Team Herald
VASCO: Goa-Mumbai cruises will start operating from the first week of December. Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) authorities had earlier announced that the domestic cruise service would commence by October.
As per MPT officials the delay in the commencement of the Goa-Mumbai domestic cruise service is due to completion of works on the vessel. “It seems that the work to convert the vessel into a cruise liner is still on. The operators have informed that the works would be completed by December and they would be ready for the first trip from Goa to Mumbai from the first week of December this year,” MPT officials said.
The domestic cruise vessel will have a capacity of 600 passengers, with two restaurants and a swimming pool. Though the vessel can reach Mumbai in eight hours from Goa, for the passengers’ enjoyment the trip will complete the journey in 12 to 15 hours.
For the forthcoming international cruise season about 40 cruise vessels have been scheduled with the first cruise vessel ‘MS Nautica’, operated by Oceania Cruises, expected to arrive at Mormugao port on November 14. Arrangements have been made by MPT to receive the cruises.
Last year 39 cruise vessels with high-end international tourists visited Mormugao port. “We handled 39 vessels during the last season and for the current year already 40 vessels have been lined up. Our idea is by 2022, 100 cruise vessels will visit Mormugao port of which a sizable number will be domestic cruises,” a senior MPT official told Herald.
