TUI Cruises is a German cruise line that operates a variety of vacation experiences tailored for diverse customer preferences. The company specializes in offering premium cruise holidays, focusing on providing exceptional service and a wide range of onboard amenities. With a fleet of modern ships, TUI Cruises aims to deliver memorable travel experiences to individuals, couples, and families seeking leisure and adventure at sea.
Targeting both domestic and international travelers, TUI Cruises offers itineraries that cover popular destinations in Europe and beyond. The company's offerings include all-inclusive packages that encompass dining, entertainment, and excursions, ensuring a seamless travel experience for its customers. By prioritizing customer satisfaction and comfort, TUI Cruises positions itself as a reliable choice for those looking to explore the world from the deck of a cruise ship.
TUI Cruises receives a predominantly negative response from customers, with many expressing dissatisfaction regarding various aspects of their cruise experience. Reviewers frequently mention issues with the Marella ships, citing poor cabin conditions and unpleasant odors onboard.
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The quality of food is another common complaint, with many finding it subpar and lacking variety, particularly on themed cruises. Despite these criticisms, some customers do highlight the positive aspects of their trips, such as the hardworking and friendly staff, as well as the enjoyable food in certain dining options. A few reviewers also appreciate the overall cruise experience, noting that it can be better than traditional resort holidays.
Each source counts by its number of reviews. Only reviews written by people are scored.
Rating, volume, share of the score, six-month trend and fake-review risk for each source
Source
Rating
Reviews
Weight
6-mo
Fake risk
★
Trustpilot
Imported Trustpilot reviews
2.2
180
100%
-1.5
● Low
2.2 / 5 overall
=
180 reviews across 1 scored source
How fake risk works ⓘ
Reputation trend
Monthly average rating from reviews written by people · latest review Jul 2025.
Last 3 months
2.0▼ 1.5
12-month avg
2.6
All-time
2.2
Category avg
4.0
Monthly averageCategory average
Monthly average rating and review count
Month
Average
Reviews
Aug 24
2.8
5
Sep 24
2.3
10
Oct 24
2.5
8
Nov 24
3.0
2
Dec 24
1.8
5
Jan 25
3.0
14
Feb 25
2.8
5
Mar 25
4.7
6
Apr 25
2.8
6
May 25
1.6
8
Jun 25
2.1
9
Jul 25
2.3
7
What people praise & complain about
Share of positive (4–5★) and negative (1–2★) reviews mentioning each topic · based on the 180 most recent reviews.
Top praiseof 43 positive reviews
Friendly staff35%
15 mentions
Customer service35%
15 mentions
Selection16%
7 mentions
Helpful support14%
6 mentions
“Great vibe everyone so friendly”
On “Friendly staff” · Jul 2, 2025
Top complaintsof 122 negative reviews
Shipping39%
47 mentions
Customer service33%
40 mentions
Payment issues29%
35 mentions
Returns21%
26 mentions
“Absolutely terrible holiday but if you like not being able to get a sun bed at all, (all occupied ones crammed in tig...”
On “Shipping” · Jul 23, 2025
How it compares
Same method for every company: overall rating, legitimacy checks, the average rating of reviews mentioning each area and the 6-month trend · Cruise Lines.
Overall rating and review count for this company and similar companies
First of all, cruise and stay at La Pad Hotel was wonderful! However I must express my absolute dissatisfaction at the utter shambles we experienced after boarding the aeroplane to fly home. The passenger numbers apparently did not tally up! How this is even possible is beyond me but the situation was exacerbated by the fact that ground crew and cabin crew could not agree on the numbers on board the aeroplane - this in spite of the fact that various crew/staff manually counted the numbers several times (9 times in all). They even asked every single passengers names TWICE!To make matters worse they also decided that it was a good idea to count the EMPTY seats whilst simultaneously allowing customers to use the toilet facilities....just UNBELIEVABLE!
ICONS OF EUROPE- TUI RIVER CRUISES - ISLA 28th APRIL – 13th MAY 2024
Before booking, we searched many review sites and found nothing to suggest that we would experience any of the problems below. We have travelled extensively and have never complained about a cruise before or posted a review like this. We wish we had found an honest review like this of TUI River Cruises before we booked.
We would never trust TUI River Cruises, as a company, with a holiday booking ever again. The positives were members of the crew, particularly the entertainment team and restaurant waiting staff, who were always friendly and welcoming. The cities we visited were beautiful and very interesting.
However, the negatives of TUI ISLA were:
• No air con in cabins for the whole two weeks, public areas were very hot or freezing cold (6’C!) – this is not a new issue, it has carried over from 2023 – it is poor maintenance
• The toilet in our cabin was faulty for over a week (vacuum flushing continuously, not flushing at all and even overflowing onto the floor) culminating in it being switched off completely one night without telling us – again ongoing maintenance issues – one of the two public ladies’ toilets was out of order for the first week on board, again this had been an issue for months
• No hot water on 2 days. This impacted the whole boat
• Shower temperature fluctuation was downright dangerous. Other passengers were injured
• Wait of over a week for a replacement battery for the remote control to turn off a ceiling light in our cabin – they do not have spares. Repeatedly had to borrow a battery to turn it off
• The corridors and starboard rooms often smell of sewage from the black water tank vent – crew even put out air fresheners in the corridors, to mask the smell!
• The food was dreadful – we are not fussy eaters at all, but we struggled with inedible meat, huge quantities of bones in fish, repetitive menus, and poor planning. As a result, we ate out when we could.
• Beware if you have a special dietary need as some other passengers had – coeliac, they just took away anything with gluten and did not replace it. Vegetarian food, again poor nutritional planning – meals with little imagination, tasteless vegetable curry of root vegetables by itself (no rice etc). Vegetarian meals lacked correct protein levels and were nutritionally, very poor. Forget it if you are vegan!
• Kitchen ran out of basics such as orange juice and cheese biscuits very early on, we docked every day, but these were not restocked until the middle of the second week. Passengers were regularly bringing their own foods to the restaurants!
• Many docks were a long way out of town. We know that Viking has the priority docks, but we often needed a courtesy bus to get us to towns – although sometimes free, these did only a couple of trips per day and often were reserved for those less able. One location (Passau) depended on public busses for a 8km (each way) journey to the town, but these were on a very limited schedule due to a public holiday.
• The top deck was closed totally for a 6 day period (Rudesheim to Regensburg). TUI were not open about this in its brochure – the facts are buried in the small print. We were under the impression that it would be closed for a few hours at a time, not for a third of our holiday.
• Safety issues – the muster station was the top deck – nothing was said about where we gather whilst the top deck was shut. The barriers were not fastened correctly around the edges of the top deck – bolts and fixing pegs were totally missing. In the atrium the emergency call buttons were obscured by mugs. Life belts were obstructed by chairs put out by the crew.
• One trip to Rudesheim was on a national holiday – our trip was nothing as described when we booked it, be warned - TUI refused to refund all of this trip cost as in its eyes an alternative was provided, but this was a totally different and unsuitable alternative.
• Boat had an engine issue and broke down near Passua. TUI laid on a free coach to take us to Linz – unfortunately only giving us 30 minutes notice to get ready for an early morning departure. A lot of fellow passengers did not make this tight time schedule and missed out.
We did have discussions with visiting senior management whilst on board and with Customer Services on our return, but we do not feel that we were being listened to, or confident that anything will be addressed fully to prevent future passengers having the same problems.
If you need more information, we would suggest joining TUI RIVER CRUISES COMMUNTITY ON FACEBOOK
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Don't book a river cruise with Tui!
I have just returned from a Tui 'Diamonds of the Danube' cruise which lasted 1.5 days before the ship broke down! We were moored in an industrial area of Linz, Austria for 2 days, overlooking rows of portaloos, before they decided to bus us on 3.5 hours journey to Vienna airport, and terminate the cruise! We spent the day in the airport hotel before flying home the next day. On arriving home we completed TUI's on-line complaint form expecting them to offer fair compensation or at least contact us to discuss our complaint. Instead we had no dialogue with them and they offered an unacceptable and not negotiable final offer!
We had missed all the 'Diamonds of the Danube'- Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest as well as the ports of Melk, Weissenkirchen and Esztergom!
Just back from a Mediterranean Cruise on Voyager. The experience was second to none. Everything was outstanding including all staff who went above and beyond and were so friendly. Special mention to Scott and Cree who were a brilliant double act.
Our cabin was exceptionally clean.
The Cruise catered for everyone. 1st Cruise but we will definitely be booking again
Took a week to calm down to ensure a fair reflection. As a very regular Tui customers, it’s fair to say we are disgusted. The aircon was a total fiasco for the whole 14 days. (Yes a 14 day river cruise) staring at Budapest on Isla on 13th May. No point in listing all the issues. Key points. Absolutely freezing in lounge most evenings, amazing staff embarrassed having to give out blankets. All inclusive drinks package, but few stayed long enough to enjoy this. Restaurant was like a sauna some nights, freezing others. Again poor staff having to apologise before even giving us the menu. Sadly towards day 7 we started taking the chance to jump ship and eat off the boat, whenever we could. Due to double berthing we couldn’t open windows of an evening and the rooms became uncomfortably hot. One of us developed an annoying cough which is still persisting. We know for certain these issues existed before the cruise started and we’re present as the next cruise started. We were apologised to on numerous occasions by all the senior team offered silly compensation to cover the issues and embarrassingly the gala dinner turned into a grand apology session. We’d already decide to eat ashore. We’ve written to Tui and await a sensible response. We already have more holidays booked with Tui. We had to cross a water jump to access the restaurant most evenings. Honestly we paid a considerable amount for an unforgettable holiday. Well it was certainly unforgettable. Can’t wait for the official response to our communication.
Our cruise was from Budapest to Passau on the TUI Maya. The food and entertainment were good and the ports visited all good, but our toilet overflowed and the guy who stopped the water said he would change the valve if it did it again - not reassuring. Our bathroom smelt unpleasant from the shower drain I think and the air-con didn’t really work very well at all. Our flight out was with TUI but our return was with EasyJet. The return was cancelled due to bad weather but TUI and EasyJet abandoned us at 1am in Munich airport. Got home 21 hours late
I am adding more to this review because following several attempts at complaining to TUI about our return flight, I simply had a message saying it was EasyJet that I should be dealing with. Fair enough but what happened to the TUI promise that they will give you their usual standard of care when you fly with one of their partner airlines?
There was nobody to help us in Munich and TUI should have had a rep there to help us.
There was an issue with WiFi on the TUI Maya and everyone complained about it including the staff. My iPad has a security program which warned that the TUI Maya WiFi was subject to SSL stripping. Look it up if you don’t know about this, but it explains why the WiFi was rubbish.
I did get an email asking me to complete a review of TUI Customer Service sorting out my complaint. Since they have done nothing I gave the review zero stars out of ten
No words poor cruise only had 1/2 a night cruising and holiday ended. Boat broke down unable to be repaired. Docked outside Linz for 2 nights alongside a chemical plant/industrial estate and a row of portaloos. Totally unacceptable TUI. Coaches out to an airport hotel in a town outside of Vienna and then flown home. Offered 3 days holiday refund disgusting TUI. The boat internally was lovely food and staff amazing. Just a shame we never got the holiday we paid for.
Experienced first (and last) river cruise on Tui Maya on the Danube (gift from my father following death of my mother from cancer). Boarded Monday 27th May and mechanical failure 2nd night - told we could choose to continue holiday by coach/hotels in the hope that they could get the boat repaired and catch us up OR cancel and go home. Scenic view of industrial estate and row of portaloos as we waited in vain for details or our flights home. Eventually told day 3 that everyone had to leave day 4 and coached to a hotel in Vienna. Finally repatriation flight on day 5. Other issues: air con never worked; smell of sewage as toilets on lower deck blocked; fridge in cabin never cold; coffee machine in foyer broken on first 2 days ; food uninspiring and ice cream was always a melted bowl of gloop (suspect problems with freezers?). Staff and Tui reps brilliant but appeared to have no proper support from Tui being left on their own to deal with angry customers
Just on our last day on the Tui Isla river cruise ship around the Danube. It was a 14 night cruise and we will not be using Tui again. For the whole 2 weeks most of the cabins, restaurants and club lounge have not had ANY air con😡 extremely uncomfortable and unhealthy as we’ve had very hot days (sometimes in the high 80’s). Plus I’d say nearly every time we docked we had another boat parked right next to our French doors so we couldn’t open them to try and cool down, as you could actually touch the other boats it was that close to us😡 AND apparently this air con has been a problem for some months YET they never told us this fact before they took our money.
The “entertainment” was abysmal. The singers were too loud and out of tune, plus some of the genre music was heavy metal (age range on here 50/85 approx)!
The food was so repetitive over the 14 days. But the waiters, bar staff etc were lovely and work hard in that unbearable heat.
A huge health and safety risk was the wooden floor into the restaurant was flooded from day one. The majority of passengers are very elderly and quite a few of them fell quite badly on this unacceptable hazard.
WE WILL NOT BE USING TUI AGAIN.
MARELLA explorer 2 30th April Palma to Dubrovnik sat on coach in Palma before entering cruise terminal then waiting 1 1/2 hours before boarding ship horrendous cruised a number of times with MARELLA but find the food quality has gone down seems under staffed 2 hours in dining room 1 night entertainment team were excellent but need to change some shows as seen some 3 times overall enjoyed it disembarking ship was another shambles so I think it’s time for a change in cruise company
Just returned from a repositioning cruise, Barbados to Turkey. On the Discovery. First impressions were good however we soon began to feel disappointed. The ships decor is shabby. Peeling wallpaper throught, dirty worn seating especially in the coffee port and live room. Food was OK but on several occasions we did see food
being rejected by people. Staff are excellent throughout. People joke about Germans and sunbeds. This cruise had mainly British on board who won over the Germans by reserving sunbeds at 6.30am so they could be sure to wake at 11am knowing they had a sunbed. Sad, selfish people.
On the whole the cruise was OK, even though it was a little like butlins at sea.
Flight home from Turkey was different as the aircraft had no refreshments. They offered one free 3rd of a cup of tea. Shocking on a 4 hour flight.
TUI flight, premium economy, from Birmingham was very good. The luggage being delivered directly to cabin and getting on board was quick and efficient. Staff as on all cruise lines were faultless. That is where it stops being good.
On arrival at restraunt on first evening we we informed of the dress code and the large sign was pointed out. On the following evenings we were surprised to see men in shorts tee shirts and flops having come straight from the pool area.
Even on dress to impress night night effort was made to enforce any sort of dress code.
Food was acceptable but nothing more. Breakfast was standard English which was not at all well cooked or presented.
Daytime entertainment was repetitive and disappointing.
The atmosphere on board can best be compared to Butlins at sea. Nothing wrong with that but not the cruise experience that we expected.
One other disturbing thing was the smell of sewage that could often be detected around the ship.
Having cruised with Carnival, Costa,MSC, P&O, Norwegian and Celebrity I can, without doubt, say choose anything but Marella Discovery.
Cruse on cocktail and coconut March 2024
Not even gone on the cruise yet. Mobile app doesn't work. Ring and over an hour of waiting for the call to be disconnected. Go online and sent round and round. Will be looking to cancel cruise
Great cruise overall, but we were put in a VERY noisy cabin with regular (daily) droning noises from one deck below, early morning and late afternoon EVERY day !! Offered an alternative room to sleep in and to keep the room we had all our clothes & possessions in - but 5 decks apart !!! Got a token refund of £180 - not much compared to the £5000 + we paid for the cruise - then to rub salt into the wound - paid £64 for 5 on-board photos, that they handed to us in a flimsy paper envelope - ruined on way home. Complained to TUI/Marella but NOT interested - will go MSC or P&O next time !!!
tui is the worst company, RACIST, ABLEIST, internally disorganized, an absolute mess who doesnt care about it clients needs .
i was hired by tui to take care of customer complaints and the service to them was appalling. if you do not want to end up fac down in a pool with a company that profits off of your incidents dont got to tui.
They also don't pay you at all if you get fired o your severance is gone, as is that vacation you had planned with your kids which they prevented you from taking last minute because of ANOTHER internal error. they cost the customer and their own workers so much money.
Marella discovery broke down at sea, airline delayed 5.5hrs
I saved up and booked my very first cruise entrusting this to Tui. worse decision i've ever made! we were booked for Marella discovery 2week cruise joining ship in barbados on 21st march 2024.
The flight at gatwick was delayed for 5.5hrs we werent told until we got to the airport, we then discovered that tui was aware of the broken down ship in waters near Guadaloupe as it was returning passengers to disembark in barbados, in readiness for our arrival. SO beggars belief as to why we were not informed the night before so avoid us arriving at gatwick at 6am. we then didnt take off until almost 3pm REDICULOUS!
2) I paid for leg room seating was put in the bulk head seats which are considerably narrower than the normal leg room seats, we booked in tui shop and they didnt advice of this at all. the flight was excruciating and we had pins and needles for the 9hr flight to barbados.
3) arriving on the ship 5.5hrs late, to find our brand new suitcases were severely damaged.
4) Then for 2 nights could not sleep as cabin 2042 was unsuitable for any occupation as a booming noise was coming through the air conditioning vent 24/7. They claimed the ship was full, then we discovered there were in fact 2 cabins available on higher floors. we complained several times, then eventually of day 4 was moved!
5) Then the excursion team are still selling tour called 'saint Ann on your own' in Guadaloupe in full knowledge that 2 of their passengers the weeks before our cruise were attacked on that tour, where they just pick up from the ship and deposit passengers to walk around st anne by themselves. a passenger was stabbed, and another robbed! where is tui's responsibility for their clients, they just really seem to be interested in PROFIT and not our safety or enjoyment.
6) Another issue is when booking in tui ship as it was our first cruise we had no idea what to expect in the cabin, we asked is their an iron, hairdryer, tea tray etc was told everything you would get in a standard hotel room would be supplied, only to get there and find to have your clothing ironed you would not be provided an iron but have to PAY EXTRA to have the items pressed by staff. again costing me money not budgeted for.
7) we made a claim for the 5.5hrs delayed flight and it has been denied saying its the ships fault that caused delay and not tui airlines... ridiculous, as tui airlines made the decision not to fly us to the port destination at the time expected causing us to lose half day from our holiday.
DONT BOOK CRUISES with TUI.
Curious if some others were actually on a different ship. This adults only all inclusive cruise had more bars than you could drink dry. Why prop up a bar when you can drink in your lounger watching the world sail by? Cabins are excellent for their purpose. We had no medical outbreaks but if the company adjust their service to protect passengers then they cannot be blamed. We had hand sanitisers at every turn and noticed no stains, smells or damage. For the price paid the food and entertainment was excellent. Yes the AI wine wasnt that great in the buffet but elsewhere acceptable. The weather, especially wind, did impact our sea days but its a cruise...With so many free restaurants every food foible was well catered for. Only 1 issue was a fish pangasius unnamed on buffet that some could be allergic to so this needs addressing. I dock 1 star for the end of cruise airport transfer and flight plus delay and basic abandonment by TUI at Palma. Will use again as just about the best adults only AI inc tips out there.
How to lose a loyal customer.
We Booked a 'once in a lifetime' cruise over 16 months ago, via telephone with the TUI Telford Superstore, to ensure we received personal service.
TUI cancelled the cruise due to issues in the Red Sea.
Trying to get a refund has been an absolute nightmare.
I was told by the Telford Superstore that a refund would be processed 'automatically'. Total nonsense.
The only 'automatic' refund was 3 trips that their customer service desk cancelled and refunded. The other trips and speciality meals we booked and had already paid for, weren't refunded 'automatically'. Instead I had to go onto their system and cancel them all myself to get their system to refund me.
That was the easy bit! The main cruise, was still showing on their system as still going ahead despite conversations with various people at Telford Superstore. (Haven't a clue what makes them Super other than Super bad at customer service). Eventually after chasing numerous times they refunded some of the money (remember THEY cancelled the cruise NOT ME). I was told I had to go into the store to get the rest of the refund (despite never actually going into the store originally as I booked over the phone). When I went into the store. 5 staff weren't with any customers or on the phone, but were in an 'internal meeting' (in clear view of me) but I was told I had to wait. 15 minutes later I got up and left. I called their (lack of) Customer Service Desk and was told to escalate via another store. This I have done, but I am still told that the rest of the refund may still take another 28 days!
Their website clearly says
"If you’ve booked a package holiday, you’re entitled to your money back within a guaranteed 14 days if we have to cancel it".
I've been on a few Marella Cruises and they were great, but you have now lost a loyal customer due to your utterly dreadful customer service.
After a lovely Augean cruise on Explorer last year, we were so looking forward to our trip to Jamaica, Cuba, Cayman and Mexico this year on Explorer 2. From the start of our holiday, we were bitterly disappointed. The ship was tired - stained carpets, damaged furniture and badly designed. The only bar outside was small, poorly stocked lukewarm drinks and right next to the pool which was always packed. There were no bars to sit quietly with a cocktail in the Carribean sunshine - one of the things we were really looking forward to do. Plenty of bars inside though!
Throughout the cruise there was an offensive smell of sewage on some of the decks both inside and out and then, whether connected or not, there was a noravirus outbreak which meant the pools were closed and the self service restaurant had to be manned by the crew. This caused unrest and concern and completely spoiled the rest of the holiday.
To top off our already awful experience, our flight home was delayed by 18 hours. Whilst it’s understandable that sometimes these situations are unavoidable, we were given no information until late at night as to when our flight would be the next day. We had vacated our cabins at 8am and our luggage was in the terminal which meant we were left on the ship in the extreme heat until 430pm with no access to our luggage and therefore no way of changing our clothes. When we finally disembarked, it was a complete shambles - queues to leave the terminal queues to board coaches to take us to hotels, and on finally reaching the hotel, another queue for an hour to check in. Throughout this whole dreadful experience there was absolutely no Tui representation. In fact we learned that the Tui rep at the hotel had left for home just prior to our arrival. In the morning it was the same again - queues to board the coaches to go to the airport - again not a Tui rep in sight!!!
Holidays are meant to be an opportunity to rest and recharge your batteries for the rest of the year. My partner and I have been exhausted and very unwell since returning home. Quite honestly, it’s very unlikely that we will ever book another Marella cruise with Tui. It was a waste of our hard earned money and a traumatic experience that we could have done without!!
Absolutely let down…..
We went on our first cruise with tui Marella explorer 2 around the Caribbean… what a let down. There was 3 of us and booked a balcony cabin (which is much more expensive then an inside cabin) and was assured we’d have 2 single beds and a sofa bed. On arrival we got a double bed that couldn’t be split and a sofa bed. We did go to reception and was told they were full and they’d sort out the following week, after 5 days we were told they’d give us a single bed and bunk beds. At the end they split our party up by offering an additional room as that was all that was available. This being an insdecabin (NO BALCONY)
Then there was an outbreak of GI which lead to the buffet self service being manned having to queue in long queues for a drink then another queue for food. The ship had a lingering smell of sewage. Them they decided they needed to close the pools and whirlpools. Overall the experience was terrible. I sincerely would not recommend Tui cruises and most definitely not be recommending or booking with tui again.
TUI Cruises is a German cruise line that operates a variety of vacation experiences tailored for diverse customer preferences. The company specializes in offering premium cruise holidays, focusing on providing exceptional service and a wide range of onboard amenities. With a fleet of modern ships, TUI Cruises aims to deliver memorable travel experiences to individuals, couples, and families seeking leisure and adventure at sea.
Targeting both domestic and international travelers, TUI Cruises offers itineraries that cover popular destinations in Europe and beyond. The company's offerings include all-inclusive packages that encompass dining, entertainment, and excursions, ensuring a seamless travel experience for its customers. By prioritizing customer satisfaction and comfort, TUI Cruises positions itself as a reliable choice for those looking to explore the world from the deck of a cruise ship.
