Saturday morning, June 11, the Cordelia cruise ship Empress, which departed Vizag on June 9th, reached Chennai (Madras, India) following a series of controversial events.
The vessel was denied entry into Port Puducherry (Tamil Nadu state) Friday morning, June 10, and had to halt midsea at ~4 am. Stating the availability of other state alcohol and gambling activities onboard as the reasons for the ban, the Tamilasai (Pondicherry's Lieutenant Governor) instructed the port authorities not to permit the voyage.
After halting midsea for 24+ hours and awaiting permissions, the liner headed towards Port Chennai. A Cordelia Cruises official revealed that the vessel had reached Chennai as per the schedule at 8 am on Saturday, and added that, unlike the media news, the passengers onboard had not faced any hassles. Though Cordelia Empress skipped the 1-day call at Pondicherry, the authorities stuck to the schedule and ensured the on-time arrival at Chennai.
The ship had attempted a call at Cuddalore (close to Puducherry). However, due to the protests by Tamil Nadu political parties, it couldn't dock at Cuddalore either.
Cordelia Empress has scheduled sailings from Vizag through September 2022.
For more Cordelia Empress incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.