Kerala - Kochi   

Queen Victoria comes calling

KOCHI: The majestic Queen Victoria, on her maiden round-the-world trip and on her first visit to the Queen of the Arabian Sea arrived here on Wednesday to a rousing reception complete with caparisoned elephants, kavadiyattam and traditional chendamelam.

The luxury cruise liner arrived on schedule at 7 a.m. from Chennai with 1,798 tourists and 1,008 crew and left for Mumbai at 5 p.m.

The tourists were given traditional welcome at the port. During their brief stay in Kochi, they visited places of interest in and around the city, in buses and boats.

Captain Subash Kumar, Deputy Chairman and senior officers of Cochin Port Trust greeted the Captain of the ship, Christopher Rynd and exchanged plaques to mark the maiden visit of Queen Victoria to Kochi.

During the ceremony the Captain said that Kochi was the most beautiful port in this part of the world and appreciated the efforts made by the Port Trust for a hassle-free visit by the vessel and its tourists.

Queen Victoria is the 40th cruise vessel to call at Cochin Port this financial year.

Two more vessels are expected to call at the port in March.

The port expects eight cruise vessels during April. The vessels scheduled to arrive include Columbus, Silver Whisper, Crystal Symphony and Europa.

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