Severe Weather in Crete: Flight Chaos Disrupts Mein Schiff 5 Passenger Turnaround in Heraklion

The exact number of Mein Schiff 5 passengers affected is not yet fully known. TUI Cruises has assured that it is working intensively to find solutions for all guests whose flight arrangements were booked through the cruise line and who missed the ship. Travelers who organized their flights individually may need to arrange their own alternative transportation to board the Mein Schiff 5 belatedly.

Over the course of Friday, a double-digit number of aircraft from German-speaking countries were unable to land at Heraklion Airport as planned. Planes operated by Austrian Airlines, Condor, Eurowings, TUI Fly, Marabu, and Sund Air were diverted to Athens, Chania (also on Crete), Santorini, or Rhodes. At these diversion airports, affected vacationers were either accommodated in hotels or alternative onward travel arrangements to their respective destinations were organized.

According to reports on social media, some Mein Schiff 5 passengers stranded in Athens with Eurowings had to be flown back to Düsseldorf in the evening due to a shortage of hotel capacity in the Greek capital. These guests are now awaiting further information from the airline and the cruise line.

Mein Schiff 5 is anchored off the island of Santorini today, Saturday, May 17, 2025. A call at the port of Piraeus near Athens is scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, May 18, 2025. It is hoped that in these two ports, the last passengers affected by the flight chaos in Crete will have the opportunity to join their voyage, especially since some of the diverted flights were routed to Santorini or Athens.

The air traffic disruptions in Crete were purely weather-related and are not connected to an earthquake that occurred east of the island a few days prior. Aircraft cannot land safely at some airports above certain wind speeds and are therefore held in holding patterns or rerouted to nearby airports.