The 13th cruise vessel of the current financial year called at New Mangalore Port on Thursday.

P. Tamilvanan, Chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), said that m.v. Rotterdam, one of the luxury cruise vessels, called at New Mangalore Port with 1,288 passengers and 598 crewmembers on board the vessel.

The vessel, which came from Goa, berthed at New Mangalore Port on Thursday morning, and 1,197 passengers and crew opted for ground tours arranged by a local tour operator.

They visited various locations in and around Mangalore such as Mangaladevi Temple, Gokarna Natha Temple, St Aloysius Chapel, cashew processing units, monolithic statue of Lord Bahubali at Karkala, and Soans Farm and 1000-pillar Jain basadi at Moodbidri.

Out of the total passengers, 366 were from the Netherlands, 331 from the US, 243 from the UK, and 198 from Canada.

Tamilvanan attributed the increase in the handling of cruise vessels to the additional facilities added at the port such as a modern cruise lounge, immigration facilities, neat and tidy berths and the greenery in and around the port area. He said that two more cruise vessels are expected to call by end of March 2013.

>vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in