Scenic Enters Ocean Cruising With New Luxury Cruise Ship

Wow - this definitely fits into my idea of a luxury cruise line! Looks fabulous!

Totally agree. I know their river boats are among the best and this ship looks amazing.

Also totally agree! I'm extremely interested in this.

I have just been to an information evening for Scenic Eclipse. It appears the price is similar to Seabourn but the excursions will be included- not the helicopter or submarine. The basic cabins are 32 sq m but I think this includes the balcony, so smaller than Seabourn. The top cabins get priority for speciality restaurants and excursions (IMO this starts to become a 2 class ship - something I don't like). The maiden voyage is half full already, so I think it will be popular. It certainly looks a lovely ship and I'm thinking of booking- single supplement is 100%!

Interesting that the maiden voyage is already half -booked, but US based pax still cannot book at all ( maybe in a month). Definite favoring of Aussie pax, which is their choice to do of course, perhaps the delay is due to exchange rate issues. Will see what is left for booking by the time US pax become eligible, as the ship is indeed beautiful, might be worth checking out for at least one voyage even if we are in a time disfavored class, especially as we do not need to be on the maiden voyage. DH would be interested too as language on the ship English.

A few months ago my TA tried to book a Scenic river cruise for me solo in 2017 and she said the US Scenic rep was very difficult to deal with ( perhaps just having a bad week). Single supplement was also 100 per cent at one year notice for the worst cabin, and there were pretty steep nonrefundable deposit requirements, even for well in advance cancellations, so I decided to hold off trying them until DH can definitely plan to join, to get a better cabin and have no big singles penalty

Scenic's Australia land trips I see online also look very interesting, more varied and detailed than the luxury Tauck company offers. There are so many places one can go with luxury Scenic and I look forward to sampling (assuming health holds up)

I've just booked the Antactica cruise for Jan 5th 2019 on this Yacht. The December 5th was totally booked out already.

Very nice. I had missed this announcement.

Keith

U.S. based pax can now book the Eclipse, prices are posted online. Very expensive, so it would have to be worth it. There are some interesting itineraries and the ship is beautiful. A bit disappointing is that the base-priced suites apparently do not have bathtubs. To get a tub, which I value for muscle soaking (especially after doing excursions in cold weather areas) you have to go to a "spa suite", which is a LOT more expensive, though in consolation for the price, it is also bigger. The sketch of the rooms that is shown also appears to show some kind of partial barrier between the bed and the balcony which would obstruct the view if you lie on the bed (I spend more time lying on beds on cruising ships than sitting on the usually uncomfortable sofas, so I like to be able to have a clear line of site from the bed to the balcony/ocean). I know most people prefer showers, and do not sit around on the bed if they have a sofa, so this may not matter to most.