Germany: On the sidelines of the first day of ITB Berlin, Emirates and TUI Cruises have renewed their partnership for a further two seasons, in line with Dubai’s efforts to grow its cruise capacity. Emirates will work with TUI Cruises to offer flight options that align with upcoming cruise schedules.
"The airline will also explore enhanced transportation solutions between Dubai International (DXB) and Port Rashid, leverage insights to improve services on the ground, and provide dedicated support teams for cruise passengers. Currently, the port’s Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal, the world’s largest single covered cruise terminal facility, is capable of handling 14,000 passengers a day," the companies said in a joint statement.
In addition to coordinated operations and exploring marketing synergies, the partnership will focus on developing exclusive luxury packages and experiences that showcase the best of Dubai and the region’s TUI Cruise programmes. The MoU with TUI Cruises was signed by Adnan Kazim, Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer, Emirates Airline; and Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises.
Adnan Kazim, Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer, Emirates Airline said: “Our agreement with TUI Cruises aims to continue our efforts to boost cruise passenger arrivals from all over our network, so they can experience the best in sea travel aboard TUI’s magnificent ships.”
Wybcke Meier, CEO Tui Cruises said: “For more than ten years, we have been calling at Dubai with the Mein Schiff fleet to give our guests the opportunity to discover the world of the Orient with us. With Emirates, we are working successfully with an airline that gives our guests this vacation feeling right from the start.”
Last year, Emirates transported nearly 400,000 cruise passengers to Dubai. The city welcomed over 166 ships during the last cruise season, making it the region’s biggest port of embarkation and most popular call for cruise liners. The city expects an increase of 23 per cent more cruise passengers for the upcoming season.
The growth of cruise liner arrivals in Dubai represents the collective efforts of partners across the travel and aviation ecosystem working together for a seamless experience. This includes hassle-free customs and entry procedures and seamless visa facilities for cruise ship passengers, duty-free outlets and shops, tour-operator desks and complimentary shuttle bus services to the city in addition to Emirates’ own remote check-in desks at Port Rashid.
The 16 Emirates check-in counters allow passengers who are disembarking from their cruise ships to check in their luggage and get their boarding passes up to 4 hours before flight departure with the convenience of exploring Dubai without their bags before heading directly to the airport for their flight.
TUI Cruises will deploy two ships for the upcoming season to Port Rashid. Each ship can accommodate more than 2,500 passengers. Customers have the choice of two programmes, one with embarkation and disembarkation in Dubai, featuring GCC destinations like Abu Dhabi, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The other itinerary includes Asian points such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
