NAUTICA- the 8th Cruise Ship Bids Adios to New Mangalore Port on Monday 22 May as the Last of the year 2023
Mangaluru: The Marshall Islands-flagged ship with 550 passengers, and 400 crew members arrived at the New Mangalore Port, Panambur, Mangaluru at 8:30 a.m.on Monday, 22 May 2023 and berthed alongside berth No. 4. It was previously called at Cochin Port and left from New Mangalore Port to Mormugao Port-Goa at 4:30 p.m. The overall length of the ship is 180.05 meters with a carrying capacity of 30,277 Gross Tonnage and has a draft of six meters. The cruise passengers were given a traditional welcome while disembarking from the ship. Various arrangements were made for a pleasant experience for the cruise passengers such as medical screenings of passengers, multiple immigration and customs counters for swift movement, and buses and taxis for passengers for touring various locations in and around Mangalore city.
Mrs Eulalia D’Souza- proprietor of Lia Travels, Mangaluru and her energetic team had made elaborate arrangements in taking care of the passengers during their Mangaluru tour. The cruise passengers availed benefits of a meditation centre set up by the Department of Ayush inside the cruise lounge. Clothes and handicraft outlets were also kept open for the tourists. Tourists clicked photos in front of the selfie point set up by the Ministry of Tourism. For entertaining the passengers, the port arranged Bharatanatyam and cultural dance performances in the cruise lounge which was much appreciated by the tourists. An LED screen was installed displaying visual information about the port infrastructure and various tourist places around. For the first time, an online feedback system was introduced.
The passengers visited Achal Cashew Factory, Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara Temple, St Aloysius Chapel, the local market, Pilikula artisan village, Thousand Pillars Basadi and Soans Farm. Souvenirs were given to the passengers while they were embarking back to their ship. Post Covid-19, the cruise season reopened in November 2023 after a halt of three years. As this was the beginning post-pandemic, only eight ships were called at New Mangalore Port with 3,602 passengers. However, the port on average receives 25 ships in a year with an average passenger inflow of 27,000 approximately.
Mrs Eulalia D’Souza speaking to Team Mangalorean said that they had a successful tourism season with the arrival of eight cruise ships at the New Mangalore Port, and all the passengers were happy with their tour of the City, and expressed good compliments about their few hours stay in Mangaluru. “For the coming cruise season, 13 ships have already confirmed their visit and the numbers are expected to increase as the cruise tourism industry is seeing steadfast growth in passenger registrations after the pandemic,” added Mrs D’Souza. The Lia Travels team played a vital role during the 2023 cruise ship season- No doubt, Lia Travels did the job right with the right crew!
It is high time our government permits tour operators to arrange boarding from Mangalore NMPT so that Mangalore will start attracting domestic as well as international tourists.
One more suggestion i would like to give here is government should go for NMPT Railways station and bus station so that all tourists can find it easy to reach Mangalore NMPT as also reach their destination by boarding a train or bus.