Cordelia's 'entertainment on high seas' from Vizag to Puducherry

Visakhapatnam: Cordelia Cruise is offering a limited time 'entertainment on high seas' for fun-loving people to visit Chennai and Puducherry from Visakhapatnam in June.

The company, which due to loss of tourism from Mumbai in Sri Lanka, has tied up with Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) has already completed negotiations on berthing of the cruise liner. The minimum package for three nights per head with three-night sailing will be Rs 28,594 including meals. Access to beverages, spa and wifi as well as casinos will be extra. The ship will have swimming pools. It will have capacity to carry 2,000 passengers, the travel agent for the cruise liner told Bizz Buzz on Monday. Cordelia Cruise through its representative Leisure Time Holidays has announced that the ship will sail from Visakhapatnam on June 8, 15 and 22. The bookings have just started.

According to the package offered by Cordelia, the cruise ship will tentatively leave at 8 pm on day one and reach Puducherry on day three at 7 am offering the tourists to spend about 12 hours including shore excursion of scuba diving in the Union Territory. It has dynamic fares and will charge for two adults interior standard room for Rs 48,582, ocean view standard room Rs 60,393, mini suite room Rs 1.06 lakh and suite room Rs1.89 lakh. The fare includes all meals at the food court and Starlight Restaurant.

Despite huge potential for cruise tourism to Visakhapatnam known as City of Destiny has not yet started on a regular basis. However, senior officials of VPA confirmed the permission granted to Cordelia Cruise.

VPA is constructing an International Marine Cruise Terminal under Sagarmala project which will be operational by next year. The project will cost around Rs 103 crore. It will have passenger lounge, duty free shop, immigration kiosk with a souvenir shop, cafetaria, waiting rooms and adequate parking facility.

Those who operated cruise tourism to Visakhapatnam now and then have exuded confidence over great potential due to excellent locations, which include temples, Buddhist sites, tribal and beach locales and tribal village of Lambasingi, which has potential to give Kashmir experience due to its freezing temperatures during winter.

APTDC Chairman A Varaprasad Reddy during recently held Bizz Buzz Business Conclave said Visakhapatnam had the potential to become a global tourist hub and elaborated how the State Government was trying to promote the city as a destination for domestic and foreign tourists.

A seven star cruise liner Silver Discoverer had brought about 100 Americans and Europeans to Visakhapatnam in 2019. The tourists at that time had expressed the view that Visakhapatnam had excellent potential if regular cruise service was offered.

At present, Shipping Corporation of India operates twice a month a passenger ship mostly to transport workers from North Andhra and South Odisha to Port Blair through its agents. The total distance between Visakhapatnam and Port Blair is around 1,200 km.

AMET of Chennai had operated a cruise at night on an experimental basis by charging Rs 6,000 per passenger in 2011. Malindo Air before withdrawing its flight from the city to Bangkok via Colombo had held talks with Malaysia-based conglomerate Genting Group's Cruises to Nowhere to explore offering offshore gambling on high seas between Visakhapatnam and Kuala Lumpur.