Italy-based Costa Cruises currently operates the 48,200 GT Costa neoRiviera from Mumbai's international cruise terminal to Male and Cochin.
Following growing demand from India's domestic market, Costa Cruises is replacing neoRiviera with an even larger ship, Costa Victoria, during the upcoming season, which kicks off in November 2019.
While neoClassica has a capacity of 1,500 guests Victoria has a passenger capacity of 2,300. The average room occupancy for the vessel during 2018 shot up to 90% from 65% in 2017.
Mumbai Port Trust earmarked Rs 300 crore for developing a brand new international cruise terminal in India's financial capital. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone in January 2018.
Efforts are underway by the central government in order to expand the capacity of the cruise terminal to 5000 travelers and the ship handling capacity to 160. The expansion works will be complete by the end of 2019.
61 cruise ships are due to berth at Mumbai according to data shared by Mumbai Port Trust. During the next season, which starts on September 1 and will last through May 31, 2020, 161 cruise ships are expected to berth in the port city.