Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off MV Ganga Vilas, the world’s longest river cruise. He inaugurated the cruise in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, via video conferencing. The river cruise will start its journey from Varanasi and reach Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh in 51 days. Thirty-two Swiss tourists are on board the mega luxury cruise on its maiden journey.
Here is all that you need to know about MV Ganga Vilas – ticket fares and availability, on board facilities and the route of the cruise would take:
- MV Ganga Vilas, the world’s longest river cruise will cover a distance of 3,200 km in 51 days. It will start from Varanasi and end in Dibrugarh via Bangladesh. The cruise will cover 50 tourist destinations including world heritage sites, national parks, river ghats (banks), and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Shahiganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Guwahati in Assam.
- MV Ganga Vilas, being referred to as a five-star moving hotel, has 18 suites with capacity to accommodate 36 tourists only to give them that exclusive experience. The Ganga Vilas will have 40 crew members. The modernist ship is 62 meters in length and 12 meters wide and requires a draft of 1.4 meters.
- Tickets cost Rs 25,000 – Rs 50,000 per day totalling to Rs 12.75 lakh to Rs 25.50 lakh per passenger for the 51 days. Tickets can be booked on Antara Luxury River Cruises website. At present, bookings cannot happen as the ongoing voyage is booked by a Switzerland company. The next voyage is likely to be held in September for which booking will open.
- The cruise will pass through five states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam in India and also touch Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka. The cruise will enter the Bhagirathi, Hooghly, Bidyavati, Malata, and Sundarbans river systems in Bengal. In Bangladesh, it will pass through Meghna, Padma, and Jamuna and then enter the Brahmaputra in Assam.
- MV Ganga Vilas has all the luxury facilities such as spa, salon, gym, French balconies, LED TVs, safes and convertible beds.
- MV Ganga Vilas, the first cruise vessel to be made in India, has a sewage treatment plant to make sure that no sewage flows into the water bodies that it will cross.
Bon Voyage!
Also Read: PM Modi to flag off world’s longest cruise MV Gange Vilas, other major waterways projects. Here is why it is important for Assam