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There are currently no major cruise line companies operating in this part of the world. However, there have been other companies and there are some small boats.
Jalesh Cruise Lines came to India in April 2019, closed operations due to Covid-19 in March 2020, and went under administration in October 2020. The vessel was auctioned off to a scrap dealer. The company garnered ~90,000 passengers in one year of operations and was operationally profitable towards the last 6 months of its journey. This created the culture of cruising in India and was powered by the Esselgroup. A big impact which led to the administration of Jalesh Cruise Lines were the losses in other companies of Esselgroup.
Esselgroup, through the path of some foreign holding companies, has now launched another brand called Cordelia Cruises. The overall operation and working are similar to Jalesh, it is a low grade 3-star product, with negligible marketing and an inefficient sales team. This was launched in January 2021 to set sail in May 2021. They finally started mid-September 2021. This, for us, is a good thing, as this will keep the cruising culture alive, however, this company may not succeed, primarily owing to their reputation, but also due to the business planning, domestic sailing target, singular target market, poor investment in terms of technology, marketing spread and the management team capabilities. As of now the ships is doing very well as there are no options for people, especially for large weddings & conferences.
Angriya is a 400-seater vessel which operates between Goa & Mumbai. They used to operate a fancy vessel, complete with a nightclub and an infinity swimming pool. It was an overnight journey with just a dinner and breakfast on board. While no threat to a cruise business, this niche segment has kept itself alive and marketed itself well in the Indian market. However, Angriya could not survive the lock down.
Costa Cruises hits the Indian shores about 2 or 3 times a year, when they are on their longer journeys. They dock at Mumbai and Cochin and then proceed to Maldives. What they sell here is just a left-over of 5% to 10% of their cabins for a Cochin-Maldives or a Mumbai-Maldives segment.
Star Libra had entered the Indian market about 12 years ago and were wiped out due to multiple reasons. First off, it was a low product introduced to this market and sold as a premium product. Secondly, the Indian ports were not ready for a cruise ship and taxation became complicated for them.
In the Middle East, MSC Cruises and a few others dock themselves in the winters, when European waters are frozen, or destinations are too cold. They do not offer any large selection of cruises but are able to sell cheap as they are selling their leftover cabins from the longer sailings which they are undertaking at that point of time.
Sri Lanka has no cruise ships docking in.
Star Cruises in Singapore, the nearest cruising destination for this part of the world, has also gone into administration recently and has left a wide gap in the market for Majestic Cruise Line to fill up, which it will, with style and class.
