With “Cruise into Happiness”, ZDF has had an offshoot of the successful “Dream Ship” with Florian Silbereisen in its program since 2007. Now the series is to be canceled. Instead, they want to concentrate more on the main series.

On January 1, 2007, the first episode of the ZDF series “Cruise to Happiness” flickered across the screens. The “Dream Ship” offshoot is about wedding planners who accompany couples who exchange vows on board and then start their honeymoon at the respective destination. Some “Dream Ship” main actors such as Florian Silbereisen were also seen in supporting roles. But now the broadcaster has announced the end of the series.

As Heike Hempel, head of the main television film/series II editorial team, confirmed to “dwdl.de”, the last “Cruise into Happiness” film is scheduled to be broadcast in 2024. “It is important to further strengthen the ‘Dream Ship’ brand,” she explained. However, this is good news for die-hard “Dream Ship” fans: Hempel revealed that the plan in the future is to shoot four instead of three films a year.

ZDF: New formats should be cheaper

It is not the only production that ZDF will soon be stopping: the series “SOKO Hamburg” and “Letzte Spur Berlin” will also run for the last time next year. Hempel also explained in an interview with “dwdl.de” what the end of “Cruise into Happiness” means for the station: Since the series is shown after “Das Traumschiff”, new budget is available for the broadcast slot. According to Hempel, “new production models” also need to be found for prime time.

The new formats should be cheaper to implement. She cited the “Herzkino” series “Malibu” as an example: “We have a fixed setting – a campsite in Germany. And we have a solid ensemble. With these parameters we are trying to build a series that has a high narrative quality but costs less overall.”