Thomson Cruises, which is part of the Anglo-German tour operator group TUI AG, will receive Legend of the Seas from Royal Caribbean International in March 2017.

This is the second ship the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL) group unit is selling for introduction in the UK market. Splendour of the Seas is about to enter service as TUI Discovery after a major refit in Spain.

Both ships were built in France and they are of 69,130 gross tons. Legend of the Seas entered service in 1995.

Prior to the entry into service of TUI Discovery, Thomson Cruises operated five ships that were built between 1983 and 1992. These range in size from about 34,000 to 56,000 gross tons. Only the 1986 built Thomson Dream that is the largest of these five is owned by the TUI group.

TUI Discovery is owned by TUI Cruises, the Hamburg based company that is 50/50 controlled by RCCL and TUI and which operates several vessels on the German market. It has earmarked its older units for transfer to Thomson Cruises as its six-ship newbuilding programme near completion.