top of page

Exploring Ganges River onboard M.V. Ganges Voyager-words and photos by Akvile Marozaite

Updated: Jan 24


Author's photo
Author's photo

In the last couple of weeks, I had an opportunity to explore Ganges river onboard Antara Cruises' M.V. Ganges Voyager - here is my overview of the trip.


Antara Cruises - about the company


Antara Cruises is part of the Heritage River Journeys, a luxury Indian river cruise operator launched by Mr Raj Singh in 2009 to showcase diverse historical and life experiences for contemporary travellers in South Asia. The company operates several ships in Indian and Bangladesh river systems and it also offers the longest river cruise in the world. While some itineraries focus on culture, people, and history, some of the Antara Cruises’ voyages take guests to the largest mangrove forest in the world, Sundarbans, where focus shifts to the exploration of this globally important climate regulating ecosystem, its unique flora and fauna.


M. V. Ganges Voyager – The Ship


The ship is stunning - it is beautifully decorated and you can see that quality materials are used throughout. The team onboard have done superlative job to look after all of us. Country boat is used to reach the shore whenever it is not possible to use the jetty.


The ship we travel on is called M.V. Ganges Voyager. This 28 all-suite ship was launched in 2015 and can accommodate up to 56 passengers.


It is a small ship but it packs a punch for its size– there are three guest decks, the accommodation primarily based on deck 2 and 3, the restaurant on deck 2, and the Governor’s lounge, outer deck, Spa, and a small gym on deck 4. There are 5 different types of suites available onboard: the Signature suite, the Heritage Suite, the Colonial Suite, the Viceroy Suite, and the Majaraja Suite, each equipped with beautiful cane and wood furniture, hand-stencilled murals, luxurious all-natural bath products and so much more.


Our itinerary – The Artisans of Bengal


We arrive to Kolkata two days ahead of our cruise. Heritage River Journeys have assisted us with all land arrangements including transfers, hotel accommodation (Taj Bengal), and a day tour ahead of the trip. As a first timer to India who obsessively prepares for any major trip by often reading multiple travel guides and books, I am both mentally prepared for the chaos that every travel guide book warns me about and pleasantly surprised by how smoothly everything goes. Both our hotel stay and the tour are excellent, and on the 15th of January we are picked up in the morning for our embarkation.  


Once embarked, all guests are invited to join a safety briefing and key ship personnel introduction. Here we learn that during the voyage there will be several opportunities to learn about India and the culture during the lectures, dance presentations and various other activities onboard the ship. Each evening there will be a social hour where the guides will talk us through plans for the next day activities and where we will have a chance to spend time with our fellow travellers. On this voyage, the ship is only half full – there is a group of American guests, a British lady, a Dutch couple, two friends from Canada, and us, making us surprisingly a very international group of travellers.


Guests onboard the ship during an interactive session where we learnt about different ways of wearing traditional Indian garments and some of us got to try it too!
Guests onboard the ship during an interactive session where we learnt about different ways of wearing traditional Indian garments and some of us got to try it too!

Once the introductions are over and we had a chance to eat our first lunch onboard, we all head back to town to trace the colonial past of Kolkata. We visit a protestant church and former cathedral where we get a chance to visit the first East India office. We pass by the Queen Victoria Memorial, all the while Malini our guide paints us the context of this city and its past. Upon return onboard, we join the first of our many dinners.


Kolkata's wholesale daily flower market.


Our first visit next morning is one of the largest wholesale flower markets in Asia and if you are in India, flowers are everywhere. The Marigolds decorate myriads of temples, flower garlands are used for weddings (and as it is the middle of the winter and the temperature is milder, it is the peak of the wedding season), there are petals, bunches of roses, lotus flowers everywhere. Some of these flowers are brought in from the neighbouring states and the others were grown in the farms just outside Kolkata. All invariably beautiful, fragrant and a feast of colour and smell.


Kumartuli, Potters' Quarter.


Afterwards, we visit Kumartuli, a traditional potters’ quarter in Kolkata which is known for the sculptures of the idols used for various festivals in the city. Bamboo, clay is used to make these magnificent sculptures, and as the city prepares itself to celebrate the festival of Saraswati, the wife of god Brahma and the goddess of wisdom and arts, we see the sculptures in their various stages of production as we walk the quiet streets. 


Hoogly Imambara complex, Bandel.


The next morning, we visit Bandel – here our main attraction is Hoogly Imambara, a famous Shiya Muslim pilgrimage site, set in a beautiful 19th century Victorian building. There is plenty to admire here, and like in many other sites on this trip, we are the only foreign visitors, leaving us to take in its vast courtyard, clock tower, and magnificent prayer halls with only couple of locals milling about in the complex.


Nabakailas god Shiva temple -probably one of the most magnificent and beautiful architectural structures I've seen in my life.


During lunch we reposition to Kalna settlement where the key attraction is the Rajbari temple complex. We arrive as the sun starts setting and once the ship is docked, some of the ship’s crew members eagerly join the locals for a quick cricket game in the stadium right in front of the jetty while we disembark the ship and join the e-rickshaws for a short drive to the temples. The first temple we visit is called Nabakailas temple. Dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva, this 108 eight-slope-roofed shrine structure is a magnificent site – and few of us wonder why on earth none of us heard about this place until this trip. It deserves a place on a UNESCO Heritage sites’ list.


 We then visit the rest of the temples, all built in different styles and showcasing beautiful terracotta figures depicting Hindu Gods, day to day life, and epic stories from the past, each unique and beautiful in its own way.


Kalna market visit.


The next morning it’s an early start – several of us join the pre-breakfast Kalna market visit. We follow Malini for a short stroll to the market that runs daily and where the locals can buy fresh produce including vegetables, meat, and fish.


The rest of the day is relaxing – as we prepare to sail, couple of ladies from the village join us to showcase how Kantha (traditional Indian embroidery technique) hand stitching is made – there is a vast display of beautiful, hand embroidered saris and shawls and the female guests onboard the ship, me including, walk away with at least couple of beautiful purchases, whether as gifts for those waiting for us at home, or as a memory to remind us this trip for years to come.


Malini, our amazing guide throughout the trip - she has an incredible wealth of knowledge and an excellent sense of humour, loved spending time with her and learning more about West Bengal, its culture and people.
Malini, our amazing guide throughout the trip - she has an incredible wealth of knowledge and an excellent sense of humour, loved spending time with her and learning more about West Bengal, its culture and people.

In the afternoon, I join Bhanu’s and Malini’s lecture on Indian culture and marriage. We talk about Hindu religion, the caste system, and Malini walks us through a Bengali wedding with its multiple rituals and celebrations.


Today is also a surprise BBQ party thrown by the ship’s crew on the bank of the river Ganges– we are treated to delicious meals and drinks. Some guests join couple of very capable crew members for an energetic Bollywood style dancing while the rest of us enjoy standing around the fire and talking to fellow travellers.


BBQ party ashore
BBQ party ashore

We spend the next couple of days visiting the Mayapur, the birthplace of the founder of the Hindu Vaishnav religion, visiting the global headquarters of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) with its impressive temple often compared to Vatican and learning about the traditional Handloom weaving of cotton fabric, mainly for saris and stoles in neighbouring villages, which makes all of us appreciate the level of craftsmanship and the art of making these magnificent garments.



On our last day onboard M.V. Ganges Voyager we return closer to Kolkata and explore Chandernagore which was established as a French Colony and Serampore, a former Danish colony, complete with St Olav’s Church and Danish heritage monuments.


The River



While each of our stops is unique and offers a different perspective of life in different settlements, watching the river and the coastline as we go by is equally a fascinating and a new experience to me – and I am a convert.


River Ganges is a sacred river in Hindu religion and has a special meaning to approximately 80% of its entire population that follows it. In a country with 1,4 billion souls, that’s over 1 billion of followers.  Every twelve years, millions of Hindus come to the river to take a holy bath in the river during the Hindu festival of Kumbh Mela that takes place in the Prayagraj city in Northern India, which coincidentally is happening now and is considered to be the largest human gathering on earth, so large it can be seen from the space.


Admittedly, we are nowhere close, but we see people bathing everywhere we go, whether for the religious purposes or because that’s what they have always done. Outside the towns and larger human settlements, we pass by banana plantations and mustard fields where people go about their daily life that has probably changed very little since long time ago. There are fishermen casting the nets and I am very lucky to spot a dolphin following one of them and expecting a fish.


My top three activities onboard the ship


The Lectures – in addition to daily landings and activities, we had lectures every day: from learning about the history of the country to astrology, ayurveda, wedding rituals , to more interactive sessions on how to wear a sari, both Malini and Bhanu were excellent, informative and entertaining presenters. Ranjoy, ship’s hotel director, offered an informative session on Indian spices and the guests were able to apply their newly learnt skills during a cooking demonstration.

Bhanu is our second guide during the voyage - superbly knowledgeable and able to communicate often complex issues and concepts of India in an easy to understand way.
Bhanu is our second guide during the voyage - superbly knowledgeable and able to communicate often complex issues and concepts of India in an easy to understand way.

The Dining – onboard M.V. Ganges Voyager, three meals a day are offered; breakfast and lunch are buffet style and dinner is a la carte set up. For the size of the ship, I found both the variety and the quality of food excellent. The onboard meals feature European and Asian cuisines, and although the hot element of various Indian dishes is adapted to Western palate, expect even European meals to somehow pack a bigger punch than at home with often delightful and unexpected ways of adding an extra dash of black pepper or a tiny hint of cumin in more familiar dishes.


The Spa – with our busy daily schedule it was hard to find time to enjoy a spa treatment but I managed to squeeze two and both experiences were fantastic for a very affordable price, and I would highly recommend it.


Who is this trip for

I snapped this photo of Chris, one of the guests, in one of the villages we visited - for the most part of the journey we did not encounter any foreign visitors and locals often were as curious about us as we were curious about them. In fact, I suspect several locals took more pictures of me in India than myself or my husband!
I snapped this photo of Chris, one of the guests, in one of the villages we visited - for the most part of the journey we did not encounter any foreign visitors and locals often were as curious about us as we were curious about them. In fact, I suspect several locals took more pictures of me in India than myself or my husband!

It will take me some time to reflect on this trip and India as a destination but it is suffice to say I absolutely loved it. This was my first time to India and this country being such a vast and diverse place, it feels you need to take multiple trips to its various regions to truly explore and understand it. A lot of guests travelling onboard with us either started much earlier and combined it with the Golden Triangle, or will travel onwards to Darjeeling, Jaipur, Nepal and other places before returning to their home countries. For some, this is not the first time in the country and by the sound of it, will not be their last.


The Artisans of Bengal voyage onboard M.V. Ganges Voyager will appeal to the clients who are curious and are after authentic experiences of this lesser explored part of India -apart from Krishna temple, we did not meet a single foreign traveller during this trip. It will appeal to clients who have visited the country, loved it, and would like to return to see more, differently. For clients who love expedition cruising as a way of exploring the world, it ticks all the boxes too – multiple landings onboard country boat, lecture programme, diverse activities onboard and ashore, interactions with the locals reminded me a lot of the trips I’ve experienced while working onboard an expedition ship some eleven years ago in the South Pacific. Although I’ve never been to Sundarbans and having now experienced the river cruise, I am convinced that these voyages with a higher emphasis on exploring the natural world and learning about that unique ecosystem could easily match some of the most sought-after expedition cruise destinations in the other parts of the world. The best part? It's the industry's best kept secret and there is no better time to explore this wonderful destination than now.


Snapshots of Kolkata and the daily life



Onboard Activities and Experiences



Where the wild meets the urban




A final, personal note


I genuinely loved this trip because it had all the components I look for in an excellent expedition experience - it was authentic, I learnt heaps, and very often, I was left with a sense of wonder and a deeper appreciation of the country, place, its people, passion, life in general. If this somehow inspired you, intrigued you, please reach out to Arjun Sinsinwar at arjun@antara.cruises or visit Antara Cruises website to discuss how you can collaborate - your clients will thank you.


Thank you for reading.


Akvile


198 views

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page