Scenic designing a new class of luxury yachts

Scenic Cruises will continue its expansion into luxury ocean, confirming the upcoming Scenic Eclipse II and the Emerald Sakara, from its sister brand, will be the last for those classes.

“ There will be a new series that we are already engineering for,” said Chairman and founder of Scenic, Glen Moroney said at a special one-off sailing on the Scenic Eclipse in Saudi Arabia. “And same with Emerald Azzurra, Emerald Sakara will be the last of that series, and then there’ll be another. We’re working on interesting things. We’re not finished. “But on both sides, Scenic and Emerald, we see a lot of potential in this small ship size. I will never build anything over 300 passengers.” Mr Moroney said the Emerald Azzurra will call at Saudi Arabia for next year’s season and in 2023, but the Eclipse and Eclipse II will not. “At this point in time, I don’t think they have the infrastructure for a Red Sea cruise but given time, over the next five years or so, that will change.” He also said that the Eclipse II, which has been delayed due to the pandemic and shipyard problems, will have a completely redesigned top deck with a new outdoor pool and more sundeck space. The ship is set to be launched in April 2023. When the Scenic Eclipse launched in 2019, the ship had an indoor-outdoor pool in the Yacht Club area at the aft of deck 5, which Mr Moroney conceded did not work for guests. But, the pool on the Scenic Eclipse II – which will be the same size as the original Yacht Club pool – will be fitted between the two hot tubs. The stairs will also be moved, and additional windbreaks will be fitted, turning the space into a large sundeck, which is lacking on Eclipse. “One area which we didn’t think that much about when we were building everything else was the top deck. And then when we got onboard and we were walking around the top deck and said, ‘Wow this is huge, what are we going to do with this?” “So for the next tone we are taking it up a notch.”