Dil dhadkane do on a cruise ship on the Mumbai high seas

Standing on the deck overlooking the Mumbai coastline near the Mumbai International Cruise Terminal aka Alexandra Dock renamed Indira Dock the view of Mumbairsquos coastline made me feel emotions that are too big for my heart to containThe boats small and huge play a nautical game all dictated by the sea which juxtaposed with the chaos of Mumbai was one of the best views I had ever seen of my city mdash and the ship had not even left the dock yet The husband and I boarded the Cordelia cruise ship on which we had to spend oneandahalf days and boy did we have a blastThe upper deck bar which faced the dance floor We were at the terminal at around 8 am and boarded the ship with a welcome drink Our room was on the second deck and after dumping our bags there we made our way to the upper deck and this is where the view I talked about earlier was laid out in front of meWhat I really loved was that after a long time I had something much more interesting to look at then my mobile screen Even though we had connectivity and later on WiFi the sea gave me a feeling of peace that made it easy for me to ditch the screen time and just gaze out insteadSince we had time to kill until lunch and wanted to enjoy this uninterrupted time with each other away from the noise we ditched the games that the staff had organised and went back up to the deck The ship honked at lunch hour and the anchor was finally liftedThe clublounge had great live music which we enjoyedSitting at a table looking out taking a few sips and bites amid conversation was the best part of this getaway Therersquos always a lot to do in the city mdash hustling hard at your job being ambitious trying to get your steps in updating the chorechart on the fridge and even the added pressure of deciding where to go on vacation mdash was all left behind Moments like these with the person I share my life with are a luxury as I grow olderBut even the lunch spread helped I threw caution to the wind and filled up on cakes gulab jamun and ice cream and the assortment of breads was to die for Afterwards we headed up to our quaint little balcony munched and sipped and watched the sunset as we drifted on the sea It was after a long time that we had experienced a sunset without being in a rush I felt like a kid when I stood at the railing and watched the prow of the ship cut through the water mdash the effect was hypnoticA climbing wall for those who want to get their step count inIdeally we would have liked to make friends on the cruise but since we had only 36 hours we kept to ourselves and just relaxed On a longer cruise I would recommend mingling with other guestsIn the evening we headed to the scheduled musical at the theatre but compared to the rest of the cruise it didnrsquot excite us much The actors gave a great performance but the story was the usual boymeetsgirl trope There is scope for improvementWe stuck it out for 20 minutes but then rushed to the overcrowded bar on the upper deck We were prepped to wait but the pro bartender had our drinks in our hands before the music began We loved dancing under the night sky The wind never let the dance floor get stuffy which for me as a claustrophobic person was a godsend Be gone overcrowded clubs where you feel the air being squeezed out of your lungs The ideal conditions made us dance till we dropped It had been a good dayThere was a decent theatre but the musical felt it was like it was written in the rsquo90sThe ship finally docked the next morning and our steps were heavy while deboarding For a bit we had detached from the city without leaving it and that is a worthit experience The next time you feel you need a breather the sea breeze does really solve most woesPROSThis package included unlimited alcohol and food for the entire stay So if you are into day drinking like we were go ahead and clink those glassesI loved their bathrooms Very small but extremely efficient and cute For those who work near Fort or Fountain they can head to office on a Monday morning sans the blues that usually accompany the first day of the work weekCONThe main thing we didnrsquot like was that you had to exchange your Rupees for DollarsCOST The package comes to a little over Rs 38000 Other plans include two nights and two days and go upward of Rs 80000 The cruise line has multiple cruises that sail to Southeast Asia Lakshadweep Vizag Puducherry and Sri Lanka ndash ours was a mini trip in comparison 36 hoursHOW TO GET THERE From Chhatarapati Shivaji Terminus CST or Churchgate take a taxi to Alexandra DockHOW TO BOOK wwwcordeliacruisescom