Lure of being all at sea

Luxury cruising can now be enjoyed in India with Star Cruises home-porting its SuperStar Libra in Mumbai. Gitanjali Sharma checks out the new option of holidaying on the sea.

A night of sailing on a luxury liner promised to be an exciting prospect. The expectations were high. It was going to be a 14-hour rendezvous with the sea, said the itinerary. Board the Star Cruises’ship — the first to kick off cruise tourism in India — in Mumbai at 5 pm. Set sail at 8 pm on the Arabian Sea and again touch the metropolis at 10 the next morning. Limited time for unlimited fun — to explore the ship and the treasures it had to unravel. What all could be packed in those many hours, let’s check out.

This floating resort surely spelt titanic opulence and luxury. Dazzling lights, plush interiors and the constantly greeting and smiling crew could easily put to shade any of our hospitable and swish five-star hotels.

The splendour of the 10-deck cruiser, with a capacity to host 1500 passengers, came as a heady cocktail of all things grandiose and glitzy: more than 700 cosy cabins; eight snazzy restaurants and bars with seasoned names like Blue Lagoon, Coconut Willy’s, Pool Bar and Taj by the Bay; and seven entertainment stops — the aptly dubbed Stardust lounge, a cocktail resto-bar that offered live performances; a discotheque called Boomer’s; an open-style karaoke lounge named The Bollywood, etc.

Ask for any yuppie delight, and it was on board: a gym, spa, pool, jacuzzi, jogging park, golf range, beauty salon, Internet caf`E9, casino, children’s playroom, activity centre, meeting room and a shopping centre. All these extravagances, needless to say, came at a price that made you think twice and still cringe. For example, a cup of tea cost as much as Rs 100.

But take heart, the cruise fare includes a limited number of complimentary meals at a few specified restaurants. One, however, learnt that one shouldn’t have pinned high hopes on the dinner on the house. Put it down to teething trouble or unsureness of the Star Cruises staff on alien territory but the inaugural meal at the exotically named Taj by the Bay was unappetising fare — a bland Indian thali. Probably, a case of lost recipes, and masalas and salt forgotten on the shore. The evening tea too was a mismanaged affair with invitees jostling for a cuppa and sandwiches that disappeared before one caught sight of them. The breakfast, mercifully, was one befitting a cruise taker: a fine combo of Indian and continental. It made up for the dinner, which may have been a case of too many cooks (of various nationalities) spoiling the broth. Hadn’t the cruise managers proudly claimed that their crew comprised people belonging to 25 nationalities? The majority, of course, seemed to belong to Malaysia, which is also the operation headquarters of Star Cruises.

The mainly foreign crew appeared a little incongruent amidst the Indian passengers on board. Not to forget, the totally Malayasian feel one got as one stepped into the liner`85 being greeted warmly by women crew, mostly Malaysian, Thai and Filipinos, attired in chic short skirts. Incidentally, this liner is targeting mainly Indian customers and expect only 8 to 10 per cent foreign passengers. The top deck, the most popular with passengers, bore some likeness to Chowpatty — men, women attired in all stuff Indian strolled on the deck to amuse themselves. Nowhere in sight were the relaxing cruise-goers in sarongs and shorts that one comes across in the fabled ads. A few of the enthusiastic passengers, mainly men and kids, could be seen chilling out in the pool or the Jacuzzi nearby.

The entertainment too had an alienish feel to it. The liner, of course, propped it up as fun shows with an international flavour. One of the lounges had a Thai dancer cajoling Indians to come forward to learn the hot cha-cha steps; the other had dancers from Europe and Latin America and Chinese acrobats putting up a colourful riot. While the disco was packed towards midnight, the ‘wild west night’ at one of the lounges turned out to be unexciting. About half an hour of watching a game that had men flick hats off each others’ heads was enough to have the audience yawning.

The plan of spending a better part of the night romancing the stars on the top deck too was nipped in the bud by the strong winds lashing the vessel. As tiredness began to seep in, nothing seemed more inviting than the cool comfort of the cabins. Interestingly, a group of old ladies on the ship had rated the cabins as the best bet on the ship.

Riding the lift to the third deck, one wondered whether Indians would take to such cruises? Would they find the food and entertainment to their taste? And what about shopping that goes with vacationing? The shop on board had little to offer beyond some souvenirs, all kinds of 18-carat gold plated chains and some chips that cost about Rs 200 a packet. Even as one was mulling over these misgivings, a fellow passenger voiced his feelings: "I have had my fill in one day. I feel like a bulbul in a cage."

Indians are not yet used to holidaying on the sea. However, the cruise operators are optimistic; and so is the Ministry of Tourism which, along with the shipping industry, is keen to develop cruise tourism in India. Keeping this in mind as well as hoping to target those strapped for time — corporate workers, busy office-goers, honeymooners — the cruise operators have purposely introduced short cruises — one night to a weeklong ones. And, the lowest rung package costs approximately Rs 5000 a night. The liner is selling the idea of incentive holidays to companies and all those looking for alternative holidays but want it all under one roof — entertainment, good food, proximity to nature, luxuriant ambience. Select coasts like Mumbai, Goa and Cochin that have the infrastructure to hub the ship as well as provide air connectivity will be chosen initially to promote cruise tourism.

How well will this international offering go down with desis remains to be seen but as one bid adieu to the colossal vessel, one looked at it wistfully. Something was amiss. One realised that the ship had hogged all one’s attention. Whatever impact the distant and untouchable sea had made had been washed away by the liner’s luxury — some of which was relished but most of which was out of reach.

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