It was my first cruise ever. I joined (as a single female) two relatives for whom it was a life time event. Destination was Norway which - despite hesitations - convinced me to pay the exorbitant price for a single cabin. I usually travel on my own and in the past I have always connected to my fellow tour members - male or female. Not so on this cruise - the advertisements for this cruise show attractive, middle aged people smiling and having a good time - none such person was in sight on this cruise. It was a ship full of old and unsmiling people. Don't get me wrong - I am that agegroup myself but there is a difference in being old and acting old. Wanting to see bits of Norway - I had booked myself on a tour every day we were in port and the tours were great but already on my first tour I sadly realised that only the guides had an iota of personality. In all my time of travel I have never experienced anything like that. I am not sure if it is a German trait (mind you I am German myself but perhaps I have lived abroad too long) or if it is just a "cruising mentality" but it has put me off cruises for good. Some good things: - The cruise personnel was excellent - waiters, actors, reception, general - My single cabin was superb - spacious and clean - Tours were great - my favourite two were "Walk with Huskys" and "Quadbiking" - Specialty restaurants were a great plus, especially with the Gourmet package on offer Would I recommend it - generally no but perhaps I am not their target market. Read Less

Pros: 1) staff (except for reception) were excellent - very helpful and polite 2) food choice and standard (and hygiene) were excellent 3) choice of entertainment was very good 4) embarkation process was handled efficiently and quickly Cons: 1) reception had difficulty understanding problems and requests 2) room was very noisy all cruise - it was a disabled inside cabin with a pillar in the middle, and this carried up the engine noise all the time, and was worse at night when the ship was moving 3) painting was being done while people were sunbathing (along with other maintenance) 4) luggage had to be out at midnight, even though our transfer was not until the following evening, which was a big hassle - we paid for a room to us and for some bizarre reason we were given the room next door (???) so had to switch one room down 5) we embarked late on Friy night and so did not have a proper muster drill - basically we were told to look at the back of the door in our cabin to see where to go Read Less

I've decided to try this cruise line for the first time, after I have been on numerous cruises with Costa, MSC, Royal Carribean and Holland America. I speak good German, therefore the fact, that it is oriented towards German market, didn't stop me, since at the time frame I had available, this was the most attractive option. There have been several questions about TUI and AIDA, if it is appropriate for somebody, who does not speak German. I would say, no. Everything is in German language, only some safety announcements are made also in English. My husband does not speak german, therefore we have missed some of the shows, we couldn't participate in any of the activities and we could not take any excursions. So for a non-german speaking guests options are limited. The main negative issue was our cabin. It was cabin number 10096, and it was located next to a pantry room. There was a lot of noise - starting from 6 AM or earlier and finishing at 11 PM or later. It was really loud - we didn't need an alarm clock, since they woke us up every day at 6 AM. We couldn't change the room - we were informed on the first day that there are no possibilities for that, since the ship is full. Fortunatelly, we usually wake up early and we do not spend a lot of time in the cabin, so we didn't let this fact to ruin our vacation. But, I think that such a cabin should not even be offered to guests, or they should invest in some extra isolation. It was really disturbing and it didn't stop the whole day. I've been on 20 cruises until now, and something like that never happened before, eventhough I usually book an internal guarantee cabin. Food was good, also oriented towards german taste, but for us that is acceptable. We also tried Surf & Turf restaurant, and the steak was excellent. We really liked the wellness district, and we spent a lot of time there. There was always possible to find a free spot and was really comfortable. Embarkation and disembarkation went very well, in comparison to other cruise lines. I've celebrated my birthday during the cruise and received a small gift and birthday card in my cabin. The personnel is mostly very friendly, especially the non-german part of the staff. We only visited few of the shows, where there was mostly singing and dancing, but were quite dissapointed with the quality of performers. We had a great time anyway, but I am not sure if I would cruise with this cruise line again. Read Less

The cruise staretd with a long queue. 45 minutes at the railway station for the shuttle bus. one hour at the checkin desk. Befor the ship started there was only one small snack counter for refreshments. the shows were very everage and the theater totally overcrowed. the staterooms and bathrooms were relatively spacious. Cleaing service was everage. No folded towels in the evening or they even forgot to make up the room for the night. No music entertainment during the day. the highlight for every day was the resident painter to give instructions for € 39 p.hour. Because of bad weather the highlight of the trip the North Cap had to be cancelled. so far so good. However the next day stop Alta was only 250 km away from the North Cap so some people took a car the see the cap. why did the crew not offer Bustrips even with extra paymant to the North Cap? we stayed at Alta for 19 hours so plenty of time to make the trip in a bus. shame. the passengers were very old and very German!!!! We will not use Tui cruse or Mein Schiff again Read Less