TravTalk India Online Magazine
Cunard Line, known for its British heritage and transatlantic cruises, is loved by Indian cruisers, says Vivek Jain, MD, Griffon Cruises, which promotes the cruise line in India. Jain highlights some of the popular sailings in India market.
Hazel Jain
Griffon Cruises is currently focusing on promoting Cunard Line, a British cruising company, with iconic ships like Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, and Queen Anne, which was launched in May this year. Talking about the line, Vivek Jain, Managing Director, Griffon Cruises, says, “Cunard Line is known for two things – its British heritage and its transatlantic cruises. Indian passengers experience both these aspects when they sail on a Cunard Transatlantic journey—that provides them with a look back in time when cross-continent travel was done primarily by ship.”
Griffon Cruises represents Cunard in India.
Queen Anne offers some amazing sailings like the Transatlantic sailings, which is Southampton to New York, and return, as well as round the world cruises. There are other sailings in different waters also like the East and the West Mediterranean in Europe, the British Isles, Norway fiords, the Atlantic Coast, and Canary Islands. “So, we cover most of Europe, we also do Japan for the cherry blossom season, as well as Australia in the Australian summer months, Alaska, the Caribbean Islands. So, basically we do all the waters.”
Mediterranean is hot selling
This year, Jain and his team have started selling a lot of Cunard sailings for both the East and West Mediterranean, and the Fjords. “We also did a few bookings for Japan’s cherry blossom sailings, but we were late. So, we will focus on this next year. The British Isles and the Northern Lights are also doing great for the Diwali vacations. In October, we are focusing on our European sailings, starting from 7-day itineraries. We also have shorter sailings of 2-3 nights,” he says.
Aspirational product
For the Indian client, Cunard is an aspirational product, says Jain, because it has a lot of auras around it. “Its old English charm and the luxury attracts Indian travellers. We have so much focus on the Indian market that we serve Indian food on our group movements; on Queen Anne, we have an Indian restaurant as well, so Indian food is not a problem,” he shares. He has seen cruising from India increase over the last few years. “I have been selling cruise for the last 20 years from the time when people did not understand the concept at all. We went one step ahead and did a Bollywood movie called ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ on one of our Pullmantur ships. We have been educating people what cruising is – an experience! On Cunard, we do a lot of English activities. So, we do get mature travellers who want a 14-day itinerary,” Jain adds.
