SCENIC Luxury Cruises & Tours is currently developing its next generation of Scenic Eclipse vessels, which will be the follow-up to the first two ships in the class, General Manager Sales & Marketing Anthony Laver has confirmed to travelBulletin.
The next ship in Scenic’s pioneering ‘Discovery Yacht’ class will spearhead her own platform, rather than directly follow on from Scenic Eclipse and Scenic Eclipse II. More details will be revealed later in the year, Laver added.
“The next-gen Eclipse will follow the philosophies of what we’ve been doing in yacht cruising,” Laver shared.
Constant innovation will underpin the new class of ships, Laver said, as Scenic attempts to keep ahead of the influx of competitors in the luxury yacht space since Eclipse’s debut.
“The company does not want to be sitting there watching the idea that was developed and innovated by us taken to different stages or levels by our competitors. The guest experience from what we’ve learned from the Scenic yacht class will just be amazing,” he enthused.
Scenic Eclipse II will arrive back in Australia in August, following her successful inaugural season Down Under in 2024. The ship will sail WA in August and September on the ‘Australian Odyssey: Western Australia & The Abrolhos Islands’ voyage.
Two exclusive departures will discover the Houtman Abrolhos, as well as Exmouth and Dirk Hartog Island, with excursions to include the Kalbarri Skywalk and coastal helicopter flights.
MEANWHILE, Scenic Group is heading “back to the future” with its product, as demand for land touring rises, and the company’s two brands, Scenic and Emerald, pursue greater synergies. Aussie booking demand continues to grow, as Scenic continues its heavy investment in the cruise sector.
“As a group now, we are definitely looking at where can we complement each other,” Emerald Director Sales & Marketing Angus Crichton said. “We’ve got Scenic, your ultra-luxury, all-inclusive brand, and then where does Emerald fit in, where has it evolved to fit into the Scenic group jigsaw?”
Crichton told travelBulletin travellers frequently disembark their cruise seeking more land exploration. The trend is particularly prevalent in Europe, Crichton noted, where passengers would seek out another tour operator if there is no Scenic and Emerald option available.
“How do we make this a one-stop-shop, full service, and make sure that our land journeys can be linked to all our cruising?” Crichton considered.
One example is Scenic’s Grand Journeys – product which was not previously packaged, and is now being sold as one itinerary. These include voyages of almost 90 days in length, visiting bucket-list destinations such as Antarctica and Patagonia.
The result has been larger receipts and a larger booking curve, Scenic Group GM Sales & Marketing Anthony Laver said.
“What we didn’t expect is that ’25 would be even stronger than ’24, and the forward bookings that we were getting back-to-back,” he told travelBulletin, adding that one receipt now often metastasises as a cruise and a land tour, or a land tour with a back-to-back cruise.
“We can see the demand curve is pushed into ’26 and ’27.”
Scenic last year also relaunched its Evergreen Tours product as ‘Emerald Tours’, effectively folding the legacy brand into its newer, faster-growing sister brand. This also helped cut down on the number of brands Scenic Group was operating.
“We are now not activating the Evergreen brand – it has been put on ice,” Laver confirmed. “It tended to cater to a much more mature audience and it sort of never really evolved as a younger cohort.”
Laver is pictured with Emerald Cruises Director Sales & Marketing Angus Crichton.
