Cruise ship comes calling

KOCHI: One of the largest cruise ships, Italian Costa Luminosa,  docked at the Cochin port with 2, 800 people on board on Friday morning.  This is  one of the major arrivals in this year’s tourist season which is drawing to a close within  a few weeks.    However, rising temperatures cast a spell on them with many tourists preferring to stay inside the ship. The total number of  guests in the ship is   1,994 while the others are staff members.

“Most of the tourists were elderly and were drawn mainly from Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The ship is on a 160-day  world cruise and the only three ports of call in India are Kochi, Goa and Mumbai. While the ship is docked for two days in Kochi and Mumbai, it will have a day’s stay in Goa,” said P. Sanjeev Kumar, managing director of Lotus DMC tour operating company which is taking care of the excursions here.

Sanjeev said that 170 tourists left for Agra via Cochin international airport on the day to see Taj Mahal, which is one of the largest such contingents  to go from here to see the Mughal monument. “The day being Good Friday was a tad disappointing as some of the major monuments like Dutch Palace and Synagogue were closed while entry was not allowed to the St Francis Church. However, this was compensated with tours to Vaikom, Kumarakom and Alappuzha,” he said. The other tours of Fort Kochi, Mattancherry and Kumbalangi were also operated. In the evening the guests were treated to Kathakali and Kalarippayattu performance also.