Seatrade Cruise News is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Swimming legend Franziska van Almsick names Mein Schiff 4 at Kiel

TUI Cruises
Franziska van Almsick's spectacular christening robe was a highlight of Friday's ceremony at Kiel
TUI Cruises' Mein Schiff 4 was named by the German swimming legend Franziska van Almsick during a big event at Kiel's Ostseekai Cruise terminal Friday night.

Some 1,000 guests attended the ceremony in the ship's theater, while an estimated 25,000 spectators observed and celebrated the naming starting Friday afternoon and well into the night.

At 9 p.m. the godmother was hoisted above the foreship 'wearing' a spectacular 15-meter-long christening robe that weighed 300 kilograms and had a diameter of 20 meters.

This was broadcast in the ship's theater for the guests. TUI Cruises had also arranged a special show to celebrate the arrival of its newest ship.

The following day Mein Schiff 4 set sail on its inaugural cruise to the eastern Baltic. The ship will use Kiel as its homeport during the 2015 summer season.