VANCOUVER — Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours has amended the first sailing date for Scenic Eclipse following a shipyard workers’ strike.

It’s the second time the launch of the ‘World’s First Discovery Yacht’ has been delayed. It was originally set to launch Aug. 31, 2018 but in July the cruise line announced a five-month delay, until late January 2019.

The new launch date, for the inaugural cruise, is now April 13, 2019. Scenic says it is providing guests a full refund for the cost of their Scenic Eclipse cruise and consideration of any other reasonable associated costs incurred with their travel plans.

Travelweek reached out to Scenic this morning and a spokesperson confirmed that travel agent commissions are once again protected.

Additionally, the company is providing all guests who rebook a Scenic Eclipse voyage a future cruise credit in the value of 25% of the cost of their rebooked cruise.

A dedicated phone number for affected guests has been created, and the company has begun reaching out to all guests and travel agents to provide details on refunding and applying the 25% discount to other voyages.

Scenic says this latest snag is due to ongoing financial issues at the Uljanik shipyard in Croatia, which resulted in a strike by specialist engine and systems commissioning workers. “Although the specialist commissioning teams did return to work last week, it will not be possible to catch up the nearly six weeks of lost time due to the strike,” says a statement from Scenic.

Scenic says it is in constant contact with the shipyard, the workers’ representatives and the Croatian government to ensure the completion of the ship as soon as possible. Due to Scenic’s efforts, more than 600 employees continue to work on other aspects of the ship every day, which Scenic says “are progressing at a good pace.”

For more information go to scenic.ca or call 1-866-689-8611, or email info@scenic.ca.