Cruise ship receives warm welcome

Mangaluru: The New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA) welcomed its third cruise vessel of this season on Thursday. The 'MS Nautica' which is carrying 548 passengers and 397 crew members docked at berth number 4 in NMPA at 6 AM on 15 December.

According to an official communique from NMPA, MS Nautica is en route to Male in Maldives. The cruise vessel that came in from Muscat to India had earlier docked at Mumbai in Maharashtra and Mormugao Port in Goa.

A warm welcome was given to the occupants of the cruise vessel with Yakshagana and Chende (traditional percussion) shows. After the medical screening along with immigrations and customs procedures, 18 buses including two shuttle buses took the passengers for a tour in and around Mangaluru city.

The passengers were taken to key places of interest including Kudroli Gokarnatheshwara Temple, St. Aloysius Chapel, Achal Cashew Factory, Gomateshwara statue in Karkala, as well as Soans Farm and 1000 Pillar Jain Basadi in Moodabidri.

Apart from the tour, the passengers were gifted with souvenirs while they were embarking the cruise vessel to their next destination. A meditation centre was also set-up by the Department of AYUSH in the cruise lounge while outlets of local cloth and handicrafts were made available to the passengers.

According to the NMPA officials, MS Nautica set sail to Cochin at 5 PM. The overall length of MS Nautica is said to be 180.45 meters which has a carrying capacity of 30,277 gross tonnage with a draft of six meters.