Making cruising great again

Waterways Leisure Tourism, that promotes Indian cruise liner Cordelia Cruises, is confident to provide a safe cruise vacation to its guests, right from getting on board to cruising and de boarding. Besides Goa and Diu, this year the cruise liner plans to introduce itineraries for Lakshadweep, Sri Lanka and Maldives as well.

Hazel Jain

Giving India its very own cruise brand, Waterways Leisure Tourism has been aggressively promoting Cordelia Cruises in the market. Sharing more details is Jurgen Bailom, President and CEO, Waterways Leisure Tourism, who says, “Waterways Leisure Tourism is more than just a cruise company – it is an entertainment company and we were looking at finding the right partner who understands India, understands hospitality and therefore we reached out to Sant Singh Chatwal who is a renowned name internationally and who understands hospitality and tourism well. We thought this would be a great partnership, and therefore we decided to go ahead with it.” Chatwal is the founder of the Dream Hotel Group.

Bailom adds that Cordelia Cruises has a new reservation system and API so travel agents can book seamlessly.

“All travel agents can register with us online directly. The inventory is live and we have bookings all the way uptill next year already which include weddings, M!CE, as well as leisure groups.” Cordelia Cruises’ first vessel, The Empress, has 796 cabins and can accommodate 2,000 guests.

Coming to the most important point – health and safety – Bailom reveals that over the last 12 months, the team has worked with various ministries and port authorities to create an SOP which is of international standards. “Having said that, cruise ships already have high standards in terms of health and safety – it most probably took a bad rap during the pandemic,” he says.

Advanced B2B portal

Sharing details of the offers and itineraries travel agents can expect, Vijay Kesavan, Director – Sales & Marketing, Cordelia Cruises, says, “Our objective is to reach not just tier-I but tier-II and III audiences as well. The idea is to make cruising synonymous with travel in India so our products will be available to every travel agent.”

Besides destinations like Goa and Diu, this year will see sailing to Lakshadweep and Sri Lanka with an itinerary for Maldives as well. “For west and east coast sailings, our home ports will be Mumbai and Chennai, respectively. We will also be sailing to the newly-launched cruise terminal of Kochi. Guests can choose from five-nighter weekday sailings and the two-nighter weekend sailings. This year we are also to introduce inter-porting and one-way itineraries,” Kesavan adds.

Cordelia Cruises has launched special fares for its partners. Kesavan explains, “Along with an array of benefits like flexibility to book with 25 per cent and to reschedule up to seven days prior to sailing date, we have also introduced a special offer for families. Under this, children up to 12 years of age can travel free with us on sailings until July 31, 2021.”

Agents can register and avail these offers at https://agent.cordeliacruises.com/login