Mumbai: Cruise services to Marine Drive to start soon

Soon, cruise services will start from the newly launched Domestic Cruise Terminal (DCT) in Mazgaon, which will sail between DCT and the Gateway of India, and DCT and Marine Drive. The Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) officials shared their planning that is being seen as a move to promote coastal tourism.
MbPT Chairman Sanjay Bhatia, referring to this development, said that the 1 km stretch along the DTC will be the new water transport hub of the city. The cruise on the said stretch will last for around an hour. It will sail along the Gateway of India, Elephanta Island, and Marine Drive, and will then get back to the terminal. He further informed that the cruise vessels will be moving around and will not be stationed in any of the destination; the cruise journey will start from DCT and come back to DCT.
As per the latest information received, these cruise services will be operated for only tourism purpose and not for transporting goods. However, these will not be like any other full-fledged cruise service as these vessels will have a small canteen, and some seating capacity. These services are being launched with the intention of letting the locals and visitors enjoy the experience of sailing internally, as there are no such services available till date.

Further to promote coastal tourism, an official in the know-how stated that authorities are making efforts to start activities like sea-side hotels, and floating restaurants, so that supporting infrastructure is in place to attract more and more visitors.