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Mein Schiff 3 hits two container ships leaving Bremerhaven; Canary Islands cruise canceled","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Storm gusts pushed TUI Cruises' ship into two berthed freighters on October 25. No one was hurt, but the ship needs shipyard repairs and its 20-night trip is off.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By Patrick Karsh · Published October 26, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/ce9f11cd-f2a1-4c86-8a8c-e89529b36018/66286fadbcd1327f3fc0f8c2a956f0a6.jpg","caption":"Mein Schiff 3 at the Columbus Cruise Center, Bremerhaven, 2018 (file photo) · Ein Dahmer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","accessibilityCaption":"Mein Schiff 3 at the Columbus Cruise Center, Bremerhaven, 2018 (file photo)","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Mein Schiff 3 at the Columbus Cruise Center, Bremerhaven, 2018 (file photo) · Ein Dahmer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"A 20-night trip to the sun ended before it left the harbor. TUI Cruises' Mein Schiff 3 hit two berthed container ships while sailing out of Bremerhaven, Germany, on Sunday evening, October 25. Strong gusts from a storm over the North Sea pushed the ship off course as tugs tried to hold it clear. No one was hurt, but the ship needs shipyard repairs, and TUI Cruises has canceled the cruise.\n\n## What happened in Bremerhaven\n\nMein Schiff 3 cast off from the Columbuskaje cruise terminal shortly after 5 p.m. local time. It was bound for La Coruña in Spain, the first stop on a three-week Canary Islands round trip. Several tugs escorted the ship, because storm Manja was sending strong gusts across the German North Sea coast.\n\nAccording to Bremen police, as reported by German public broadcaster tagesschau, a gust caught the cruise ship and pushed it first into a smaller container ship. That contact caused only minor damage. The ship then drifted on into a much larger vessel, the 2023-built MSC Victorine. That freighter is about 366 meters long and can carry 16,520 containers. It was tied up at the container terminal on a voyage to Hamburg.\n\nBremen's ports department says the second impact left a tear about 10 meters long in the side of the container ship, well above the waterline. Videos shot by passengers and port watchers show crushed containers on the freighter. Two tugs were also damaged.\n\n## Damage to the cruise ship\n\nThe damage to Mein Schiff 3 is easy to see. Several of its lifeboats were hit, along with their davits and parts of the outer hull. German media also reported damage on the bridge deck and on decks 5 and 6. Even so, no water got into any of the ships. Mein Schiff 3 kept its power and steering, and tugs helped it back to the cruise terminal.\n\nTUI Cruises said there were 2,428 guests and 922 crew on board. Police and the cruise line both said no one was injured.\n\n## The cruise is canceled\n\nTUI Cruises confirmed the collision in a statement. \"The safety of our guests and crew is our top priority,\" the line said. After its technical teams inspected the ship, it added: \"The damage identified requires urgent repair work to be carried out at a shipyard. We have decided to cancel the planned cruise to the Canary Islands.\"\n\nGuests stayed on board overnight while experts looked over the ship, with restaurants and bars open as usual. On Monday morning they left the ship, and shuttle buses took them from the port, tagesschau reported. The line said it \"deeply regrets\" the trouble and will share more once it has reliable findings.\n\nThe canceled trip was due back in Bremerhaven on November 14. It was set to call at Lisbon, Funchal, Tenerife and Agadir, among other ports. TUI Cruises has not yet said when Mein Schiff 3 will go to a shipyard, which yard it will use, or when it will sail again. If you are booked on a later sailing, watch for word from the line or your travel advisor.\n\n## Police are looking at the captain\n\nPort officials first barred all three ships from leaving. That order has since been lifted for the smaller, lightly damaged container ship. Mein Schiff 3 and MSC Victorine must stay put for now.\n\nBremen's water police are investigating. A police spokeswoman told local broadcaster buten un binnen that they are checking whether the cruise ship's captain broke his duty of care. That would be an administrative offense, not a crime. No official cause has been named. Bremen police said the full extent of the damage and the cause are not yet clear.\n\n## About the ship\n\nMein Schiff 3 was the first ship TUI Cruises had built for itself. Finland's Turku yard delivered it in 2014 as the lead ship of the Blue Motion class. It is 293 meters long, measures about 99,500 gross tons and carries around 2,500 guests at double occupancy. The ship had a two-week refit in Rotterdam this spring. It is based in Bremerhaven and sails to Norway, the Baltic and Western Europe, with longer winter trips to the Canary Islands.\n\nTUI Cruises is a joint venture of Germany's TUI Group and Royal Caribbean Group.\n\n## Sources\n\n* [Seatrade Cruise News report with TUI Cruises' statement](https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ports-destinations/mein-schiff-3-damaged-in-collision-with-two-container-ships)\n* [tagesschau report with Bremen police details](https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/seeunfall-bremerhaven-100.html)\n* [Baird Maritime report on the collision](https://www.bairdmaritime.com/security/incidents/accidents/mein-schiff-3-collision-bremerhaven)\n* [Mein Schiff 3 on Cruise Frog](https://cruisesfrog.com/ships/mein-schiff-3)","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}