Mangaluru: M V AIDA AURA, one of the luxury vessels of Aida Cruises, called at the Port on December 12, with 1145 cruise passengers and 411 crew on board the vessel. This the 10th voyage of the vessel at New Mangalore Port and is scheduled for 6 more calls during the current financial year.
749 passengers opted for ground tour and visited places in and around Mangalore like, 1000 pillar temple at Moodbidri, Soans farm, cashew factories, St Aloysius chapel, Gokarnanatha temple, Kadri Manjunatha temple, St Aloysius Chapel, City Market shopping etc. and returned to the vessel and sailed off to Goa.
The itinerary of the vessel is Dubai-Mumbai-Mangalore-Goa-Muscat. Majority of the passengers are from Germany .This is the 11th cruise vessel calling at the Port during the current financial year 2015-16(as on date) M/s J M Baxi are the agents of the vessel & M/s Globe Travels are the ground tour operator
The port is witnessing the arrival of more number of cruise vessels due to the availability of infrastructure like state of the art cruise lounge accommodated with immigration counter, foreign exchange facility, duty free shops, handicraft boutique, and above all the clean and green environment inside the port area. It is expected to handle more cruise vessels in the months to come.