So its been a hectic year as usual. The long crawl through the morning
traffic to work.The longer crawl back home in the evening. And the mayhem of office in
between.You drag yourself into bed at night and wish the next day was a Sunday, so you
don’t have to start all over again. The symptoms are familiar.
Before the disease sets in, you know it is time for a break.
A Sabbatical..
Head for the beach?
Go on a shopping spree?
Go on a Camel Safari? Or just lie around the pool side?
How about all of this at one go?
Plus, no hotel check - ins, no lugging around your baggage, no waiting at airports?
Yes, for the Indian traveller, the Cruise Liner has finally arrived on Indian Shores.
On the 5th of December, the 10,400 ton Luxury Cruise liner, ‘Ocean Majesty’,
will arrive into the Mumbai Harbour. The Indian Ocean Cruise Line Ltd., owners of this
cruise ship is promoted by a group of Indian NRI,s - U.S.based McKinsey CEO Rajat Gupta,
Citibank chairman Victor Menezes, U.K. Based Standard Charted chief Rana Talwar and
industrialist G.K.Noon among others.To head its operations they have roped in Jaswant
Lalwani, former marketing head of Cunard Lines, the leading brand name in Luxury cruising.
On their game plan to market the cruise in India, Jaswant Lalwani explains. We are
offering short duration cruises coupled with Indian embarkation and disembarkation points
and low prices.
Indians took to cruising in the early 90’s with companies like Cunard and P&O
offering holiday cruise packages mainly to the Caribbean, Bahamas and Europe. Things
started ‘hotting up’ in the cruise market with the arrival of Star Cruises in
India offering cruises in the Asia Pacific region. With cruises out of
Singapore ( a favourite destination for most Indians) they have managed to sell around
20,000 cruises last year, says Miranda, Area Manager of Travel Corporation India, who have
been appointed General Sales Agents of IOCL in India. This year alone more than 65,000
Indians have gone on cruises and the major holiday season is just coming up.
Always known as the holiday option for ‘the rich and famous’, it was Star
Cruises that first offered ‘cheap cruises’, with prices starting as low as $250
per person for 2 nights (about 11,000 rupees all inclusive).
TCI, who have sold around 1500 Star Cruise packages themselves feel the market is good for
cruises if the ‘price is right’. Our main Clientele are the major companies in
Bangalore like Titan Industries, BPL, United Breweries, Shaw Wallace etc who are offering
cruises as incentives to their best selling agents and franchisees. BPL alone send 500 of
their agents on cruises last year through us, says Govind Shankar, head of Leisure Travel,
TCI Bangalore.
Cox and Kings, is another of the leading sellers of cruise travel in India along with TCI
and Thomas Cook. 50% of our Cruise clientele are honeymooners and first time travellers,
while the rest comprises of Incentive group travel from companies. We have sold over 3000
cruise packages last year and we feel the market will grow by at least 25%, says an
optimistic Anoop D,Souza, Asst.Manager Leisure Travel, Cox and Kings Bangalore.
We have not yet been officially informed of IOCL yet. But Star Cruise,
especially their Super Star Virgo package has been a hit with our clients who are mainly
corporates and walk ins who have bought 50 Star Cruise packages from us, says Thomas Cook
Bangalore’s Leisure Travel Executive, Pranjal Samrah.
What IOCL will be looking for is the Star Cruise market. With their route touching Dubai,
Muscat, Mumbai, Goa, Mangalore, Cochin, Lakshwadeep on the east and Maldives, Colombo,
Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, and Singapore in the west. With prices starting at Rs 35,000 for a
7-night package, including 4 nights on board, 3 days in Dubai along with a Mumbai - Dubai
flight ticket on Air India, it is very attractive. Obviously it is the Star Cruise
‘experience’ that will be hard to beat, especially since the IOCL vessel is much
smaller in size. It has only 600 passengers and 220 crew compared to the 2000 passenger
capacity and 1,100 crew of Star.
The onboard entertainment offered by Star is fantastic, with live floor shows featuring
topless dancers, which is a major crowd puller, says Miranda, who has himself been on more
than six cruises.
So is the food. For the compulsive eater, it is paradise with food available round the
clock and in every genre - Continental, Mediterranean, Arabic and Indian. With the buffets
laid out on most deck levels, you could eat watching the stars or in any of the many
restaurants.
For the health freak there are gyms and health clubs with trained masseurs and swimming
pools. If gambling is your passion, there is always the casino to try your luck.
So holidays this year, for all land - locked Bangaloreans, a taste of the sea and all the
entertainment aboard a cruise ship, minus all the hassles of travel looks to be the new
Holiday Mantra! |
