TUI Cruises announced today that the company confirmed the order of a second cruise ship from STX Finland.

TUI ordered a 99,300-ton newbuild in 2011 from STX with an option for a second ship which was set to expire last week, and has now been taken up by the German cruise line.

The production of the second ship will start in summer 2013 and it will be delivered from STX Finland’s Turku Shipyard in spring 2015.

The sophisticated and highly innovative 99,300-ton cruise ship will be approx. 294 metres long and approx. 36 metres wide. The ship will have 1,250 staterooms, serve 2,500 passengers and have a crew of 1,000 persons. The cruise ship will have many environmentally friendly features, with a particular emphasis on the vessel’s energy efficiency.

“We are extremely pleased that TUI Cruises confirmed the order of the sister ship for magnificent Mein Schiff 3 cruise ship. We have today reached this milestone of production start of the first ship after well performed and intensive basic design phase. After this production start, manning on this project will increase significantly during the coming months to reach the maximum level before summer next year,” said Jari Anttila, EVP and COO of STX Finland.

“After being just four years in the business and after successfully putting two ships on the market – Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 – we are proud to proceed with building our first new ship and that way continue the growth of our fleet,” said Richard J. Vogel, CEO of TUI Cruises.

He continued: “We have been extremely busy with the planning over the past two years, but now things are really starting to move.”