Costa Cruises celebrated the arrival of the Costa Serena in Mumbai on November 3 at an event onboard the ship.

From November 4, 2023, through January 11, 2024, the Costa Serena will sail from Mumbai, offering itineraries of three, four and five nights. Ports of call include Kochi, Goa and the Island of Agatti in Lakshadweep.

The event was attended by Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, union minister of ports, shipping and waterways; Francesco Raffa, director, Asia Region and Growth Markets, Costa Cruises; Nalini Gupta, Lotus Aero Enterprises, GSA of Costa Cruises and other senior officials.

“We are extremely happy to sail again in India where we’ve been operating since 2016. We are bringing to our Indian guests our authentic Italian hospitality with a local personalization in terms of food and entertainment. India is an important market for Costa, both for our established Fly&Cruise programs to Dubai and the Mediterranean and for our newly introduced local operations sailing domestically. We are grateful to the Indian government for the efforts to support domestic tourism and infrastructure development. India is working to develop the cruise industry and we are excited to sail together towards the vision of the Indian government,” said Raffa.

Sarbananda Sonowal added: “We are offering our full support to the cruise line to home port their ships at Indian ports. We are ready to support further development of our port infrastructure to accommodate large cruise ships. It is a moment of pride for us that when the Mumbai Port completes 150 years, we have Costa coming back to offer domestic cruising options to Indian travelers”.