On the 42nd day of the journey, the Ganga Vilas, the world’s longest river cruise ship, arrived at
Guwahati around 3:30 PM. Once the ship was anchored with the Saraighat bridge in the background, the 28 visitors on board received a thunderous welcome at the IWAI Pandu port.
After disembarking, the guests were given tea. They enjoyed a vibrant folk dance performance by groups from the Karbi and Tiwa communities beside the Brahmaputra’s bank under the setting sun’s beautiful rays as they reflected off the ethereal Saraighat bridge today. Maninder Singh, the additional chief secretary, Pallav Gopal Jha, the regional director of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), A Selvakumar, and others welcomed the tourists. Before continuing to Mayong and other destinations, visitors will visit the Kamakhya Temple and the Assam State Museum tomorrow morning.
Tourists visited Sualkuchi earlier in the day to see Assam’s flourishing handloom and textile industries. Tourists marvelled at the enchanted patterns woven into the Muga and Pat Silk as they watched the artisans at work. Visitors who came to see Assam’s handloom industry were shown off by the weavers, who delighted them with their artistic prowess.
On January 13, 2023, the historic trip was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. It travelled via Bangladesh and the Indian provinces of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal before setting anchor in Dhubri, Assam, after 39 days at sea. The Varanasi to Bogibeel trip by the Ganga Vilas, dubbed the longest river cruise in the world, is planned to end when it anchors at Bogibeel in Dibrugarh, bringing an end to this exotic experience of river cruising.
The MV Ganga Vilas is a luxurious river cruise ship that sails 1,988 miles of waterways across India and Bangladesh, taking 51 days to complete. The boat is built to accommodate 48 crew members and 36 passengers in 18 luxury suites, with the initial round of passengers coming from Switzerland, France, and other nations. Square paintings influenced the ship’s interiors in vivid colours created by German painter Josef Albers in the 20th century. The pandemic caused a delay in the cruise, which was initially scheduled to leave port in 2020, making it one of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s infrastructural ambitions. India is experiencing a surge in cruise tourism due to the Danube, Rhine, and Seine river cruises popular in Europe and North America. To accommodate this, Ten passenger ship ports will be constructed along National Waterway-2. The 891-kilometre Brahmaputra River stretch and eight river cruise ships will be available in the nation. The 2,000-mile Ganges trip will be operated twice a year, between October and March, with each guest’s ticket to board the MV Ganga Vilas ranging from 4.2 million to 4.5 million rupees. A journey from Kolkata to Varanasi takes 12 days and costs 437,250 rupees ($5,300), but a route from KLOData to Murshidabad in West Bengal lasts eight days and Costs 292,875 rupees).
