Be ready for the cruise ride from Mumbai to Goa starting this October

Panaji, August 27: Going to Goa in October? Then there is another mode of transport through which you can go for holidays to the state of beaches that is waterways. India's first luxury cruise line is ready to take on its maiden journey between Mumbai and Goa on October 1. This will mark the revival of passenger sailing service between the two destinations which last operated in 1991.

 

A ship named Angriya will be used for the luxury cruise service between Mumbai and Goa. It was registered as Ogasawara Maru in Japan and was later renamed as Ogasa in Pacific Islands. It can carry up to 400 passengers. The service was originally meant to begin from August, but it was later postponed to December.

The luxury cruise line between Mumbai and Goa will take 15 hours to reach from one port to another and will not make any stops in between. The ship will depart from the two ports on alternate days on 5:0pm. Bookings can be done in seven categories. The minimum fare per person has been pegged at Rs 7,500, which includes all meals. The fares for other categories are yet to be decided, but they too will include brunch and other meals.

This is one of the parts to develop Cruise tourism in the country which will add a cherry to the cake of tourism. The government, in its plan to boost cruise tourism in India, has floated proposals to link Mumbai with other tourist places of the country as well as parts of Southeast Asia. The cruise tourism segment would also play a major role in providing employment to thousands of youths.

Under the ambitious Sagarmala project, this is one of the small milestones towards it. For the first time, a separate session with Public Private Partnership (PPP) operators and other stakeholders was held to obtain feedback, to fast-track the implementation of projects and to restart the slowed down projects.