Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours has confirmed the first sailing date for Scenic Eclipse has been amended to 13 April 2019, some nine months after its originally slated debut.
The potential delivery delay was first flagged by LATTE on the originally planned launch date of Scenic Eclipse, on 31 August this year, due to ongoing strikes at the shipyard. At the time, Scenic founder and chairman, Glen Moroney, told LATTE: “Regardless of what happens, we will complete the ship and as it gets nearer to service entry, we are all very excited as it will deliver far more than out guests expect.”
Today in a statement, the Australian-owned company said that due to the continuing financial issues at the Croatian shipyard and the resultant strike by specialist engine and systems commissioning workers, this part of the ship’s completion has been delayed.
Scenic reaffirmed that it has been in constant contact with the shipyard, workers’ representatives and the government to ensure the completion of the ship as soon as possible.
“Due to those efforts, more than 600 workers are still on board each weekday. The progress on the ship’s interiors and other areas of the final build stage have seen far less impact from the industrial action, and continue to progress at a good pace,” the company said.
A specialist commissioning team returned to work progressively last week, however, it will not be possible to catch up the six weeks’ time lost due to strikes in this area. Scenic acknowledges the regrettable impact this has on guests and understands their disappointment at this change in sailing date.
Scenic has committed to providing guests with a full refund for the cost of their Scenic Eclipse cruise and consideration of any other reasonable associated costs incurred with their travel plans. In addition, Scenic will provide all guests who rebook a Scenic Eclipse voyage a future cruise credit to the value of 25% of the cost of their rebooked cruise.
A dedicated phone number for guests has begun reaching out to all guests and travel agents to provide details on the process of refunding, and offering an opportunity to apply the 25% discount to other voyages.
In the meantime, Scenic has released a second time-lapse video, this time showing the painting of Scenic Eclipse. It follows an earlier video showcasing other stages of Eclipse’s production, released in August. Accompanying the new video (viewed below) on its Facebook page, Scenic said: “In spite of the very real challenges that the shipyard is facing, we continue to have a committed, expert workforce in the shipyard who are dedicated to completing Scenic Eclipse for the first cruise of April 2019.”