It’s the giant country cruise ships forgot, but that’s about to change

India ought to be busy with cruise ships. It has 7500 kilometres of coastline, archipelagos such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, dozens of navigable rivers, splendid landscapes, and dense historical and cultural sights.

Many travellers have concerns about travel logistics and health standards, which also ought to make cruising the attractive see-India option. Yet, the cruise market in India is valued at just 1 per cent of the world total.

The reason? Whether cruise-goers want to visit or not, few cruise ships sail there. But that is about to change as the Indian government’s Cruise Bharat Mission, launched in 2024, gathers steam.

Among its big ambitions are 10 new ocean terminals, 100 river terminals and the luring of more ships to India’s shores. It hopes to see 500 port arrivals by 2030, more than double the current number.

Goa, Mangaluru and Kochi in India’s south-west are the priority ports, but some international ships are already calling at more unusual destinations such as Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.

The key to it all is Mumbai, where a much-delayed new cruise terminal opened at the end of April. The swanky Mumbai terminal is designed to handle five ships simultaneously and to cope with a million passengers a year.

For the moment, cruise ships rarely linger in India, preferring to pass through as they trek across Asia or towards Africa. Even expedition lines offer only very occasional India-focused cruises, as Silversea and Ponant have done in the past.

However, Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean are among major players keen to boost passenger numbers.

India’s masterplan only partly relies on international cruise visitors. The nation’s expanding middle class is a huge market and is showing growing interest in cruising, previously considered an option only for the very wealthy.

The big cruise lines are keen to tap into the lucrative market, and so are some small luxury ones such as Ponant, which has just signed a partnership with Indian travel service provider STIC Travel to boost bookings.

Meanwhile, home-grown cruise line Cordelia Cruises has taken more than half a million Indians to sea aboard Empress, its repurposed Royal Caribbean ship, since it launched in 2021. It will be acquiring two further ships from Norwegian Cruise Line soon.

Cordelia homeports in Mumbai. Malaysian company Resort World Cruises also intends to homeport one of its ships seasonally in Mumbai starting in 2026. For the moment itineraries will be short, taster cruises that visit either Goa or the Lakshadweep Islands, or simply spend the weekend at sea.

India’s many navigable rivers also present potential. There are already several Indian river-cruise companies such as Adventure River Cruise, Antara and Assam Bengal Navigation, and international ones such as APT, Avalon Waterways, Uniworld and Pandaw operate on the Ganges or Brahmaputra rivers.

And Viking has announced its first river voyages in India on the Viking Brahmaputra, a new 80-guest vessel designed specifically for the Brahmaputra River. Now under construction and scheduled to debut in late 2027, the Viking Brahmaputra will sail between Guwahati and Nimati Ghat in the north-eastern state of Assam as part of Viking’s new 15-day itinerary, Wonders of India.

In a destination this fabulous, we can only hope it’s a matter of time before many more options are available.

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