Cochin

We are due to be in Cochin for an afternoon and the following whole day in February 2018. There is an overnight houseboat trip being offered by our cruise company (Voyages of Discovery) and it is low availability, so it is suggested we book early of we want to go. We have been on a houseboat overnight in Goa when on a land holiday and enjoyed it, but Aleppey may have more to be seen from the boat.

Has anyone anyone done the overnight cruise and was it worthwhile? We are also wondering if we would miss much in Cochin as we may not have time to go into the city as well as do the cruise.

I have not done the houseboat but hope you can make a few hours to tour the city.

Keith

We are due to be in Cochin for an afternoon and the following whole day in February 2018. There is an overnight houseboat trip being offered by our cruise company (Voyages of Discovery) and it is low availability, so it is suggested we book early of we want to go. We have been on a houseboat overnight in Goa when on a land holiday and enjoyed it, but Aleppey may have more to be seen from the boat.

 

Has anyone anyone done the overnight cruise and was it worthwhile? We are also wondering if we would miss much in Cochin as we may not have time to go into the city as well as do the cruise.

We didn't do an overnight on the houseboat, but did a houseboat for a few hours that included a nice lunch. Not sure if I would want to stay overnight.

We used Cochin Day Tours

http://www.daytoursincochin.com/cochin-daytours/

Thanks for the replies.

Seems like there is more in Cochin than we thought. We have decided to not bother with the overnight boat trip as there is not a lot of point spending two hours each way on what sounds like a bad road to see somewhere we have not seen, when there is somewhere else we have not seen on the doorstep.

We are on a very small ship (VOD's Voyager), so are unlikely to be able to contact other passengers via a roll call, but with so long in port can probably do fairly well on our own in Cochin. The link you have given Papa is useful for getting info. about the area.

We may have a holiday in Kerala in the future - though I think we will likely be about 120 years old by the time we finish our list of places we want to go to!!! Nothing like being optimistic though.

Thanks again,

Barbara

contact Lijo at muzuris heritage tours.

the best tour guide ever.

Although I will admit that I have no idea whatever what Tring is talking about (i.e. "somewhere we have not seen", etc.), I can indeed enthusiastically agree with both 4774Papa and jannandjohn that Muzuris Heritage Tours is a quality operation. The owner, Lijo Jose, is an amiable chap and devoted to providing the best possible experience for his clients.

Our Kerala backwaters tour in Cochin on one of the traditional houseboats easily ranks amongst our most memorable tours in 40 years of traveling on every continent. It was a perfect day, cruising along the backwaters, having an excellent lunch of local specialities prepared on board the boat, and, a special bonus for us, having the company of Lijo the whole time.

Without reservation, I recommend Muzuris Tours and hope fervently to have the occasion to use the agency again one day.

We are due to be in Cochin for an afternoon and the following whole day in February 2018. There is an overnight houseboat trip being offered by our cruise company (Voyages of Discovery) and it is low availability, so it is suggested we book early of we want to go. We have been on a houseboat overnight in Goa when on a land holiday and enjoyed it, but Aleppey may have more to be seen from the boat.

 

Has anyone anyone done the overnight cruise and was it worthwhile? We are also wondering if we would miss much in Cochin as we may not have time to go into the city as well as do the cruise.

You mention Voyages of Discovery. We had a cruise booked with them in March to Africa. They called us to advise company went bankrupt and the cruise was cancelled. Did you not get a similar call? Is your cruise still o?. I am really curious since we are having trouble convincing the credit card company that they cancelled on us, not us on them.

This is an old thread. Yes the parent company, All Leisure, went down on the 4th January. Some brands had been sold on as going concerns, but Swan and VOD ceased to trade. There is a thread I started on New years Eve on the 'other cruise lines' section which you may find of interest. We had a formal letter from the administrators, (Grant Thornton 0161 953 6900), a couple of weeks ago, so would have thought you would have had the same (if you are in the UK). The failure was on the news when it happened and I think most people would have seen that.

Not sure what the situation is for non UK people. For UK details and a helpline tel. no. is available on the ATOL website for fly cruises and ABTA website if you booked cruise only. They should be able to help with details of how to claim if you have problems. This link should be your first "call" if you booked as a fly cruise, which I suspect you did:- http://www.caa.co.uk/atol-protection/

We are very sorry we have lost this cruise for next year and we should also be on Board Voyager now in Vietnam.

Regards my previous post about All Leisure, I did not make it totally clear that we have not had a telephone call. All Leisure does not exist any more, so would not have called you themselves and it is unlikely the administrators would have been calling all the people affected - the legal letter would have to be sent anyway. So I am thinking, perhaps you booked via an agent and it was them who called you.

If so, your agent could well be the people to advise on the best action to take. I think agents may be responsible for refunds of cruises booked via them - we booked directly with All Leisure on the phone, so we need to go to ATOL (and credit card company for funds paid via cc). I think cc companies are only responsible if the funds have been paid directly to All Leisure (Voyages of Discovery) using their card.

Let me know if you have seen this.