Ganga Vilas Cruise, the ship that will set sail this month for India’s longest river journey of 50 days, has created a lot of buzz among travellers.
The cruise will cover 27 river systems and over 50 tourist sites.
The river cruise, which will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 13 in his his Varanasi constituency, has created a lot of excitement. Tourists have been enquiring about what the cruise offers, what the ticket prices are and how one can book tickets and get on board.
Tickets can be booked through the website of Antara Luxury River Cruises, the company that operates the ship. The inaugural cruise is fully booked, Raj Singh, founder and CEO Anatara Luxury River Cruises, told Moneycontrol.
The cruise is fully sold and will not be open to the public for two years, said Kashif Siddiqui, director of sales and strategic marketing, India.
"Bookings were made and sold in 2021 for next two years."
While the cruise was expected to launch in 2020, it was delayed by the Covid-19 outbreak.
What the package consists of
On the cost, Siddiqui gave a break-up on the package complete with expeditions, sightseeing and entertainment as Rs 42,500 plus taxes per person on twin sharing and Rs 85,000 plus taxes per suite per night. The whole package, according to him, is priced approximately at Rs 40 lakh plus taxes.
Siddiqui said suites on the ship were sold for Rs 38 lakh for double occupancy for the entire trip of 54 nights around a year back.
This year, the ship will set for a total of four times. After January, there will be two more cruises in September, said Singh.
"Travellers will get to see places they have not seen before, people will go to places like Buxar, the forts and palaces in Rajmahal in Jharkhand, then also places of Bangladesh as well as Kaziranga National Park," said the CEO.
Connecting Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh, the cruise will cover 3,200 kilometres.
"The idea behind launching the ship was to connect two great rivers, Ganga and Brahmaputra, through the Sunderbans for tourists to see places that have not been visited before," Singh said.
He added that the Ganga Vilas Cruise will also pass through national parks and sanctuaries, including the Sundarbans Delta and Kaziranga National Park.
Swiss interest
Ganga Vilas Cruise has seen high interest from Swiss travellers. Siddiqui said the ship offers bigger rooms compared to their cruises including Antara Ganges Voyager I and II and Antara Nauka Vilas.
"The room size in Ganga Vilas Cruise ranges between 360-380 square feet while other cruises have suites that are 260-320 square feet."
The new ship has 18 rooms and the cruise's design has been done by art historian Annapurna Garimella.
"Designing the cruise has been a five-year project and the first step was getting the right kind of ship," Singh said.
He added that the Made in India ship had put India on river cruising map.
"We have opened a different vertical in river cruising in India," Singh added.
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