Scenic to showcase its ships to U.S. cruisers with winter Caribbean deployments

Scenic Group is working to build up name recognition in the U.S. by sailing three of its four oceangoing cruise ships in the Caribbean this fall.

The beefed-up presence in the Caribbean enables Scenic Group to offer the U.S. market a taste of what the company has to offer, said Ken Muskat, managing director for the group.

“The U.S. is our key strategic growth market, so this is a great way for us to expose our brands to our U.S. market consumers and trade,” he said.

Scenic Group, he added, “probably won’t have this amount of capacity in the Caribbean regularly, so this winter is our big opportunity.”

The group includes Emerald Cruises and Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours. Although both lines are known for their river cruise offerings, each is building out its ocean product; both lines are introducing their second oceangoing ships this year. 

Emerald will homeport the Emerald Azzurra and Emerald Sakara in the Caribbean during both the 2023 and 2024 winter sailing seasons. The ships will reposition there in November; the Sakara will be officially named in San Juan on Dec. 2.

• First call: Our first look at the Emerald Azzurra

The Azzurra and the Sakara will offer a dozen itineraries, ranging from eight to 19 days. Destinations include the Grenadines, British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia.

The Scenic Eclipse II, which was named in June, will make its debut in the region in October, starting with an 11-day sailing from Portland, Me., to Nassau, Bahamas, by way of Bermuda and Andros Island in the Bahamas. That sailing can be broken into three segments: A four-night sailing from Portland to Bermuda, a four-night sailing from Bermuda to Miami and a two-night sailing from Miami to Nassau, Muskat said.

The ship will also offer a series of other short, “taster” sailings, like a five-day cruise of Bermuda and a three-day cruise in the Bahamas. The ship will also operate a nine-day voyage between Nassau and Montego Bay, Jamaica, with calls at Egg Island and Little Inagua Island in the Bahamas.

“These tasters will intro U.S. consumers and the trade to our great Scenic Eclipse product,” Muskat said.

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