Indians book half of luxury cruiseliner

Unleashing their urge to spend, the Indian holidaymakers have booked almost half of the cruise liner with a leading Miami-based cruise company opening its headquarters near home, at the shores of Singapore this month.

The high-end cruise tourism, which is yet at a nascent stage in India because of the underdeveloped port infrastructure, has not dampened the spirits of Indian adventurer.

"Booking which is supposed to last till December 10, started this month and we have more than one thousand Indian tourists who have already booked their berths," said Gautam Chadha, the CEO, Tirun Travels which represents Royal Caribbean Cruises in India.

The Royal Caribbean-owned Rhapsody of the Seas, largest cruiseliner to sail in Indian ocean in December this year, has capacity for 2,435 holidaymakers with features like on-board golf and rock-climbing.

"With

the world's best cruiseliner coming near home, we expect more and more Indians availing this opportunity," Chadha said.

"Relatively very few Indians availed cruise experience of the Royal Caribbean as there were additional burdens of planning a trip all the way to US and the cost of flying to Miami," he added.

The Rhapsody offers a selection of six short cruises ranging from two to five nights and call at the tropical ports of Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang) and Penang, Malaysia, as well as the exotic sun-soaked islands of Langkawi , Malaysia; and Phuket, Thailand.