Cruises ride resurgent wave as travel picks up

Cruises - one of the first travel segments to be hit by the Covid-19 outbreak more than two years ago - are now seeing a surge in demand, and Indians are a major contributor to it globally.

Cruises are "back with a bang" and demand has been picking up from India consistently since border curbs were eased, said Subhash Goyal, chairman of the STIC Travel & Air Charters Group.

"Demand for regions that did away with quarantine requirements had picked up immediately. We are the largest wholesale provider of cruise bookings in India and travel agents buy from us. We have had to shift dates and itineraries for people considering the demand," he said. "People have been fed up sitting at home for the past two years and there are strict hygiene standards for cruises. Besides entry-level checks and scans, there are doctors on board and separate areas for quarantining if someone gets sick," he added. The STIC Travel Group is the sole agent in India for companies such as Holland America Line and Windstar Cruises.

Rajeev Kale, president and country head for holidays, MICE and visa at Thomas Cook (India), said the company's cruise segment was witnessing an "unprecedented" surge and that this began with domestic cruise bookings.

"Between Thomas Cook and SOTC [wholly-owned arm of Thomas Cook India], we have booked over 3,500 customers since the lifting of restrictions and our international cruise segment is growing at 35-40% month on month," he said.

Kale said short-haul and easy visa destinations were seeing the maximum uptick and this included Singapore sailings of Genting Dream and Royal Caribbean Cruises, as well as the Middle East Costa Cruises sailings between November and March covering Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Bahrain.

"Our data indicate that shorter sailings of between two and four nights are seeing brisk business at affordable price points of approximately ₹22,000 per person on twin-share cabin occupancy. What is noteworthy though is the significant demand for luxury cruises like Alaska Cruises, Scandinavian Cruises and Caribbean Cruises priced at around ₹2 lakh per person and an Antarctica cruise priced at ₹10 lakh per person," he added.

A MakeMyTrip spokesperson said encouraged by the pent-up demand, the company would reintroduce cruise packages soon.

Nalini Gupta, the general sales agent for Costa Cruises in India, said besides Costa cruise sailings in the Mediterranean, the Dubai itineraries covering places such as Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Muscat had generated "robust" interest from both individual and corporate groups due to their short duration, airline connectivity from India and hassle-free visa to the UAE.

"Cruise liners have come up with competitive prices to attract and motivate people to experience cruising that gives you an experience to explore interesting places in one go. Cruise liners have also quickly adapted themselves to handle Covid restrictions and guidelines, ensuring the safety of passengers as their utmost priority," she added.

An EaseMyTrip spokesperson said demand for cruises had reached up to 80% of the pre-Covid levels and that the major enquiries were for Singapore cruises.

Daniel D'souza, president and country head for holidays at SOTC Travel, said cruises were a "great" value proposition as they implied an all-inclusive holiday packed with entertainment and activities across age groups, diversity of dining experiences and sailing to multiple locations with on-shore sightseeing tours, without the hassle of transfers.