The luxury of coming back

1. A journey that never really ended  

It was 2007 when Sharmaine and Leza first travelled with Scenic, exploring the Canadian Rockies before setting sail on an Alaskan cruise. Neither of them could have known then that it was the beginning of something lasting. Nearly two decades, 11 trips, and 14 destinations later, they are still going, and still choosing Scenic.   

That first journey coincided with a significant moment in Scenic’s own story. Established in Australia in 1986, Scenic had just opened its first international offices in the UK and Canada, signalling a company in confident, purposeful expansion.   

When Sharmaine and Leza boarded that first trip, Scenic was already becoming something bigger than a touring company. It was becoming a philosophy.    

Sharmaine, 72, is not someone who travels lightly. She approaches every itinerary with genuine rigour, researching each destination thoroughly before she commits. ‘I go through every detail with a fine-tooth comb,’ she says. ‘I don’t want to just plump myself on a ship or a coach I want to know exactly where we’re going and why.’ Which makes her loyalty to Scenic all the more meaningful.   

From the Canadian Rockies to imperial Russia, from the rivers of South America to the temples of Egypt and Jordan, each journey has been chosen with care and intention. And each one, says Sharmaine, has delivered.

2. At the edge of the world

In 2022, Sharmaine and Leza joined one of the most extraordinary voyages in Scenic’s history – the inaugural crossing of the Northwest Passage on board Scenic Eclipse. For centuries, this remote Arctic waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans had defeated the world’s greatest explorers. When Roald Amundsen finally completed the first crossing in 1905, it took three years of brutal privation on board a tiny 21-metre wooden vessel. Scenic Eclipse made the same journey in ultra-luxury.  

On that first-ever Scenic Eclipse Northwest Passage expedition, the ship accomplished the first combined helicopter flight and submersible dive operations ever conducted in the Canadian Arctic. Accessible for only three weeks each year, and still beyond the reach of most travellers, the passage offered encounters that almost defied description – 62 polar bear sightings, narwhals, belugas, northern right whales, and a wilderness so untouched it felt, as Scenic’s Discovery Leader Danny Johnston described it, as though ‘mystery lies around every corner.’   

Sharmaine and Leza were there for all of it. And it was on that voyage – stepping off a Zodiac onto Arctic ice, champagne in hand, the frozen horizon stretching in every direction – that one of their most indelible travel memories was made. ‘Standing on the ice with a drink in hand, having just checked the thickness was safe enough to step onto,’ Sharmaine recalls. ‘That’s the kind of moment that stays with you forever.’  

3. Still exploring  

In 2026, Sharmaine and Leza have already journeyed through the rivers of Portugal’s Douro Valley as well as the South Pacific. In 2028, an East Africa safari and the Seychelles with Scenic’s sister brand Emerald Cruises await. After nearly two decades and 11 trips together, the enthusiasm remains entirely undiminished. 

From beginning with  with a single fleet of coaches and a belief that travel, done properly, could be genuinely life changing. Now four decades later, that belief is still felt –in the warmth of the crew, in the communities quietly supported along every route, in the loyalty recognised and returned year after year.   

‘Why wouldn’t you come back to Scenic?’ Sharmaine says, with the quiet conviction of someone who has had 12 chances to find a reason not to – and never has.   

Beyond the destinations explored, what Sharmaine and Leza have built with Scenic is something quieter and more enduring – a trust earned slowly, trip by trip, and showing no sign of fading. The ice has long since melted. The memories haven’t.