Mumbai Port Trust, currently transforming into a cruise port, announced the homeporting of Costa Victoria - the biggest foreign passenger ship ever homeported in India. The Italy-flagged ship is operated by Costa Cruises (shipowner is Carnival Corporation) and scheduled to depart from Mumbai to the Maldives through the end of February 2020.
Mumbai as cruise destination is projected to receive a total of 259 ship calls in season 2019-2020 - compared to only 40 visits in 2015-2016. The growth is a result of the Union Shipping Ministry and port authorities streamlining processes to make it easy for domestic and international cruise companies to operate in India.
Among India's 5 cruise ports (Chennai, Goa, Kochi, Mangalore, Mumbai) that receive foreign cruise vessels, Mumbai receives the biggest number of ship calls. To handle the growing passenger traffic, the old passenger terminal building was replaced by a new cruise terminal that is 10 times bigger than the old one.
Costa Victoria arrived in Port Mumbai on Friday, November 8. This is the 4th year in which a Costa ship is homeported in Mumbai. Through February 2020, the liner will cruise between Mumbai and Male Maldives serving both domestic and foreign travelers.