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After hitting a casino at Goa’s Mandovi river you have to head for inland Goa for clubbing. Not anymore.
Now, you can now sail from Mumbai to Cochin via Goa while placing your bets and shaking a leg on a cruise liner.
Thanks to cruise liners now carving out India-specific itineraries that would obviate sailing to any foreign destination for holidaying on a cruise liner.
As of now, these India specific sailings are limited to the western coastal cities of Mumbai, Goa, New Mangaluru and Cochin varying from three to four nights.
These luxury liners have it all — casino, theatre, disco, ballroom, grand bars, wellness centre, gym, sauna, treatment rooms, swimming pools, jacuzzis, jogging track, etc.
Varun Chadha, chief operating officer at TIRUN, Indian representative of Royal Caribbean Cruises said, “There are as many as six sailings happening between December 2017 and April 2018.”
These are multiple destination voyages with different itineraries connecting Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Mumbai, Goa, New Mangaluru, Kochi, Malaysia, Singapore, etc.
Within these trips, if any Indians are looking for a mini-luxury vacation, they can book themselves on one of the cruises berthing at one of the Indian ports, particularly Mumbai.
“Embarkation and disembarkation in Mumbai or any other port are only possible with special prior permission from the cruise liner,” Chadha said.
However, disembarkation at the choice of port requires an additional nominal fee.
“After the success of Costa Cruises entering the Indian seas last year, we will be introducing two shorter sailing options, specifically for the Indian market, in addition to our regular seven nights Mumbai to Maldives and seven nights Maldives to Mumbai sailing this year,” said Nalini Gupta, managing director of Lotus Destinations – GSA Costa Cruises India.
Starting this November, Indians can also choose to cruise on a four nights itinerary from Mumbai to Kochi via Mangaluru or three nights itinerary from Kochi to Maldives.
Azamara Club Cruises too has sailing via India, coming from Dubai and UAE and headed to Colombo, Malaysia and Singapore, wherein one can book themselves a luxurious holiday titled ‘Night Spices, Teas & Rubber Trees’.
“Till now we have received bookings for 53 sailings wherein cruise companies will berth or anchor in Mumbai, these include turnaround operations and port of calls,” Gautam Dey, senior deputy traffic manager and business development in-charge of Mumbai Port Trust, told DNA Money.
Among the biggest passenger ships to come to Mumbai is Mein Schiff 5 in December.
Last season, 51 passenger ships sailed to/off Mumbai with 57,076 passengers. Pan-India, there were 158 luxury liners marking their presence to cater to 1.91 lakh tourists. According to a consultant’s report, by 2042-43 cruise tourism had the potential to draw 4.5 million tourists to India.
The Ministry of Shipping has been working on promoting cruise tourism in India, for which it has set up a committee to examine cruise tourism reforms. Among the aspects that are being reviewed includes considering a single window system for cruise requirements, e-visa, dedicated approach road for cruise terminals, reducing security layers for passengers and among other measures.
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