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Popular cruise liner calls at Kochi

Staff Reporter

It is the 11th cruise ship to visit Ernakulam wharf this season

BRIEF STOPOVER: The super luxury cruise vessel Oriana which called at Kochi on Sunday. Photo: Vipinchandran

KOCHI: One of Britain's most popular cruise liners, m.v. Oriana, called at Kochi on Sunday morning, carrying 1,760 passengers, mostly elderly people, and 500 crew members.

Most of the passengers are British, with the others being Australians, Americans, Dutch and Canadians. The vessel called at the Ernakulam wharf in the morning and left for Chennai in the afternoon. Antique and souvenir sellers had put up tents to showcase their wares at the wharf. Fourteen crew members are Malayalis, whose family members were there at the wharf to see them. "This is the 11th cruise vessel to call at Kochi this season," said P. Sanjeev Kumar, manager (inbound tours to South India), Travel Corporation of India, the ground handling agents of the vessel in Kochi. "Since the stopover was for a limited duration, 1,100 passengers went on a tour of Kochi and Vaikom. We arranged 35 buses to take them around. In Kochi, they were shown Kalaripayattu and Kathakali displays. Some of them preferred to visit Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, where they visited the St. Francis Church, Jewish Synagogue and the Dutch Palace."

At Vaikom, they visited the temple and also went on a `village tour', getting to witness toddy tapping, coir manufacture and mat making. The guests included a 90-year-old woman, who moved around in a wheelchair. Most of the passengers are senior citizens, who are on a tour of different countries. Except for a woman tripping and falling on the wharf's uneven surface, the stopover in Kochi went off well.

Aurora, another cruise ship, is scheduled to call at Kochi in March. MV Super Star Libra, a cruise ship, which has been taking passengers along the western coast of India, is scheduled to call at Kochi a few times this season. Taking into account the inflow of cruise ships, there is increasing demand to set up a full-fledged cruise-terminal in Kochi.

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