Luxury cruise liner M.V. CELEBRITY CONSTELLATION made its second visit to the Mormugao Port for the current cruise season bringing in 2136 high end guests and a complement of 939 crew members thereby giving the cruise tourism a big boost during the festive Chrismas season. This is the 9th Cruise liner to visit Mormugao Port during the current season. The atmosphere at the cruise berth terminal of Mormugao port was one of celebration with the Christmas festivities at its peak. A taste of Goan festivities and spirit of Christmas celebrations in the State of Goa was witnessed by the visiting guests on landing at the terminal, with the traditional brass band in attendance belting out foot tapping music and the Santa Claus welcoming each guest with festive warmth.
The cruise liner has arrived at Mormugao from Cochin Port and will sail later in the evening to Mumbai port on its onward outbound destination. All the passengers who arrived at Mormugao port disembarked with an E-landing Card issued on board the cruise liner to facilitate faster clearance of the guests at the visiting port. This facility has added yet another feather in the cap of cruise tourism handling in Indian ports. This facility for the visiting guests was sought for by the Shipping Agents and other stakeholders in the cruise tourism industry which will in turn save a lot of documentation time on shore. The E-landing card will be valid for visit to other Indian ports too.
The visitors were taken for a sight- seeing tour of Goa’s famous tourists locations of churches, temples, beaches in the north and south Goa, spice gardens, Panjim city etc. M/s. J. M. Baxi & Co, Vasco da Gama, were the Ship Agents for the cruise liner, while the ground arrangement for sight-seeing tours was handled by the main operator M/s. Travelsmith Adventure Pvt Ltd., Luxury coaches and tourists taxis were at the disposal of the visiting guests to take them around sight-seeing in Goa. The port is scheduled to handle 4 luxury cruise liners in the month of January 2018. The arrival of the cruise liners at a regular interval has given a big boost to the high end cruise tourism industry in the State of Goa, and Mormugao Port Administration under the leadership of the Chairman Shri I. Jeyakumar IRTS, is making all out efforts by way of providing modern infrastructure and other facilities at the cruise terminal to put the state of Goa on the top of the cruise tourism map in the country.
