[ruzbehxyz]

The World's Longest River Cruise from Varanasi on River Ganga to Dibrugarh on River Brahmaputra.




🚢Boarding : 10th January and will reach Dibrugarh on 1st March.

🛳️The cruise goes via : Patna, Kolkata, Dhaka, Dhubri, Guwahati, Majuli Island.

During the 51 - day itinerary, #GangaVilas cruise will sail along three major waterways in the sub-continent: National Waterway 1 over the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly River system, the Indo-Bangla Protocol Route from Kolkata to Dhubri, and National Waterway 2 over Brahmaputra.




The cruise had been promoted since 2018 and was supposed to be launched in 2020. However, the project got delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Read full story here: https://indianexpress.com/article/li...-8358008/lite/

https://youtu.be/a2T1FmHGTj8

[V.Narayan]

Delighted that the Govt is encouraging India & Indians to become water minded. We have such a vast range of navigable rivers but make little use of them. We are too land minded in our thought and so is our imagination on transportation. Thank you Captain Ruzbeh for sharing this.

[Rocky_Balboa]

This is a Great initiative and it would be an awesome journey to take.

However I am a little worried about the Ferry plying on Brahmaputra, given the number of Ferry incidents we have seen (in the past) in the same waters.

[shankar.balan]

This is fabulous. We do have a wonderful system of rivers which can be used for leisure cruises of this kind. But these rivers are also extremely dangerous when in spate and during the monsoons etc.
Therefore I do hope this river cruise work is given by our government to solid, proven and safe operators, conforming to the highest standards of sustained safety. The Oberoi Group of Hotels operates a small luxury yacht in Kochi as does the Taj Malabar. And the Oberois operate luxury cruises along the Nile river in Luxor-Aswan in Egypt.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

The World's Longest River Cruise from Varanasi on River Ganga to Dibrugarh on River Brahmaputra.

Absolutely exciting!
Is that a pic of the real ship which is going to set sail?
Reminded me so much of the SS Karnak from Death on the Nile.

I hope this initiative leads to clean rivers, employment and a culture of river travel.

[itwasntme]

Very happy to see this initiative! Hope they plan shorter cruises too.

Another beautiful restoration project here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnt...y-kolkata/amp/

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Another beautiful restoration project here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnt...y-kolkata/amp/

Thanks for sharing this wonderful piece of information. Water transport has still not taken full shape in India. Proper marketing and cost friendly is the key. Let’s see how things shape up.

On the west coast we have a good ferry service from Mumbai to Mandwa (Alibag) and also Cordelia cruises to Goa and Lakshadweep which are doing pretty well.

[charanreddy]

Almost 2 months on the cruise !! Not sure who the intended audience are, but I am sure it will be a well deserved time off or for retired folks ( or may be this is my middle class imagination )


I heard some where that the cruise is already booked for some time to come from foreign tourists ( Switzerland ?? )

[neerajku]

While commendable for the courage of launching this but one wonders what is the feasibility of such long, murderously expensive, cruises. Those who have interest cant afford the time or the prices in India. And targeting well heeled foreigners, I am afraid, is neither here nor there. They dont want to go beyond golden triangle, Goa, Mahabalipuram, Madurai, Hampi, etc. Cultural education for them to look beyond these is a long journey. My guess is beyond a few excited foreigners and a few trips, it will run into huge losses like those golden chariots and be a burden on us. Better prices, much lesser than 25k per day, packets of travel will be the key. This has to be designed for upper middle class Indians and not global ones. The facilities one gets on international cruises and the service culture, Indian PSUs just cant manage!

[PreludeSH]

Its too long and not sure it has enough places of interest for such a long distance along the route.

Hope going forward they will have multiple such cruises for 1 week or so of travel time. Not sure why such things are not just private affairs managed by private parties with no govt involvement including inaugurations

[fhdowntheline]

If the boat passes through places like Sundarbans Delta or Kaziranga, those are ecosensitive zones from what I understand. Would it not disturb the wildlife( birds, aquatic, amphibian and terrestrial)? Are we not going to learn anything from the events unfolding in the Himalayas?

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

If the boat passes through places like Sundarbans Delta or Kaziranga, those are ecosensitive zones from what I understand. Would it not disturb the wildlife( birds, aquatic, amphibian and terrestrial)? Are we not going to learn anything from the events unfolding in the Himalayas?

What happens if boat passes through these regions without stoppage or without a permanent structure/jetty on ground?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by charanreddy

Almost 2 months on the cruise

Looking at the air heads in the cruise map. By design it is not intended to for end-to-end passengers.

Closest comparison is Himsagar Express that ambles across the country from Kanyakumari to Jammu for 3 days. Except rail fans, hardly anyone travels end-to-end on it.

[theabstractmind]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Absolutely exciting!
Is that a pic of the real ship which is going to set sail?
Reminded me so much of the SS Karnak from Death on the Nile.

I hope this initiative leads to clean rivers, employment and a culture of river travel.

Death on the Nile! Even I was instantaneously reminded of it.

I didn't get into the details if pricing - but a 51 day journey is just too much. And I don't think the river is so scenic that someone wants to spend so much time in a boat. Also, during the monsoon floods not sure if a cruise is a good idea. The Ganges flows with such speed (as seen by me in Kolkata) that rescue is next to impossible in the case of a mishap. On the Brahmaputra leg it would mean upstream navigation?

[ruzbehxyz]

Source: SilcharLive.

With 15000 dollars + person, the cost looks more like those luxurious trains running in Rajasthan which mostly cater to foreigners. Nowadays even foreigners don’t have that kind of money.
Don’t want to be negative, but if I had that money I would have taken a much better cruise somewhere else like the Bahamas, Alaska etc.

Will have to wait and watch how the cruise is progressing.