Scenic Eclipse Delayed For Third Time

We’ll have to wait until August for Scenic Eclipse, the world’s first discovery yacht

The launch of Scenic Eclipsehas been pushed back to 15 August 2019.

Scenic announced last July a five-month delay until January 2019, although that date was later amended to 13 April.

The cruise line blamed financial difficulties at the Uljanik shipyard, where the ship is being built.

According to a statement, shipyard workers have not been paid full salaries since August last year, which has led to strikes and other disruptions.

The 228-passenger vessel will make use of helicopters and a submarine in the Arctic and Antarctica. It had been due to enter service in August 2018.

Scenic will provide full refunds for the cost of guests’ Scenic Eclipse cruise and a future credit to the value of 25 per cent of the cost for a rebooked cruise.

A spokesperson said: “We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience these delays to the launch of Scenic Eclipse have caused our guests.

“As a company we have done everything possible to complete the ship within the time limits that were set previously, but a series of events that are outside our control have put us in a position where we must delay.”

It was revealed last week that a consortium comprised of the Croatian DIV group and Italian shipyard Fincantieri had completed the purchase of Uljanik.

The Scenic Group has signed a letter of intent with the new consortium that will lead the shipyard to set up a new Discovery Yacht division within the restructured Uljanik group.

This will focus on completing Scenic Eclipse and on the build of Scenic Eclipse II.