text: In May 2021, with the cruise sector planning for revival following the COVID-19 pandemic, TUI were reported to be planning to merge Marella Cruises with their TUI Cruises joint venture with Royal Caribbean, as they had already done with Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.
  Fleet
  MS Island Escape was added to the Thomson fleet in April 2009, as a result of parent company TUI's acquisition of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s share in Island Cruises that took place in 2008. As of March 2013, Thomson operates the Island Escape under its all-inclusive Island Cruises brand.
  In March 2015, Royal Caribbean International announced that they had agreed to sell  to TUI Cruises in the second quarter of 2016, and that TUI would lease the ship to Thomson Cruises to replace the Island Escape.
  In May 2015, TUI Group announced that as part of their modernization strategy, TUI Cruises'  and  would be transferred to Thomson Cruises over the next few years.
  In October 2015, the Island Cruise brand was discontinued after the sole ship Island Escape completed her last scheduled cruise with Thomson Cruises.
  In March 2017, it was announced that Mein Schiff 1 would join the fleet in May 2018, and would become the TUI Explorer.