Australian luxury cruise and tour operator, Scenic, has confirmed the delay of its first 6-star Discovery Yacht by five months. Scenic Eclipse was scheduled to commence operation on 31 August 2018, but management have confirmed a new launch date of “late January 2019”.
Scenic Founder and Chairman, Glen Moroney, said “construction issues within the shipyard” have caused the delay.
The 228-passenger luxury vessel is being built in Croatia by Uljanik at its Pula shipyard, a company which specialises in the construction of tankers and cargo ships. Scenic Eclipse was floated out of Uljanik’s shipyard earlier this year.
Scenic Eclipse Celebrates Major Milestone
After much anticipation, Scenic Eclipse celebrated its float out on 31 January 2018, from the ship yard in Pula, Croatia. With the exterior construction almost complete, the ship is ready to begin the fit out process and is on target for its debut on 31 August 2018.Learn more about Scenic Eclipse and order your brochure here: https://goo.gl/iTx56x
Posted by Scenic on Saturday, 3 February 2018
In late March, it was reported locally that the Croatian company was facing financial hardship and that Italian shipyard Fincantieri was alleged to have shown interest in the business. Since then Kermas has been confirmed as the line’s new strategic partner in an effort to turnaround Uljanik’s business.
Yesterday Moroney said, “Despite the best efforts of our Scenic Eclipse Build Supervision Team to make up construction time, we are not prepared to compromise the quality of the vessel and potentially impact guest experiences to meet the original late August 2018 launch date”.
“We have apologised to affected guests for the inconvenience caused and confirmed that Scenic will provide a full refund for the cost of their Scenic Eclipse cruise and consideration of any other reasonable associated costs incurred with their travel plans.”
Scenic Founder and Chairman, Glen Moroney
“In addition, the Scenic team will work closely with guests to reschedule their trip at a suitable time, for travel within the next two years. Scenic will provide all guests who rebook a Scenic Eclipse voyage during this time a future cruise credit to the value of 25% of the cost of their rebooked cruise,” Moroney added.
Scenic said it was contacting all guests and their travel agents affected by the delay as a matter of priority.
It remains unclear if Scenic Eclipse II, announced earlier this year and earmarked to launch in 2020, will be affected by the delay.