Cochin Port Authority targets over 50 cruise ship visits next fiscal

Bahamas-registered Anthem of the Seas, among the biggest in the world, arrives at Kochi  

Anthem of the Seas, a Bahamas-registered cruise vessel that is said to be among the biggest of its kind in the world and can carry up to 4,905 guests, arrived at Kochi on Thursday (November 14), en route to Thailand from Dubai.

This is among the 33 cruise vessels that had confirmed their visits to the Sagarika International Cruise Terminal here, between April 2024 and March 2025. Among them, 21 are on foreign tour, while the remaining 12 operate coastal tours linking Indian ports in the Mumbai-Goa-Kochi-Agatti corridor.

Sources in the Cochin Port Authority (CPA) said that they were hoping to host 50 cruise vessels this fiscal since the city used to host over 40 such vessels that brought in high-spending tourists every year until the pandemic struck and even before the international cruise terminal was commissioned.

“Unfortunately, a total of 13 cruise liners cancelled their Kochi visit this fiscal, citing piracy threat in the Red Sea. We are hopeful that their number will cross 50 in the coming fiscal, especially since the Ministry of Shipping is proactively pursuing the Cruise Bharat Mission,” they added. In this, the Ministry has targeted over 1.5 million river cruise passengers in more than 5,000 km of operational waterways in the country.

“An apex committee comprising stakeholders from different agencies concerned, along with a port-level task force engaged in augmenting infrastructure at ports and framing policies to promote cruise tourism, is at work. In Kochi, a master plan is being prepared to develop amenities in a mega cruise terminal, which has been proposed on 25 acres next to the existing terminal. Tenders for this will be floated shortly, allowing ships to remain berthed overnight,” sources said.

On streamlining the operation of autorickshaws whose drivers compete with one another to ferry cruise tourists to different tourist destinations in and around Kochi, the sources said that the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) was expected to ready an itinerary in this regard.

Families on board

The 1,141-feet-long Anthem of the Seas that made its maiden cruise in 2015 and is operated by Royal Caribbean International has a total of 16 decks (348-m-tall), a choice of restaurants, basketball courts, spas, and ‘laid-back options’ including swimming pools. “A highlight is a 92-m-tall ‘North Star’ that is almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty and provides guests an unparalleled view of the surroundings,” said Exther Teo of Singapore, the vessel’s public relations official who accompanied media persons on a tour of the vessel.

The passengers included those over 90 years of age and children as young as one, who were taken on land tours in stroller prams in the city on Thursday. The visitors to the ship, which remained berthed at Kochi until it set sail for Thailand at night, included family members of the Indian crew on board the vessel.

Published - November 14, 2024 09:24 pm IST