Cordelia Cruises, the premium homegrown Indian cruise line, has released two new itineraries featuring Dubai, with its ship Empress set to sail a 4-night outbound voyage from Mumbai to the UAE, and a return itinerary from Dubai to India.

Cordelia Cruises’ Dubai itineraries mark the cruise line’s return to the Middle East after it sailed its first ever passenger voyage from Dubai when it was first launched in 2021. The cruise line has also regularly used Dubai as a refit hub for its ship.

The brand is based on the successful model established by Jalesh Cruises prior to the pandemic, during which the brand was liquidated due to the global shutdown of the cruise industry in 2020.

Jalesh Cruises, however, sailed a hugely popular Dubai cruise season in 2019, and Cordelia now looks set to revive the trend, particularly targetting the large Indian expatriate community in the country.

Only two itineraries have been released thus far. The first is a 4-night voyage from Mumbai to Dubai, departing June 17th, 2024, and visiting Khor Fakkan, while the second is also a 4-night cruise and departs Dubai July 3rd, 2024, bound for Mumbai, also with a call in Khor Fakkan.

The new Dubai cruise itineraries were announced at an event in Mumbai and are not yet available on the cruise line’s website. 

Cruise Arabia & Africa has reached out to Cordelia to find out more.

Also driving speculation of a more comprehensive Arabian Gulf cruise season out of Dubai is the arrival in the UAE of the former Celestyal Olympia, temporarily re-named Bella Fortuna.

The ship has been spotted in the UAE on AIS data, docked in the Port of Ras Al Khaimah, following an extensive period in lay-up in Turkey.

The ship was sold by Celestyal Cruises earlier this year and transferred to the Liberian ship registry, in which she was renamed Bella Fortuna and put in lay-up in Turkey, facing an uncertain future.

Now she has arrived in the UAE, leading to speculation that Cordelia Cruises may be considering purchasing her. Cordelia Cruises currently operates just one ship, the former Empress of the Seas (currently operating as Empress).

Like Bella Fortuna, Empress is a former Royal Caribbean ship, and like Bella Fortuna, she was built in the 1980s. The ships are also a similar size and passange capacity.

Empress was given a new lease on life with a major refit and refurbishment that was conducted in Dubai in 2021, and if Bella Fortuna were to go the same route, it would give Cordelia the capacity to operate a ship in the Gulf and on the coast of India simultaneously.