Christmas 2016 Cruise to India Onboard the Constellation

[GeorgeCharlie]

Couple of general interest pictures from Mangalore.

 

Cute kids at the heritage centre - seemed to belong to one of the workers at the pottery demonstration.

 

 

 

Small fishing boat we passed in the harbor.

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

While in Mangalore we visited a couple of Hindu temples where they require you to remove your footwear and go in your socks. Unlike Buddhist temples where you have to go bare foot!!

 

At least they kept it fairly clean.

 

Interesting sign at one of the temples.

 

 

Pictures from the Shree Gokarnanatha Kshetra temple.

 

 

 

 

[villauk]

Sounds like the excursions were a little hit or miss to what you actually visited - something to consider when we are booking ours for this year.

 

Really enjoying your photos :). Did you take any precautions for malaria (apart from wearing a DEET repellant)?

[GeorgeCharlie]

Sounds like the excursions were a little hit or miss to what you actually visited - something to consider when we are booking ours for this year.

 

Really enjoying your photos :). Did you take any precautions for malaria (apart from wearing a DEET repellant)?

 

Didn't take any precautions for malaria, including insect repellent - also didn't notice any mosquitos. From talking to the people from the areas we visited, malaria is only a concern in the north eastern areas close to Bangladesh, with a low risk during the summer monsoons extending through the north central areas including Agra.

[villauk]

Didn't take any precautions for malaria, including insect repellent - also didn't notice any mosquitos. From talking to the people from the areas we visited, malaria is only a concern in the north eastern areas close to Bangladesh, with a low risk during the summer monsoons extending through the north central areas including Agra.

 

Thanks for the reply :). I know the other review by Aquarians stated that they had mostly taken ship excursions, but like you, we tend to book private tours so I think we may have to be quite firm if we have agreed to particular sights and they are likely to be changed.

[debMQ]

Hallo Bill,

 

Interesting photos , we also use same company in India after recommendations from a travel agent friend, I booked tours in Cochin and Goa with Lijo during a recent cruise. In Cochin, Lijo met us at the port and everything went as planned,

In Goa, Lijo again met us at the pier and got us on our way. Both tours and guides were great and were very informative. We covered a lot more ground than any large group tour ever could. It's nice to know a tour operator can adapt to changes and go above and beyond when a client needs help. Thanks Lijo!

[bludevil]

Our tours with Lijo were great. I think Mangalore was just a waste in general, although the cashew factory was interesting. The Artisan's Village was a big bore.

[bludevil]

Somewhat out of order, but it does have a Christmas scene.

 

Our guide in Mangalore was a business student at St. Aloysius College and took us to see the famous St. Aloysius Chapel.

 

 

It is noted for it's fabulous ceiling paintings

 

 

 

It had it's own manger scene.

 

 

 

 

Our guide said he would be continuing to work towards getting an MBA and then he was hoping to be able to be a professional guide - as it was one of the highest paying jobs available!!

 

do you have any other photos of the inside of the church? Our guide told us photos were not allowed, so I stupidly listened!

[GeorgeCharlie]

do you have any other photos of the inside of the church? Our guide told us photos were not allowed, so I stupidly listened!

 

No.

[GeorgeCharlie]

For us the side trip to the Taj Mahal was the high point of the entire cruise and we're very pleased to have done it.:)

 

We did encounter other people on the cruise who also planned on seeing the Taj Mahal, either (like us) while the ship was sailing back to UAE, or post-cruise. We also talked to one couple who had visited pre-cruise. Overall it seemed most everyone was happy with their side trip. Although, we did hear a comment from someone who had gone with the ship's tour and they were not pleased with having to take the train between Delhi and Agra, plus missing the other ports of call in India.

 

Our group consisted of three couples and was through Magic Tours.

 

The package consisted of a half day tour of Mumbai; then flying to Delhi that evening; overnighting in Delhi; leaving the next morning by small coach to Agra; visiting the Taj Mahal in the afternoon; overnighting in Agra; next morning visiting the Red (Agra) fort; trip back to Delhi; tour Old/New Delhi in the afternoon/evening; overnight in Delhi; next morning/afternoon was taken up flying back to Dubai.

 

Mumbai Magic made all of the ground arrangements (hotels & guides), plus having a vehicle/driver available to us for both days we were in Delhi and Agra.

 

The air travel between Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Dubai was arranged by each couple separate from the Magic Tours land portion, but Mumbai Magic was responsible with having to us the airports on time, plus picking us up at the Delhi airport and delivering us to our hotel the first night.

Edited February 5, 2017 by GeorgeCharlie

[GeorgeCharlie]

In Mumbai we were picked up at the pier and given a general tour of the city.

 

We met our guide at the Taj Palace hotel.

 

And did a walking tour in that area of Mumbai, which included:

 

The Gateway to India, which is across the street from the Taj Palace hotel.

 

Price of Wales Museum.

 

Typical business streets.

 

What I take to be a small claims court?

 

Some old British Colonial architecture.

[GeorgeCharlie]

Security was very visible throughout the major cities in India. You had to pass through scanners at every hotel, tourist site and malls. Although at the malls security was very hit and miss. They had scanners, but most people just walked by them, including people delivering items and even saw a couple guys in plain clothes walk pass the scanners carrying AK-47's!! Hopefully they were security guards, as they were chatting with the gal operating the scanner as they walked by. We were leaving, so I wasn't too concerned.

 

Scanner at the Taj Palace hotel.

 

 

Street signage.

[GeorgeCharlie]

The longest stop we had was at Mani Bhavan (home of Gandhi). The three story house has been turned into a museum, with narrow hallways and stairwells which were also quite steep. It was packed with people, which made getting through it a very slow process. I'm not much of a museum person, but our guide insisted she had to give a full tour of the exhibits.

 

Some pictures.

 

His library.

 

Throughout the building were numerous plaques of his quotes.

 

 

Most of the display rooms included many dioramas depicting his life.

[GeorgeCharlie]

As expected when visiting new areas of the world, you will encounter different kinds of signage.

 

Are they saying their competition isn't compliant?

 

Change room in clothing store.

[GeorgeCharlie]

Speaking of signage - I take it the driver of this car cannot read English - maybe they should have also used Hindi.

 

[GeorgeCharlie]

Moving goods in India included:

 

Hand cart.

 

Empty.

 

Loaded.

 

On your head.

 

By horse and cart.

 

Tractor and cart.

[GeorgeCharlie]

Cattle are protected - and everywhere!!

 

 

Along with:

 

Goats.

 

Monkeys.

 

Dogs.

 

One thing we didn't see was cats. Apparently, people in India consider cats to be an ill-omen and therefore a devil pet.:eek:

[GeorgeCharlie]

Most of the hospitals we saw had a very run down appearance and so do their ambulances!

 

 

Even the small ones look like they had problems getting through traffic.

 

And when the traffic seems be always like this - you can understand why they are so banged up.

[GeorgeCharlie]

As we've seen in a lot of the third-world countries, their public cabling standards do not meet the same level of safety as we see at home.

 

 

 

[easyboy]

Love the pictures, especially those signage!

[reynoldswrap]

great review and pictures - thank you so much for taking the time to share your trip and tour details. Especially appreciate the details on the Taj Mahal private tour!

[GeorgeCharlie]

Like what we saw with their ambulances - their fire fighting services also raised eyebrows.

 

Let's hope they're in no rush responding to a fire with these units, as I think it's going to take a while to clear everything away in front of the gates.

 

 

I only managed to get one quick shot of this fire truck as it went screaming by and then succeeded to get a light pole covering part of the firefighters riding on top of the truck!! Also appears they are not wearing anything in the way of protective gear.

[GeorgeCharlie]

Our introduction to Delhi was a bit of a shock. As we exited the airport a number of us commented on how smoky it was and figured there must be a large fire close by.

 

Unfortunately no - just really bad smog!!:(

 

Mid-afternoon in Delhi.

 

 

Another thing we found out about traveling to this area of India during their winter is that they get lots of fog. There was fog all three days we visited the area.

 

Not only was it causing bad smog conditions in Delhi, there was heavy fog driving to Agra (and back).

 

Plus, it ruined our chances for sunset and/or sunrise photos of the Taj Mahal.

 

Yes, there's the Taj Mahal - just across the river during this lovely sunrise!!!

 

But, as you learn to do with any missed opportunities - accept it and look at all the other great new sights and experiences your travels are bringing you.

[GeorgeCharlie]

When we're on a tour one thing that annoys us very much is being inconvenienced by a driver who does not seem to know what he/she is doing. We've had many past (and likely future) experiences of where the driver got loss, or took routes where you were constantly being delayed by traffic.

 

And it seemed like most every story we heard expressed frustration with India traffic and warned travelers to expect extensive traffic delays.

 

Needless to say - prior to starting our Taj Mahal excursion (Mumbai, Delhi & Agra) - we had some concerns about how bad the traffic in India was going to affect our plans, especially considering we were condensing a normal 7-10 tour down to 3 days. Which meant, if we were to have any chance of maintaining our schedule, we would need a very good and knowledgeable driver.

 

And boy - did we luck out and get a great driver!:)

 

"Mr. Singh" (he suggested we call him that as we likely couldn't pronounce him first name anyway), along with his van and assistant were available to us from pick up at the Delhi airport the evening we arrived, through to the evening of our return to Delhi from Agra. Both he and his assistant spoke good English, plus he had excellent knowledge of the areas we were traveling in and, when there was no guide onboard, he would pass along many interesting comments.

 

He had excellent knowledge of how to get around the traffic in both Delhi and Agra. We never experienced anything with respect to traffic delays. He was always there when he said he would be and was more than willing to take us on side trips.

 

Of note - was that he (along with the guides) were very forceful in their warning that we did not venture of anywhere without having a guide. If any of us wanted to go somewhere to eat/shop - we were to just let him know and he would take us there.

 

As such, he took us out to a nice Chinese restaurant for a birthday dinner for one of our fellow travelers and he took us on several shopping trips, including one in our last evening in Delhi - which was a good example of how he went out of his way to help us. After we finished our final tour of Old Delhi, most of us were interested in visiting some more general tourist shops (as the ones we had visited so far were the more higher-end specialty shops) and we wanted the opportunity to get some basic souvenirs to give out back home. The guide we had refused to act as our guide for such a side tour, as he felt his job was limited to giving us a tour of the Old Delhi market.

 

At this point Mr. Singh's final task was to return us to our hotel. Instead he willingly offered to drive us to a more modern market area in New Delhi and, seeing we were not to be without a guide, he would to guide us through this market area. We were all pleased to be able to get a number of nice souvenirs (much better then what was available at the airport) - which we wouldn't of been able to do without his extra effort.

 

This used up about two hours of extra time for Mr. Singh (and his assistant) - which we later found out they were not initially planning on, as they still had to drive of several hours to Jaipur yet that evening - so that they were there to pick up another tour group at 6am the next morning and return them to Delhi!

 

"Mr. Singh"

[GeorgeCharlie]

When we're on a tour one thing that annoys us very much is being inconvenienced by a driver who does not seem to know what he/she is doing. We've had many past (and likely future) experiences of where the driver got loss, or took routes where you were constantly being delayed by traffic.

 

And it seemed like most every story we heard expressed frustration with India traffic and warned travelers to expect extensive traffic delays.

 

Needless to say - prior to starting our Taj Mahal excursion (Mumbai, Delhi & Agra) - we had some concerns about how bad the traffic in India was going to affect our plans, especially considering we were condensing a normal 7-10 day tour down to 3 days. Which meant, if we were to have any chance of maintaining our schedule, we would need a very good and knowledgeable driver.

 

And boy - did we luck out and get a great driver!:)

 

"Mr. Singh" (he suggested we call him that as we likely couldn't pronounce him first name anyway), along with his van and assistant were available to us from pick up at the Delhi airport the evening we arrived, through to the evening of our return to Delhi from Agra. Both he and his assistant spoke good English, plus he had excellent knowledge of the areas we were traveling in and, when there was no guide onboard, he would pass along many interesting comments.

 

He had excellent knowledge of how to get around the traffic in both Delhi and Agra. We never experienced anything with respect to traffic delays. He was always there when he said he would be and was more than willing to take us on side trips.

 

Of note - was that he (along with the guides) were very forceful in their warning that we did not venture of anywhere without having a guide. If any of us wanted to go somewhere to eat/shop - we were to just let him know and he would take us there.

 

As such, he took us out to a nice Chinese restaurant for a birthday dinner for one of our fellow travelers and he took us on several shopping trips, including one in our last evening in Delhi - which was a good example of how he went out of his way to help us. After we finished our final tour of Old Delhi, most of us were interested in visiting some more general tourist shops (as the ones we had visited so far were the more higher-end specialty shops) and we wanted the opportunity to get some basic souvenirs to give out back home. The guide we had refused to act as our guide for such a side tour, as he felt his job was limited to giving us a tour of the Old Delhi market.

 

At this point Mr. Singh's final task was to return us to our hotel. Instead he willingly offered to drive us to a more modern market area in New Delhi and, seeing we were not to be without a guide, he would to guide us through this market area. We were all pleased to be able to get a number of nice souvenirs (much better then what was available at the airport) - which we wouldn't of been able to do without his extra effort.

 

This used up about two hours of extra time for Mr. Singh (and his assistant) - which we later found out they were not initially planning on, as they still had to drive of several hours to Jaipur yet that evening - so that they were there to pick up another tour group at 6am the next morning and return them to Delhi!

 

"Mr. Singh"