Category Archives: Cruises

Costa Cruises, together with the Consulate General of Italy in Mumbai, welcomed guests onboard the Costa Luminosa, for an evening of celebration of Italian hospitality and entertainment.  The Costa Luminosa, which is sailing around the world in 98 days, is currently docked at the Mumbai port as part of its itinerary. The event saw the launch of Festa Italiana 2016 in Mumbai and celebrated the upcoming home porting of the Costa neoClassica in Mumbai from December 2016. Costa neoClassica will be the very first large cruise ship that cruises between Mumbai and the Maldives. Indians can embark on a cruise liner from Mumbai and travel to destinations within India such as Goa and Cochin as well as Maldives and Colombo. Costa neoClassica will perform a series of weekly sailings from Dec 16, 2016 – March 18, 2017. Speaking about the launch, Buhdy Bok, President of Costa Group Asia said, “We are delighted to bring cruising to Indians at their doorstep. For many travellers, the holiday often starts after some sort of a long journey. Now like never before, Indians will have the opportunity to start holidaying — right from their door-step — from India’s largest metropolis, Mumbai.”

Star Cruises has announced that SuperStar Gemini will impose a Gratuity Fee on cruise passengers (including Genting Rewards members) for all Singapore departures, commencing from October 30, 2016. The Gratuity Fee of SGD 17 per person per night for all cabin categories (Inside Stateroom, Ocean view Stateroom, Ocean view Stateroom with Balcony) and SGD 21 per person per night (Suite Cabins) are applicable. Infants (below two years) will enjoy exclusive Gratuity Fee waiver. The Gratuity Fee will be automatically captured in the individual guests’ cabin keycard upon SuperStar Gemini cruise check-in and boarding. They can make the Gratuity Fee payment at the Reception Counter (Deck 7) onboard prior to cruise disembarkation on the last cruise day. The Gratuity Fee prepaid option is not available. Agents are requested to note that Onboard Credits (OBCR) cannot be used to offset the Gratuity Fee. Genting Rewards Members can utilise their accumulated Genting Points (GP) to offset the Gratuity Fee. Guests entitled to free cruise cabin redemption with Star Cruises Sponsorship Vouchers and Gift Letters are required to bear the applicable port charges and Gratuity Fee.

Genting Hong Kong announced the official river conveyance of Genting Dream, the newest ship for the Dream Cruises line, that began on Sunday, September 18 in Papenburg, Germany. After Genting Dream’s official handover ceremony from Meyer Werft to Dream Cruises scheduled for October 12, the ship will begin her epic ocean voyage that will take her from Germany to Gibraltar, through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, across the Indian Ocean with visits to India, Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong before ending at her new homeport in Guangzhou, China on November 13. The river conveyance marks the official start of Genting Dream’s journey from her birthplace at the Meyer Werft shipyard to her first home in Guangzhou, China where she will begin service on November 13, 2016.

Ark Travels has finalised packages to sell Colombo and Singapore cruise packages from Mumbai starting October 29, 2016, on Genting Hong Kong’s Dream Cruises. The itineraries planned on Dream Cruises, the first-ever Asian luxury cruise line which caters specifically to the large and rapidly growing high-end market in Asia, will take travellers from Mumbai on high-seas to Colombo and Singapore. The travel company at present is focusing on selling two-night itinerary (Mumbai-Colombo, one way) on Dream Cruise. Besides, Ark Travels is also promoting six-nights (Mumbai-Colombo-Singapore, one way) and four-nights (Colombo-Singapore, one way) itinerary. Anju Tandon, CEO, Ark Travels, says, “Apart from this, we have also been focusing on charter cruises. We recently did a two-charter cruise from August 10-12, 2016 (two-nights for Singapore – Port Klang – Singapore) and August 14-17, 2016 (three-nights for Singapore-Penang-Port Klang-Singapore). We will continue to focus on selling charter cruises next year as well. With respect to the forthcoming travel season, the cruise travel company will be selling other Star Cruises brands like Superstar Gemini (ex-Singapore), Superstar Libra (ex-Penang) and Superstar Virgo (ex-Nansha) till March 2017.”

Pradeep Saboo, Partner, Guideline Travels LLP along with Star Cruises organised a thanksgiving outdoor event for its travel partners. The two-day event held at Noor Mahal Karnal from August 20-23, 2016, brought together 225 travel agents from across India for 24 hours of celebrations. They also organised a cricket match for agents on August 21.

Monarch Cruise has enrolled two cricketers from India’s playing XI in its already start-studded line-up for its themed cruises. And the good news for the trade is that agents can now partake in these experiences. Somesh Jagga, CEO, Monarch Cruise, in an exclusive to TravTalk revealed that Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and K.L. Rahul from the current Indian team have now signed up with Monarch to sail will the travellers onboard. He says, “We take special care of our travel agents and PSAs and hold events where they can meet the celebrities we have onboard, which is something they cherish for life. We also give them exclusive signed merchandise and certificates that they can exhibit in their offices. Special lunch and dinner opportunities with celebrities are provided to high performing agents. Monarch is all about experience, not only for its customers, but for its travel agents as well.”

Dubai Tourism conducted a cruise tourism roadshow in New Delhi on July 21, 2016. The 6-city roadshow aims at fostering a close working relationship with key members of the Indian travel fraternity. Speaking at the roadshow, Jamal Humaid Al Falasi, Director, Cruise Tourism, said, “This is our second roadshow in India. Last year we did the roadshow in three cities, but since we see a huge demand from India, this year we are doing it in six cities. This would allow us to have more passengers opting for cruises from Dubai. The number of cruise tourists to Dubai has increased substantially over the years. From 6904 tourists in 2001, we recorded 463,055 cruise tourists in 2015 and are aiming to 1 million by 2020. India’s ranking as a cruise source market for Dubai was 21 in 2013 and it came to 14 in 2015.” The participating cruise companies included MSC Cruises; Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruises represented by Tirun Travel Marketing in India. Carl Vaz, Director, Dubai Tourism–India, said, “This time we are travelling to six cities for the Dubai Cruise Tourism Roadshow—Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. We’ve been very fortunate in 2015 to have 1.6 million Indian overnight  visitors in Dubai, these include hotel and hotel apartments guests as well.”

Bangladesh is likely to allow India’s passenger and cruise vessels through its waterways helping the landlocked northeast to have better connectivity. Md. Shahriar Alam, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh, reportedly announced that the two countries were planning to start a movement of passenger and cruise vessels on coastal shipping routes and a memorandum of understanding is to be signed between New Delhi and Dhaka for the same. The Indo-Bangla coastal shipping agreement has opened up new avenues of connectivity and trade facilitation. The declaration by Alam comes amid a spate of other initiatives over the past couple of years that have allowed India transit rights through Bangladesh for better connectivity between the Northeast and other parts of India. The Indo-Bangla MoU on the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports by India would further enhance connectivity not only bilaterally but also sub-regionally when Nepal and Bhutan become part of the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) initiative. BBIN is a sub-regional architecture of countries in South Asia to formulate, implement and review quadrilateral agreements across areas such as water resources management, connectivity of power, transport and infrastructure. BBIN signed a Motor Vehicles Agreement last year. It enables vehicles to enter any of the four nations without the need for trans-shipment of goods from one country’s truck to another’s at the border. Under the system, cargo vehicles are tracked electronically; permits are issued online and sent electronically to all land ports. Source: Economic Times

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) has appointed Pune-based Cruise Club (Cruise Club Vacations) as PSA for its upper-premium and luxury brands, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Steve Odell, Senior Vice President and Managing Director Asia Pacific for NCLH said, “India is a significant growth market for the cruise industry and we are delighted to partner with an agent offering extensive insight into the local market. Cruise Club’s expertise are ideal for the Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands and we are looking forward to collaborating to create memorable voyages for discerning Indian travellers, beginning with the 2016-17season.” Tarique Hussain, co-founder, Cruise Club, added, “We’re excited to become the preferred partner in India for both Oceania Cruises, the upper-premium cruise line, and all-inclusive luxury brand Regent Seven Seas Cruises.”

Costa Cruises is all set to sail from Mumbai starting December 2016 until March 2017. Nalini Gupta, Head, Costa Cruises India and MD, Lotus Destinations, said, “Costa cruise will be homeporting Costa neoClassica in Mumbai port from December 23, 2016 to March 18, 2017. During this period, we will be doing seven nights sailing from Mumbai to Maldives and seven nights return to Mumbai with interesting Indian ports enroute.” The move would finally put India on the cruising map. The seven day itinerary ex-Mumbai goes to Mangalore and then to Cochin, and finally to Maldives. The 7 day itinerary ex-Maldives takes guests to Colombo), Goa and finally Mumbai. The cruise liner that will be operating on this route can accommodate around 1800 people.