Scenic has given a taste of what’s to come, with a preview image of the submarine that’ll be available to guests cruising aboard Scenic Eclipse – the long-awaited six-star Discovery Yacht that will begin commercial operation next week.
The photos below, supplied exclusively to LATTE, depict Scenic Eclipse at sea with the submarine in position to be lowered or having just been hoisted from the sea off the coast of Malta. The panoramic drone photos were taken as Eclipse arrived into Valletta, Malta last week, the yacht’s port of registry.
As LATTE reported last Friday [2 August, 2019], Scenic quietly took delivery of Scenic Eclipse from the Uljanik Shipyard in Croatia in late July, at which time the Australian-owned luxury cruise and travel company revealed an ambition to expand its Discovery Yacht to a fleet to six.
Prior to leaving the Pula-based shipyard, Scenic Eclipse‘s six-guest submersible, ‘Scenic Neptune’, was moved into position and loaded onto the 114 all-verandah suite luxury ship. Local photographer Sendi Smoljo was on-site at the time and captured the below unofficial images of Scenic Neptune, in and out of the water.
The U-Boat Worx Cruise Submarine 7 is capable of diving to a depth of 300 metres. Custom-built for optimal sightseeing, the submarine will be available to guests on itineraries in the Arctic, Antarctic, Caribbean, Mediterranean and the fjords of Norway to Greenland, at an additional cost.
The U-Boat Worx Cruise Submarine 7 appears to be a popular choice with luxury expedition/discovery cruise operators, with Seabourn recently announcing it will use the same craft aboard its expedition fleet, including Seabourn Venture that will be delivered in June 2021.
This week, Scenic Founder and Chairman Glen Moroney said in a statement he was “very proud to say Eclipse has been successfully certified for passenger ship operations, has been officially registered, and we are now in the final stages of preparations for our inaugural voyage”.
Since departing Valletta, Malta last weekend, Scenic Eclipse has tracked through the Mediterranean, stopping in Gibraltar, and is currently docked in Rotterdam, Netherlands where an exclusive pre-inaugural cruise celebration event will be held for a select crowd on Saturday night.
From Rotterdam, Eclipse will head to Reykjavik, Iceland, where she will commence operations of her first scheduled cruise. The inaugural voyage is a 13-day discovery sailing via Greenland and Eastern Canada before arriving in Quebec on 27 August.
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