Captain Jose at left

‘Azamara Quest’ has a capacity of 698 guests. Vilarinho said the potential for cruise shipping is good in India and the company would like to develop that.

He said the crew and others had to spend around two hours at the port gate owing to duplication of paper work.

Interestingly, the media contingent had to stand for around 20 minutes at the wharf to board the ship as the officials were in a meeting.

‘Azamara Quest’ docked at Chennai Port December 8 evening and the next evening it embarks on a 13-night ‘Spice Route II and Myanmar’ voyage sailing to Singapore.

The ship will also visit Port Blair, Andaman Islands in India and dock for two nights in Yangon, Myanmar before sailing to Phuket, Thailand, Langkawi, Penang and Port Klang in Malaysia and finally dropping anchor at Singapore.

Azamara’s 2015 voyages programme will comprise 52 voyages, ranging from 5-18 night itineraries to some of the world’s most intriguing destinations.