India has joined the global cruise line club with the country's first cruise ship, AMET Majesty, registered in Chennai with an Indian flag. The ship will make her maiden visit to the Indian shores on June 8 in Chennai and sail off to high seas the next day.
The Chennai-based AMET Shipping Pvt Ltd of the AMET Group, which is in to maritime training, has invested Rs 100 crore in procuring the 35-year-old cruise vessel Arberia from a Greek owner as per a report in the Hindu Business Line.
The ship was first operated by the Star Cruise, said Mr P. Bharathi, CEO and Managing Director, AMET Cruises, a division of AMET. The funding to buy the ship came from the group's internal resources, from banks and few Singapore-based individual investors, said Dr J. Ramachandran, Chairman, AMET Shipping India without the break-up.
AMET Majesty will operate regular service covering India and Sri Lanka. It will offer locations in Asia such as Anadaman, Phuket, Mumbai, Goa, Lashdweep, Kochi, Colombo and Maldives for the tourists. To begin with the service will include short trips to high seas in Chennai (one night) and long trips covering international destinations such as Triconamalleee in Sri Lanka, he said
The company is hoping to get support for its cruise service from the large number of Indian tourists who otherwise travel to Singapore to go on a cruise there. It is said that nearly 80,000 Indian go on cruises annually, he said.
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