Cordelia expands its India offering from Mumbai and Kochi

Two ships serve two home ports

Cordelia Cruises has begun operations with two ships and two home ports. Its parent company, Waterways Leisure Tourism Limited, announced this in a press release sent to Indian stock exchanges on October 26. Cordelia Sky sails from Mumbai, while Cordelia Empress has begun its season in Kochi. This means the cruise line is spreading its departures across western and southwestern India.

The two ships’ coordinated transition was visible in Mumbai on October 23, when both were cleared at the port on the same day. According to the company, nearly 6,000 guests embarked and disembarked across the two ships during this port turnaround. This figure counts embarkation and disembarkation movements across both ships. A guest may be counted twice in these movement figures—once when boarding and again when disembarking later.

Sky set off from Mumbai on its first guest voyage on October 23. Empress then sailed from there to Kochi and began its season there. For travelers, the key point is that choosing a departure port now means choosing between different itineraries.

Mumbai offers Goa and Lakshadweep; Kochi adds international itineraries

For Cordelia Sky, the operator lists short weekend cruises of two or three nights, four-night trips to the Lakshadweep Islands, and five-night itineraries combining Goa and Lakshadweep. The offering from Mumbai therefore ranges from a few days at sea to a longer trip combining several destinations. The ports visited on any particular voyage depend on its specific itinerary.

Cordelia Empress begins its Kochi program with two-night weekend cruises and three- or four-night trips to Lakshadweep. It also offers a five-night international itinerary calling at Malé in the Maldives and Colombo in Sri Lanka. The company also names Kavaratti and Minicoy as island destinations in its expanded Lakshadweep program. The two home ports thus provide different starting points: Mumbai lies on India’s western coast, while Kochi is farther south on the Malabar Coast.

When planning a trip, it is therefore worth considering the ship, departure port, and duration together. A multi-day stay in the Lakshadweep Islands is not automatically included on every departure, and the Malé–Colombo itinerary is listed in the announcement as part of Empress’s Kochi program. The new setup gives the cruise line a larger number of voyages to offer at the same time, but the individual itineraries are not interchangeable.

What the two-ship operation means for your choice

Deploying both ships increases the number of voyages Cordelia offers concurrently and links its programs to two departure ports. Guests from the Mumbai metropolitan area can compare short cruises with trips combining Goa and Lakshadweep; from Kochi, there are additional Lakshadweep options as well as the route via Malé and Colombo. When choosing, it is therefore important to consider not only the ship but also the specific departure and the ports of call listed in the itinerary.

The nearly 6,000 movements refer to the combined port turnaround on October 23. The company describes the event as the start of its simultaneous operations from two home ports. The reported start of operations and the listed voyage offerings reflect the information in the announcement dated October 26, 2026.

Autor: Markus Lenk