Shorter sailings find favour with Indians

Observing a huge uptick in bookings for sailings starting from December 2024, which is ex-Dubai and ex-Abu Dhabi onboard Costa Smeralda, Vasundhara Gupta, Business Development and Marketing Head, Lotus Aero Enterprises (GSA for Costa Cruises), says this could also be attributed to the changing cruising behaviour of Indian travellers.

Hazel Jain

Indian tourists have traditionally been a huge source market for fly-cruise itineraries ex-Singapore. They are now exploring other short-haul cruise destinations like Abu Dhabi. This is evident by the uptick in bookings that Costa Cruises is witnessing for its ex-Dubai and ex-Abu Dhabi sailings starting this December.

Vasundhara Gupta, Business Development and Marketing Head, Lotus Aero Enterprises (GSA for Costa Cruises), says, “We are definitely seeing our sailings ex-Dubai and ex-Abu Dhabi onboard Costa Smeralda get popular. This is one of the largest ships in the world and we have itineraries that are two-nights, five-nights and seven-nights. Even in the seven-night sailing, the ship actually docks in Dubai for two nights. We, in fact, dock in Jumeirah because we own the terminal at the Dubai Harbour cruise terminal.”

The ship docks at the Dubai Harbour for two nights and then sails on to Oman, Qatar and return to Abu Dhabi, and then go into Dubai as well. “This is starting at a very attractive offer of only Rs 49,444 per person for a seven-night sailing, and I think you can’t get better than that. In fact, children below 18 years can share the cabin with two adults and pay only port charges and onboard gratuities,” Gupta adds.

Why is this sailing so popular? She explains, “Just like Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are great repeat destinations for short-haul. In fact, from November until about April, the UAE, Qatar, and Oman sector – generally the entire region – is an amazing place to visit, the weather is really great, they have great port infrastructure. For anyone doing repeat travel to these destinations, cruise is a great way to reinvent it.”

Change in cruise pattern

This behaviour is also originating from a change in cruise pattern. “I believe we will see Indians go on world cruises as well in times to come. But right now, some of the most popular itineraries include the Dubai itineraries that we didn’t see much of pre-pandemic. Pre-2020, our itineraries were essentially only seven nights. We realised during the pandemic that if we want to build big numbers, we will have to offer Indian travellers shorter cruise itineraries. This has really worked well,” she shares.

She also sees a change in the traveller segment. “We saw a lot of individual travellers going on those seven-night routes. However, from 2022, we introduced the option of three, four-night sailings and we have seen a lot of corporate incentive groups travelling on them. In fact, we have already sold out these sailings starting from December until March to the corporate traveller. We are also seeing group departures. There are agents who are combining our two-night cruises specifically with their land programme in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” Gupta says.

While weddings on cruises have worked for Costa Cruises on both the ship, it is something Gupta is still trying to target for the UAE.