"Nautica”, the last cruise of the cruise season called at New Mangalore Port on Monday.
The Marshall Island flagged ship with 550 passengers and 400 crew members had previously called at Cochin Port. After leaving from New Mangalore Port, the cruise sailed to Mormugao Port.
The overall length of the ship is 180.05 meters with carrying capacity of 30,277 Gross Tonnage and has a draft of 6 meters. Cruise passengers were given a traditional welcome while disembarking.
The cruise passengers availed benefits of a meditation centre set up by the Department of Ayush inside the cruise lounge. Clothing and handicraft outlets were also kept open for the tourists.
Tourists clicked photos in front of the selfie point setup by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. The Port had arranged Bharatanatyam and cultural dance performance in the cruise.
An LED screen displayed visual information about the Port infrastructure and various tourist regions around. For the first time, collecting online feedback systems through a tablet was introduced by the Port for the comfort of the passengers.
The passengers visited various tourist destinations such as Achal Cashew Factory, Kudroli Gokarmatheshwara Temple, St Aloysius Chapel, local market, Pilikula Artisan village, Thousand Pillars Basadi and Soans Farm. Souvenirs were given to the cruise passengers while they were embarking back to their ship, in reminiscence of their visit to Mangaluru.
3602 passengers in 8 cruise
Post pandemic the cruise season reopened in November after a halt of three years. Since November eight cruise vessels have called at the port with a total of 3602 passengers. However, the port on an average received 25 ships in a year with an average passenger inflow of 27,000 approximately in the past. For the next cruise season already 13 ships have confirmed on their visit and the numbers are expected to increase as the Cruise Tourism industry is seeing steadfast growth in passenger registrations after the pandemic.