Pandaw Cruises has pulled its river cruise operation out of India, calling it a disaster.
Pandaw Cruises operated ten, two week cruises on an 800-mile stretch of the Ganges between Varanasi and Kolkata with more than 500 passengers. The Myanmar based company, which is one of the largest up-scale river cruise operator in South East Asia with five colonial style ships started India operations in September last year. According to a statement from the company the reasons for discontinuing operations were numerous. According to the statement, “Navigational and security challenges were just too great and the river proved too high, too low or too fast to operate safely. Groundings, with damage to engines and propellers were frequent and there was a lack support ashore for repairs. The close presence of Maoist revolutionaries in Bihar necessitated the presence of heavily armed special forces personnel on the ship.”

The statement went on to say, “A further reason for Pandaw’s pulling out is the fact that the company was not able to operate their own vessel, with their own crew.