New Mangalore Port welcomes “MS NAUTICA” third cruise ship to Mangalore
“MS NAUTICA” third cruise vessel of the current season, docked today early morning at 0600 hours in NMPA. The vessel carrying 548 passengers & 397 crew berthed alongside berth no. 04. The overall length of the ship is 180.45 meters with carrying capacity of 30,277 Gross Tonnage & having draft of 6.0 meters. The vessel en-route to Male (Maldives) came from Muscat to India and berthed at Mumbai & Mormugao Port previously. The passengers were given a warm welcome in traditional folklore such as yakshagana & traditional drums (chande).
Various arrangements were done for the pleasant experience of the cruise passengers such as; medical screening of passengers, immigrations & customs counters for swift movement, 18 coaches of bus including 02 shuttle buses for passengers visiting local market & shops in & around Mangalore city, taxis, tourist vans. The cruise passengers also availed benefits of meditation centre set-up by Department of AYUSH inside the cruise lounge. Clothe & handicraft outlets were also kept open for the tourists.
The passengers visited various tourist points in and around Mangalore such as; Kudroli Gokarnatheshwara Temple, local market, Karkala Gomateshwara statue, Soans farm, 1000 Pillar Temple in Moodabidri, St Aloysius Chapel & Achal cashew factory. Souvenirs were given to the cruise passengers while they were embarking back to their ship, in fond remembrance of their visit to Mangalore. The ship sailed at 1700HRS to its next destination to Cochin.
