Cruise boats to be introduced in Kerala backwaters

KOLKATA: EIH Limited Chairman P R S Oberoi on Thursday said the company will introduce cruise boats in the backwaters of Kerala and also try their hands in private train travel.
"We are bringing out a new cruise boat in the back waters of Kerala and it should be ready to start by November one," Oberoi told reporters here.
He said unlike big sized cruise boats with about 65 cabins in the Nile, their back water boats would be smaller in size and would have only eight cabins with spacious rooms, which could be extended to 12 cabins.
The cruise will be for two nights and the package will be two days'' stay at one of their hotels and two day''s cruise on back waters, he said, adding, "You can''t make it for more than two days as it will become boring."
He said the company did a study on the Ganga also, but found it was not feasible as it dries up in summer and there was no draft except for the lean monsoon season.
About introducing private train travel on the lines of ''Palace on Wheels'', Oberoi said, "Sooner on later we would be moving to trains. Palace on Wheels is not the ultimate in train travel."
He said about 8-10 years back they had showed interest in the venture, but could not move forward due to not so lucrative conditions of 22 per cent revenue sharing offered by the government.
"Since then, I have not really seriously pursued the matter with Railway Ministry. Let''s see what happens after the election," he added.