Chennai, Aug 10: British West Indies-based Indian Ocean Cruise Line Ltd has tied-up with the Taj Group of Hotels for onshore hospitality. The Taj Group, which has over 50 properties in India and abroad, is also likely to take an equity stake in the Caribbean company.pThe company has recently launched its first dedicated luxury liner `Ocean Majesty' to explore the lesser cruised regions of the Indian Ocean. These include a large part of coastal India and Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Gulf Coast, Maldives, Andamans and the Lakshadweep islands. The 1994 luxury liner of Greek registry can travel at the speed of 21 knots and carry 600 passengers.Between November 14, 2000 and April 25, 2001, it will operate 22 cruises on the Indian Ocean. Its 21-day cruise will begin from Athens and travel to exotic locations like Kusadasi, Ashdod, Port Said, Suez Canal, Sharm-el-Sheikh, Aquaba, Safaga, Djiboti, Salalah, Dubai, Muscat and Mumbai, with a stopver being scheduled at Alexandria on the return voyage. From India, it will have 16 departures - 10 from Mumbai and six from Chennai. The 'Ocean Majesty' will also touch Goa, Kochi, Mangalore and Lakshadweep.
Internationally, it will cruise to Colombo, Maldives, Penang and Phuket.
The company, started with an initial investment of $10 million, has been promoted by a group of NRIs. It plans to lease two or three cruise liners by next year with an additional investment of $10 million per ship, according to chairman and CEO of Indian Ocean Cruise Line chairman and CEO Jaswant S Lalwani. These cruise liners will cruise to Mauritius, Seychelles and along the East coast of Africa, apart from docking at Paradip, Visakhapatnam and Calcutta, he said.
The company will organise bulk visas for all the international ports that its boats will drop anchor at.
The cruise pricing for two is Rs 40,000 for four nights from Dubai to Mumbai and Rs 85,000 for seven nights from Chennai to Singapore. The cruises are also marketed to corporates and other organisations as a venue for conferences. The company expects to break-even in the first year itself with 350 passengers per cruise.
Travel Corporation (India) Ltd (TCI) has been appointed the general sales agent (GSA) for India and has started booking passengers.
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