Pandaw Expeditions announced that its smaller, newly refurbished ship Katha Pandaw, which had been slated to sail Upper Ganges in India starting January 2019, had been postponed because of issues with exporting the vessel from Myanmar. The issues were already fully resolved, the company said, and Katha will sail out of Yangon next week, with plans for the full launch on Ganges River of Orient Pandaw in September 2019 remaining unchanged.
Passengers booked on riverboat's January and February departures were offered a full refund or rebooked, and most chose alternative Pandaw river cruises in other destinations or land tours in India. Meanwhile, March and April departures are going ahead.
Cruises on both Lower Ganges, from Kolkata, and Upper Ganges, as far as Varanasi, are nearly fully booked. As a result, the company is sending its third vessel from Myanmar in order to cope with market's demand, Kalaw Pandaw.