River/Barge Cruise
16 days
$AUD 1,992 per day
Departure: Kolkata, India
Arrival: Mumbai, India
Rail
River/Small ship/Barge
Virtuoso
Start your journey onboard the luxurious riverboat, the Ganges Voyager II. Travel to villages lining the Ganges River that only a few people get to see each year and experience our Wellness Program, centered around the destination’s ancient tradition and practice of yoga. From the awe-inspiring Hindu temple complexes of Kalna to the colorful flower markets of Kolkata, your Ganges voyage delves deeply into the myriad charms of India’s culture.
Then your travels continue onshore to explore India’s star cities by the Maharajas’ Express. This glamorous train will take you to Agra for the Taj Mahal, the Pink City of Jaipur and the Blue City of Jodhpur, the romantic “Venice of the East”, New Delhi, and Mumbai, home to India’s famous Bollywood film industry. All this and more await on a once-in-a-lifetime voyage through India.
Note: For the January and November departures, the rail portion of this itinerary will begin in New Delhi and travel to Mumbai. For the December departure, the rail portion will begin in Mumbai and travel to New Delhi.
*Note: Due to cultural differences and other factors, the beverage policy for our India program differs from our European programs. Please see our Terms and Conditions for more details.
Ships
Dining
Excursions
Accommodations
Experiences
Arrive at Kolkata Airport. If your cruise package includes a group arrival transfer or if you have purchased a private arrival transfer, you will be greeted by a Uniworld representative and transferred to the Ganges Voyager II.
Kalna, once an important trade port on the river, is best known today for the magnificent Hindu temples built by the maharajas of Bardhaman— which you’ll experience today. After marveling at the astonishing Rajbari temple complex, you may opt to walk with your guide through the colorful local market.
Excursions
Stroll along the streets of Kalna as you head to the Rajbari temple complex. The Pratapeshwar Temple, built in 1849, is embellished with exceptional terra-cotta carvings depicting myths and rituals, as well as scenes of everyday life (see if you can spot the girl in typical Victorian dress with a violin among the hundreds of figures). Lalji, the oldest temple in the complex, dates to 1739; the three-storied structure is topped with 25 distinctive pinnacles. Next to it is Krishna Chandra, built in a similar style. Across the street you’ll find the amazing Naba Kailash, two concentric circles of intricately carved temples dedicated to Shiva. The inner circle is made up of 34 white temples symbolizing pure thought; the outer circle contains 74 temples symbolizing the everyday world.
This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports Global Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Your ship serves as a time machine today, transporting you hundreds of years into the past, as we travel to the authentic artisan village of Matiari.
Excursions
Artisans have been making ornamental brass objects— vases, lamps, figurines, platters—in Matiari for more than a century, so it’s no wonder that production is so well-organized and the craftsmen so skillful. Scrap metal is melted in the village foundry and pressed into new sheets of brass, which are then turned into various objects. Each craftsman specializes in a different step of the process, so one artisan might cut the metal, while another shapes it into a wide tray, and yet another etches an intricate pattern onto the surface. The sound of hammer on brass will fill the air as you stroll from workshop to workshop to see each step of the fascinating process.
Back onboard, watch as a skilled practitioner of mehndi demonstrates how the intricate henna patterns are created, and discover the meanings of the traditional motifs.
This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports Global Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Today’s adventures take you to a duo of Bengali towns—Murshidabad and Baranagar—each one boasting surprising and beautiful architectural monuments closely linked to the ruling families of the area.
Excursions
Your day begins in Murshidabad, long ago the capital of Bengal and an important administrative center during the Raj—a fact that comes clear as the ship rounds a bend in the river and you behold Hazarduari Palace. This massive neoclassical building was erected in the mid-19th century for British officials, who lived and had their offices in its 114 rooms. One might wonder why the architect, Colonel Duncan Macleod of the Bengal Corps, thought the building needed a thousand doors, but that’s how many it has—900 of them are real doors, and the remaining 100 are false. It is now a museum, which you will visit. Climb aboard a horse-drawn buggy for a ride to Katra Mosque, built in 1723 by the first nawab, Murshid Quli Khan, who gave his name to the town. The huge mosque was damaged by an earthquake in 1897, losing two of its four great towers, but it is still a remarkable sight.
Return to the ship for lunch and cruise to the town of Baranagar, where Rani Bhabani built beautiful brick temples in the 18th century. Goats frolic among them now and vines attempt to take them over, but the terra-cotta carvings are considered among the best in Bengal and the temples are well-tended.
After your tour, if time and weather allow, you can learn a bit about one of the Raj’s enduring legacies in India: a passion for that most British of all games, cricket. It remains India’s favorite sport, and the national team, nicknamed the “Men in Blue,” has won the Cricket World Cup more than once. The game is played in schools, in fields, even on village streets; watch it in action and discover the meaning of terms like “long leg,” “fast bowler,” and “run-out.”
One of the world’s most sacred bodies of water, the Ganges River flows through a myriad of small villages and highly populated cities throughout India and Bangladesh. Take in the remarkable scenery as you sail and be on the lookout for a rare sighting of the endangered Ganges river dolphin.
Excursions
Khusbagh, which literally translates to “Garden of Happiness,” is the garden-graveyard of the Nawabs of Bengal. Several historic rulers of this region, including Siraj ud-Daulah and Alivardi Khan, were laid to rest here. Take a walk through the village here, with a visit to see the mausoleum and the arcade verandah that surrounds it.
Few places of worship exist on such a head-spinning scale as what you will witness today in Mayapur, the center of the international Hare Krishna movement and home to the new Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, still under construction. Most students of history know a thing or two about the British colonial powers in India, but few are aware that the French had colonies here as well. You’ll visit this former French outpost today.
Excursions
As the ship comes into sight of Mayapur, look for the new Vedic temple currently under construction. Funded in part by Alfred Ford, great-grandson of Henry Ford, the temple is designed to be larger than St. Paul’s Cathedral in London once completed. The new temple construction coincides with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Hare Krishna movement, whose founder was born in Mayapur. Millions of Hare Krishna devotees come from all over the world to this pilgrimage site; as you walk through Mayapur’s bazaar to the temple complex, you may well spot expatriates from America, Canada, and Europe. Colorful parades of followers often weave through the streets, adding to the hustle and bustle of the lively, vivid scene. You’ll tour the existing temple complex, get a look at the new Vedic Planetarium, and learn something about the beliefs of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness.
Bandel, founded by Portuguese traders in the 16th century, offers a typically Indian mix of religious monuments: It’s the site of the oldest Christian church in India, the location of Hindu festivals (including one devoted to the goddess Muthumariamman), and home to a famous Shia pilgrimage center, the Hooghly Imambara. You’ll board a country boat—a small boat fitted with benches that ferries passengers to and from your luxurious ship, which cannot always moor on the banks of the river—to reach the shore and the imambara. Completed in 1861 to honor Muhammad Mohsin, a revered Bengali philanthropist, the stately imambara offers shelter for pilgrims, a mosque, and a school. Step into the long colonnaded courtyard for a view of the twin towers and the 19th-century clock, and climb the stairs of the clock tower for a fabulous view of the river and surrounding countryside. Visitors are sometimes allowed into the mosque, but all guests must leave before the faithful are called to evening prayers.
“Liberté, Egalité, et Fraternité.” These words, the famous slogan of the French Revolution, are inscribed on the gateposts of Chandannagar, a memento of the centuries the town was a French outpost in West Bengal. In fact, Chandannagar did not officially become part of India until 1952, so when you step ashore here you will find a mixture of French Colonial and Indian architecture. A broad, tree-lined riverfront promenade known as the Strand shows off the handsomest remaining French buildings, including the Dupleix Palace, now a museum, and the 19th-century Church of the Sacred Heart that replaced the 17th-century original.
The city of Kolkata is synonymous with the enduring legacies of Mother Teresa and the colonial-era British Raj, both of which you will get better acquainted with today.
Excursions
Continue this morning with a panoramic tour of Kolkata’s city center. The first stop? A visit to the captivatingly colorful Flower Market. Located adjacent to the Howrah Bridge, this vibrant and bustling market is filled with vendors and buyers exchanging money for flowers to be used in festivals, rituals, weddings, and more. Next, you can choose to visit the NGO Calcutta Rescue or you can see Mother Teresa's home and tomb.
After lunch, you’ll venture to Kumartuli, a traditional potters’ neighborhood that specializes in making intricate clay idols, for a look at this complex and fascinating time-honored tradition. Next, on your way back to the ship, you'll see the many remnants of Kolkata's colonial past. Though teeming Kolkata is home to palaces and tenements, new developments and modern office buildings, grand hotels and parks, its historic architecture reflects its status as the longtime administrative heart of the British Raj. The colonial buildings still standing—and still in use—offer a blend of baroque and neoclassical styles that say much about British colonial taste. Perhaps the most surprising is the red-and-white façade of the Calcutta High Court building—a replica of the city hall in Ypres, Belgium. You’ll see it as well as the stately Palladian dome of Government House, the classical white columns of Town Hall, the red-brick Writers’ Building, and the enormous General Post Office. Then stop for a photo op outside the Victoria Memorial Museum—which was partly inspired by the Taj Mahal. Built as a tribute to Queen Victoria after her death, this huge white-marble structure houses an illuminating exhibition on the colonial era.
This morning, you’ll visit the local NGO Calcutta Rescue, which serves the area’s underprivileged children. They provide much-needed services at no cost to the neediest people of Kolkata and West Bengal—regardless of gender, age, caste, or religion—through health clinics, schools, vocational training, and preventative health programs. You’ll hear about the impact Calcutta Rescue has made over the last 30 years and get some insight on some of their current projects.
This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports Global Goal 1: No Poverty; and Global Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.
She came to India in 1929, after growing up in Macedonia and joining a Loreto nunnery in Ireland, and two decades later she founded her own order, the Missionaries of Charity, devoted to the “salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor.” Visit the Mother House, where she lived and worked for decades; see her simply furnished room and the tiny museum devoted to her—her Nobel Peace Prize medal is on display, along with informative newspaper clippings and photos—and her tomb. It’s a modest and serene spot devoted to one of the most influential women ever to live in the city.
This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports Global Goal 1: No Poverty; and Global Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.
Sprawling across seven lakes and a range of hillsides, Udaipur has earned itself the moniker “the Venice of the East.” It is certainly amongst the most scenic locales in all of India, and a highlight of our adventures in this many splendored country. During your explorations of Udaipur today, sit for lunch at a local spot in town.
Excursions
Having seen India’s “Pink City” already, now it’s time for you to visit the “Blue City” of Jodhpur. Swaths of brightly painted blue houses can be found throughout the city’s streets. Once an indication that a Brahmin—a member of India’s priestly class—inhabited a dwelling, the blue color later became emblematic of the city itself and a popular choice amongst its residents.
Excursions
Gaze out at the countryside while you enjoy breakfast onboard. In the 15th century, what was once a barren desert gave rise to a princely city carved of red sandstone. This city, Bikaner, is the site of your explorations today. Enjoy some free time in the morning to explore on your own or relax onboard before our afternoon explorations. Tonight, a special dinner experience awaits in the deserts outside the city.
Excursions
Disembark the ship for your flight to New Delhi. Take the afternoon at leisure to rest at your hotel, The Oberoi New Delhi.
Following a visit to Agra Fort, you will journey to stunning Ranthambore, home to a national park known for its large population of Bengal tigers.
Excursions
Settle into your cabin onboard The Maharajas’ Express as your journey by rail begins. Later today, enjoy a visit to the majestic Taj Mahal.
Excursions
It’s easily the most famous building in India, and one of the most famous in the world, with its white domes and minarets floating serenely above the reflecting pools. It’s a monument to a love story between a great ruler, Shah Jahan, and a learned and powerful woman, his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. After she died giving birth to their 14th child, he gathered some 20,000 craftsmen to build her mausoleum, who endowed it with dazzling translucent marble carvings inlaid with precious and semiprecious stones. Step through the gate and into the symmetrical gardens, and experience one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Disembark the train and transfer to your luxury hotel, The Oberoi Mumbai, which is situated right on the coast of the Arabian sea.
Pink is the color of hospitality in northwestern India, which gives you an idea of what to expect in the “Pink City” of Jaipur. Spend the morning visiting the city’s famous Amber Fort.
Excursions
Check out of your hotel. If your cruise package includes a group departure transfer or if you purchased a private departure transfer, you will be transferred to the airport in Mumbai for your flight home.
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Schedule of Professional Service Fees
Planning Fee |
$125 per itinerary. Creating unique travel itineraries is our specialty. For detailed quotations providing tailored recommendations for custom designed tours, a non-refundable planning fee applies. Should you proceed with booking, this fee is credited towards your trip.
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Service Fees |
$40 Domestic/Trans-Tasman airfare per person or as discounted
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$150.00 International airfare per person or as discounted
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$50.00 Domestic/Trans-Tasman business class airfare per person or as discounted
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$200.00 International business class airfare per person or as discounted |
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NIL Domestic/Trans-Tasman package, tour, or cruise per booking
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NIL International package, tour, or cruise per booking |
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$ Other Services dependent on service explained to you |
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$200 to $500 Itinerary planning per booking (credited towards reservation once booked) |
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Deposit & Balance |
For all bookings, the initial deposit is 20% and the balance of payment is due 60 days before departure. If Travel Provider terms and conditions vary, we may request an additional deposit from you, after the initial deposit is paid, plus the balance payment date may also vary. After you have paid your initial deposit, you will have five days cooling off period to accept these Booking & Advisory Terms and Conditions, during which time your deposit is refundable. After 5 days has passed, or you have accepted the Terms and Conditions, the deposit will automatically become non-refundable. Note, some Travel Products must be paid in full at time of booking. Service Fees must also be paid at time of booking and are non-refundable. After you pay the balance of payment this will become fully non-refundable 60 days before travel, or earlier, if specified by the supplier. |
Amendment Fees |
Changes to Domestic/Trans-Tasman bookings will incur a fee of $50 per passenger per booking in addition to Provider and credit card fees.
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Changes to International bookings (excluding Trans-Tasman bookings) will incur a fee of $50 per passenger per booking in addition to Provider and credit card fees.
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Cancellation Fees |
Cancellations to Domestic/Trans-Tasman bookings will incur a fee of $75 per passenger per booking in addition to Provider and credit card fees.
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Cancellations to International bookings (excluding Trans-Tasman bookings) will incur a fee of $150 per passenger per booking in addition to Provider and credit card fees.
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Credit Card Fees |
Visa - an additional 2.0% applies
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Mastercard - an additional 2.0% applies
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American Express - an additional 2.0% applies
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(All fees exclude GST, where applicable).
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We will also use your personal information to personalise the service we provide you, including your experience on our, and other, websites, and to provide you with information about our, and our partners’, business, products and services. Your personal information may be shared between entities within Darebin Travel and with DeluxeLife Pty Ltd (ACN: 647 484 115), disclosed to suppliers, Providers, our cloud infrastructure, our contractors and to others where authorised or required by law. Some of these entities may be located overseas.
ANNEXURE – TRAVEL TIPS FOR TRAVEL PRODUCTS
These tips set out below are NOT legally binding terms and conditions.
Passports, Visas and Health Requirements
It is your responsibility to ensure that you have the required documents, including visas and passports, before travelling to a destination. For more information please log on to www.dfat.gov.au and www.smarttraveller.gov.au. Please check with the respective Embassy or Consulate of each country that you are travelling to, as many destinations require visas for both Australians and non-Australian passport holders. For more information, log on to www.visalink.com.au. You need to ensure that you have at least 6 months validity on your passport from the date of your departure return.
For International travellers booked on flights to the USA, including Hawaii, it is now mandatory, under the Visa Waiver Program to receive an electronic authorisation known as ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) no less than 72 hours before travel to the USA. This can be obtained from the following website: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/ .
For international travellers booked on flights to Canada, you either need a visitor visa or an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) to fly to, or transit through, a Canadian airport. An eTA can be obtained from the following website: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/eta/apply.html
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of any health requirements for your travel destinations. Vaccinations are strongly recommended for certain destinations. You need to contact your local doctor who will advise you of these requirements. Please note that vaccinations may be recommended before your travel departure date.
Travel Advice
We recommend that you contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) or visit their website at www.dfat.gov.au for general travel advice, as well as specific advice (including safety alert levels) relating to the destination you wish to visit.
Ticketing
For international and domestic departure, e-tickets will be issued upon payment and completion of the booking process. All other travel documentation, such as hotel booking confirmations, will be emailed to the email address you provided as an e-document. Should the Provider issue paper vouchers, these will be posted to the address you provided.
Baggage Allowance
Baggage allowance varies from airline to airline and in many cases the airfare you have paid may not include the cost to cover checked baggage. Please check with your Travel Advisor and/or the airline providing your flights for the allowances.
Frequent Flyers & Special Requests
For more information on whether your airfare is eligible for Frequent Flyer rewards, please contact the airline directly. When booking online, please ensure that you have entered your correct number. For bookings made by telephone via our Customer Service Team, please advise of your Frequent Flyer details and these will be added to your reservation. We do not take any responsibility should an airline not register your trip. You should retain copies of your air ticket and boarding pass.
Special requests will be passed on to the Providers but cannot be guaranteed.