Tui River Cruises Launches Nile Cruises With Fourth Ship, Tui Al Horeya
(1:30 p.m. BST) – TUI River Cruises will launch a fourth ship in November 2024 which will operate on the River Nile.
Tui Al Horeya, which means "Freedom" in Arabic, will accommodate 145 passengers in 74 cabins and will operate seven-night, all-inclusive round-trip sailings from Luxor from November 2024 to April 2025.
In addition, the group will offer two weekly TUI flights from Gatwick and Manchester direct to Luxor from November 7, as part of the new programme.
"When we started this, we started with two river ships and that was never our long-term ambition," said Chris Hackney, managing director of TUI River Cruises.
"We've got bigger plans. We wanted to do more than that, we wanted to do something a bit different and we've been listening to what our customers are saying and we are delighted to announce that we are going to have a ship that is based on the River Nile.
"It's going to take a lot of the look and feel elements that we have on the other three ships and we're going to reflect it on this ship."
TUI Al Horeya Will Include a Wellness Deck, Observatory, Entertainment Space And Egyptologist
TUI Al Horeya is currently being refurbished by a TUI partner, where it will operate this winter season before joining the TUI River Cruises fleet next November.
The 145-passenger, adults-only ship will include a top deck swimming pool, two whirlpools, an entertainment area, restaurant, Al Fresco dining, lounge bar, wellness studio and a boutique shop. The majority of cabins will include a French Balcony, with two suites with a balcony.
TUI Al Horeya will include a day and night entertainment programme, as well as offering customers a wide range of excursions which have been curated by industry experts.
There will be two set excursions included within the sailing package price, this includes the Temple of Horus in Edfu and the temple of Kom Ombo.
The itinerary will include an overnight in Luxor; Edfu, Kom Ombo, an overnight in Aswan and a second night in Luxor.
The lead-in price for a seven-day cruises will be £1,399, which includes flights and transfers.
The programme will start with a seven-night river cruise package, but then TUI will add a cruise-and-stay option in Sharm-al-Shaikh and Hurghada.
TUI River Cruises Adding More Christmas Markets Sailings, Mini-Break Sailings
As well as the new ship, TUI River Cruises will also offer more winter sailings on its three ships, TUI Isla, TUI Skyla and TUI Maya, again to accommodate demand.
Hackney added that "2023 is going really successfully for us" and winter bookings were up by 40% compared to the same time last year.
"So we looked at that in terms of our three-ship operation and expanded our festive sailings. The Christmas Markets sailings have been really successful for our operation and we've got all three ships operating for our winter 2023 season."
The two new seven-night itineraries over New Year’s Eve are the ‘New Year Sail Away’ itinerary on-board TUI Isla, with New Year's Eve spent in Cologne and ‘Sail into the New Year’ itinerary on TUI Maya, with new year’s celebrations in Frankfurt.
The line will also continue to offer short break sailings, which it trialled last year, including a three-night Rhine Gorges itinerary.