| IMO | 1031446 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 7,232 GT |
| Length | 119.88 m |
| Beam | 17.44 m |
| Passenger capacity (double) | 128 |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 136 |
| Crew | 104 |
| Service speed | 15.5 knots |
| Builder | Ha Long Shipbuilding |
| Yard | Ha Long |
| Hull number | EW03 |
| Launched | 2025 |
| Maiden voyage | 2026-04-04 |
| Operator | Emerald Cruises |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Emerald Kaia is a yacht-style cruise ship built for Emerald Cruises, the ocean-going brand of Australia's Scenic Group, and the third ocean ship in the Emerald fleet. Delivered in February 2026 from Ha Long Shipbuilding in Vietnam, she is a larger development of the concept established by Emerald Azzurra (2022) and Emerald Sakara (2023): a 128-guest vessel designed and marketed as a superyacht, but built, classed and crewed as a small passenger ship. Her registered particulars — IMO 1031446, 7,232 GT, 119.88 m in length — make her measurably bigger than her two predecessors in every dimension.
Kaia is significant beyond her own size. She is the first ship of a new, larger Emerald yacht series (her yard designation, EW03, follows Azzurra's EW01 and Sakara's EW02), and her construction was under way alongside the start of a further sister, Emerald Raiya, at the same Vietnamese yard — evidence that the Scenic Group's bet on building its own small ocean fleet in Vietnam, rather than ordering from European yards, had become a programme rather than an experiment.
Key specifications
The dataset records Emerald Kaia at 7,232 GT (her registered figure), 119.88 m long and 17.44 m in beam, with 128 guests at double occupancy, a certified maximum of 136, a crew of 104 and a maximum speed of 15.5 knots. Two other tonnage figures circulate in secondary sources and should not be confused with the registered figure: a 5,175 GT value in one industry delivery table is a copy error carried over from the smaller Azzurra class, and a 5,755 GT figure appears in some ship-tracking summaries. The dataset's 7,232 GT, taken from register-derived reporting, is used here; the discrepancy is logged in the batch notes.
Her specification box records a 2026 launch year from the dataset. Register-derived reporting consulted for this guide states that she was floated out on 10 November 2025 and delivered on 12 February 2026; the prose below follows that reporting, and the difference between the dataset's launch year and the reported float-out date is logged as a suspected dataset error.
Design and construction
Kaia was built by Ha Long Shipbuilding at Ha Long, Vietnam, under the Scenic Group's in-house shipbuilding model: the group supervises its Vietnamese builds through its own project organisation, with the Croatian Register of Shipping as classification society — the same arrangement used for Azzurra and Sakara. Steel cutting took place on 22 August 2024 and her keel was laid on 27 December 2024, at a ceremony attended by Scenic Group founder and chairman Glen Moroney.
She was launched on 10 November 2025, and completed sea trials in Ha Long Bay in January 2026 before formal handover on 12 February 2026. In design terms Kaia stretches the Azzurra concept by about ten metres and roughly 2,000 GT, using the extra volume for redesigned public areas; the feature Emerald promoted most strongly at launch was a new Observation Sun Deck with a spa pool and shaded lounging, positioned for panoramic views. The underlying formula is unchanged: yacht styling, a marina platform aft for water sports, and accommodation concentrated in suites, most with balconies.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
The name Kaia was carried from the order stage; Emerald's yacht names have followed a short, Mediterranean-evocative pattern (Azzurra, Sakara, Kaia, and Raiya for the next ship). No separate christening ceremony for Kaia was identified in the sources consulted.
Her inaugural voyage is recorded in the dataset as 4 April 2026, a Limassol-to-Athens sailing — the service-entry date taken from the register-derived vessel review on which her dataset row is based. Consistent with this directory's policy for very new ships, nothing further is said here about her deployment: only the delivery and service-entry facts above are sourced, and no itinerary claims are made.
Career by operator
Kaia is a new ship with a single operator. She was ordered, built and delivered for Emerald Cruises and entered service under that brand in April 2026.
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2026–present | Emerald Kaia | Emerald Cruises |
Onboard character
Kaia's onboard character is defined by the Emerald yacht proposition as established by Azzurra and enlarged here: 128 guests, a crew of 104 — a ratio approaching one-to-one — and public spaces scaled like those of a large private yacht rather than a small cruise ship. The design language is contemporary and resort-like, with the emphasis on outdoor space: sun decks, a spa pool, and the aft marina platform from which swimming and water-sports equipment are deployed in harbour anchorages.
The enlargement over Azzurra matters to that character. The earlier ships' 110 m hull left little spare volume; Kaia's additional length and tonnage were used to add the Observation Sun Deck and to expand the wellness and dining areas rather than to add many cabins — guest numbers rose only from 100 to 128 — preserving the low-density feel that is the brand's selling point while easing the compromises of the first design.
Major refits and incidents
None recorded. Kaia entered service in April 2026 and has no refits or incidents in the sourced record at the time of writing.
Sister ships and class
Kaia's predecessors are Emerald Azzurra (hull EW01, 2022) and Emerald Sakara (EW02, 2023), built at the same yard to the smaller 110 m design. Kaia (EW03) is the first of the enlarged series; a further sister, Emerald Raiya, was under construction at Ha Long at the time of Kaia's launch, with the keel of that ship laid as Kaia floated out in November 2025. The dataset assigns Kaia no formal class name, and none is asserted here: the EW-series hull numbers recorded by the yard are the clearest statement of her lineage.
Fate and where she is now
Emerald Kaia is an active ship in the Emerald Cruises fleet, recorded in the dataset with the status "Operating", delivered in February 2026 and in service from April 2026. No deployment information is given, in line with this directory's evergreen policy. Her place in the record is as the third Emerald ocean yacht and the first of the line's enlarged second-generation design.
Sources: https://www.bairdmaritime.com/superyachts/emerald-kaia-yacht-cruise-ship