If you love sailing, then this is going to be a must-watch-out travel plan for all expats. With the increasing flight charges, if you are planning a fun trip to UAE, then keep your fingers crossed for this passenger ship service from Dubai to Kochi that’s proposed to launch in 2023. 

Passenger ship cruise service between UAE and Kerala
Image used for illustrative purpose: Cruise Ship

A one-way ticket would start at 10,000 INR with a whopping luggage allowance of 200kg. The plan is to have two monthly passenger ship trips, and the program is awaiting Central Government approval. There are also claims of good food and entertainment for the passengers. Around 1000 people can travel in a trip, and the test run is scheduled for December at Kaninjal. 

The plan will be executed as per a consortium between Indian Association Sharjah and Anandapuram Shipping and Logistics Pvt. The basic idea is to solve the travel problem faced by the expatriates. 

During the last summer holidays, several Indian expatriates couldn’t plan their home travel due to the skyrocketing airline prices. In lieu of the reduced salaries in UAE, many of them couldn’t afford to pay such a lumpsum amount for the travel. The rates had increased to 55,000 INR from Kochi to Dubai this January. This cruise passenger ship will be a big relief to the expatriates. 

The distance from Beypore to Dubai across the water is 4000km. The expected plan is to cover it at a speed of 33km/hour in 3 and a half days.

Update: The plan is still on a proposal mode and there have been no updates of any progress in 2024. In the December 2023 meeting, the plan suferred due to the absence of service providers. Meetings were held by the State Ports Departments and UAE companies with no interested service providers.

Concerns raised over the passenger ship service

  • Lack of passenger ships to meet the requirements.
  • Feasibility of the service as it would be impossible to provide cruise ship service for just INR 10,000. The project may fail due to the high costs involved for the service provider.
  • Beypore wharf has a draft depth of only 3.50 meters which may pose a problem for docking the vessel. For a low-cost passenger ship tobe profitable, it should have atleast 500 passengers and this would need a draft size of atleast 7 meters.
  • This may not be a practical solution for the average NRI as most of them come to their homeland for a vacation of a month, and they would not opt to spend 1round 10 days in the sea during their short yearly vacation.

What is you opinion? Will this pan out successfully? Are you eager to see this happen?
Watch this space for more updates and leave a comment if you have any update of the same.