Cordelia Cruises

Cordelia Cruises (website) is a subsidiary and travel brand owned by Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt Ltd (Private Limited) - an India-based company established in 2019.

In late December 2020, Waterways Leisure Tourism announced the purchase of Empress of the Seas (from RCG/Royal Caribbean Group) and in 2021 inaugurated its travel brand "Cordelia Cruises".

The shipowner (Waterways Leisure Tourism) was incorporated on November 2, 2020, with registration number 372580 and CIN number U63030DL2020PTC372580. The company is registered in Delhi India and specializes in supporting and auxiliary transport services and travel agency activities.

On Waterways Leisure Tourism's Board of Directors are Nilesh Madhukar Chandole, Aditya Gupta, Jurgen Bailom, Coralie Ansari, and Ankit Satish Shah. In 2025, the company's Board of Directors joined Vice Admiral Anil Chopra (retired Indian Navy flag officer).

Cordelia's current directors are Vijay Kher and Saurabh Jain.

Both companies are fully-owned subsidiaries of Essel Group India (aka Zee Group/parent company) - headquartered in Mumbai and led by Jurgen Bailom (President and CEO). Waterways Leisure Tourism and Cordelia Cruises are both part of Dream Hotel Group (1976-established luxury hotel brand and management company founded and controlled by Sant Singh Chatwal/1946-born Indian-American businessman) that also owns the brands Dream Hotels, Time Hotels, Unscripted Hotels, and The Chatwal.

Cordelia's shore excursions are by GT Holidays, part of Sangam Group Hotels (1968-established luxury hotel brand) run by G. K. Mani (Founder) and managed by Karthik Manikandan (Founder and Managing Director).

The parent company Essel Group (1926-founded) is a conglomerate of several corporations with business divisions in news, media, technology, entertainment, packaging, infrastructure developments, financial services, precious metals (gold and silver refinery), education, and charity.

Cordelia has plans to acquire second-hand ships (expanding the fleet up to 5 vessels), representing ~USD 1 billion (~EUR 940M/~GBP 800M) in investments. These plans are based on India's source market (~200,000 annual cruisers) and having one of the world's largest coastlines (~7600 km/4720 mi). Some projections for the next decade claim that India can increase cruise shipping traffic from 0,4M (2022) to 4M (2030), also growing the industry's economic potential from USD 110M (2022) to USD 5,5 billion (2030).

In mid-December 2020, RCI sold the ships Empress OTS (30-years-old) and Majesty OTS (28-years-old). The new shipowners were not disclosed. In a press release, Jurgen Bailom commented that Waterways Leisure Tourism recently acquired the Jalesh Cruises brand and entered the Indian market with "MS Empress". He added that Cordelia will have a second ship in its fleet, but didn't mention if there were negotiations for buying Majesty of the Seas.

In late-August 2018, Zen Cruises/Jalesh Cruises (a new company owned by Essel Group) was announced as the buyer of Pacific Jewel. Essel Group (1926-founded, headquartered in Mumbai India) is an Indian conglomerate of several corporations with business divisions in media, news, technology, entertainment, packaging, infrastructure developments, financial services, precious metals (gold and silver refinery), education, charity.

Jalesh Cruises operated only 1 ship (MS Karnika/Pacific Jewel) but in January 2020 announced the planned acquisition of a second vessel (the name was not disclosed) which was scheduled to start operations in October 2020. However, in mid-October 2020, Jalesh announced in a statement that the company was suspending operations permanently due to the ongoing COVID-related port closures and international travel restrictions.

Jalesh India suspended (initially temporarily) passenger shipping since March 12, 2020, mounting debts from creditors. MS Karnika remained permanently docked at Port Mumbai, with a skeleton crew of 60. In October, the company's creditors (via India's Admiralty Court) had the vessel arrested in Port Mumbai. Jalesh planned to restart operations on November 6, 2020, as India's government permitted cruise vessels to start passenger shipping from October 1st. Sadly, Karnika's AIS transmitted for the last time on November 24th, showing the vessel anchored near Alang Ship Breaking Yard.

On December 13, 2020, the vessel left the Sauda Bay anchorage (off Port Sauda-Chania, Crete Island) en route to Malta. On December 30, it left the Sauda Bay anchorage en route to Muscat Oman (AIS data), on January 1st anchored off Port Said (Cairo, Egypt), on January 2nd transitted the Suez Canal and on January 11 anchored off Port Muscat.

According to the company's annual statistics, in 2022 Cordelia served ~130,000 tourists on the West Coast India circuit and ~70,000 from the East Coast India circuit.

In 2023, Cordelia's plans were to acquire 2-3 additional ships (larger than Empress) at an estimated cost ~INR 500 crores (~USD 60,5M per unit) and financed through internal accruals. In FY2024/fiscal year, Cordelia surpassed 100 voyages, serving 0,5+ million tourists through bi-weekly short cruises. The company also reported a robust demand with a consistent 97% cruise berth occupancy rate. Cordelia's customer base comprises 65% families and solo travelers, with growing interest from corporate and private clients in the MICE segment ((business meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) as well requests for shipboard weddings and private celebrations.

In August 2024, Cordelia announced plans for a fleet expansion with two more ships - the first in 2025 (planned itineraries between Dubai and Mumbai) and the second in 2026 (planned longer itineraries between India and Australia leaving from Mumbai). The Australian cruises will visit Goa and Kochi, then port cities in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia/Sydney NSW.

Also in August 2024, Cordelia signed a partnership with WMS sro (Czechia-based company) to provide onboard cellular services for the Cordelia Empress. WMS's advanced cellular technology provides seamless connectivity at sea by using an extensive network of 400+ global roaming providers.

In February 2025, The Board of Waterways Leisure Tourism Ltd approved the acquisition of two second-hand ships, to increase capacity by ~4000 passengers (1800–2200 new staterooms). To finance the fleet expansion, the Board will raise ~INR 800 crores (~USD 92,3 million/~EUR 88,2M) through an IPO (initial public offering) in the Indian capital market, subject to regulatory approvals. Cordelia's President announced ongoing discussions with major cruise shipowners in the USA and Europe regarding old vessels with max capacities 2000-2500 pax.

In April 2025, NCL-Norwegian Cruise Line signed an agreement to transfer its two SUN-class/oldest vessels (Norwegian Sky and Norwegian Sun) to Cordelia, respectively, in 2026 (to be named Cordelia Sky) and 2027 (Cordelia Sun).

Cordelia Empress ship's inaugural season (2021) had scheduled 2- to 7-night long itineraries visiting Sri Lanka (Colombo), Maldives Islands (Male), also ports in India (Chennai-Madras, Mormugao-Goa, Mumbai).

All bookings for voyages in June-July 2021 received kids-sail-free promos (for children up to 12 years of age) traveling with two full-paying adults.

• The Maiden Voyage was initially scheduled to depart on June 5, 2021 (7-night Mumbai roundtrip around India and Sri Lanka).
• In mid-March 2021, Cordelia listed on its website an inaugural cruise leaving on May 7th from Mumbai (3-night roundtrip visiting Mormugao-Goa). However, due to India's increasing COVID cases, the brand's inauguration was rescheduled for September 2 (repositioning from Dubai to Mumbai) with call ports Muscat Oman, Mormugao-Goa, Lakshadweep (Bangaram Island), Diu Island, Cochin/Kochi, Colombo Sri Lanka.
• And finally, the Maiden Voyage for Cordelia departed on September 16, 2021, out of Mumbai.

Since January 2023, Cordelia offers two new itineraries - 4-night (between Mumbai and Lakshadweep) and 3-night (between Mumbai and Mormugao-Goa).

In 2023, Cordelia started East Coast India voyages with lengths of 2-3-4-5-nights. Some itineraries also visit Lakshadweep-Bangaram and Cochin. The program was based on homeporting in Chennai (started on June 5th) and ran during summer (June through September). The 5-night package included visits to Sri Lanka's Hambantota and Trincomalee. After that, Cordelia Empress relocated back to Mumbai for the West Coast India voyages.

Starting in June 2024, Cordelia offers itineraries to Western Asian ports. The 3-4-5-7-night packages (roundtrips from Mumbai) cost between INR 11-13000 (US$133-157) per person per day.

In the future, Cordelia plans to explore other ports such as Kolkata, Port Blair (South Andaman Island), Diu Island, New Mangalore, and Porbandar, depending on the availability of infrastructure.

In 2026, Cordelia's fleet joins Cordelia Sky/now Norwegian Sky, and in 2027 - Cordelia Sun/now Norwegian Sun.