When Anita and Rakesh Sinha started planning their 25th wedding anniversary, they wanted a holiday that felt special and effortless for the whole family. After exploring several options, they booked a five-night cruise from Mumbai to Lakshadweep and Kochi.
“This was the family’s first time on a cruise ship. By the end of the trip, what began as an experiment turned into a lasting love for cruise holidays,” says Anita.
Such experiences reflect the increasing popularity of cruise holidays among Indian travellers.
With rising disposable incomes, better port facilities, and exposure to global travel trends, cruises are becoming a popular holiday choice today. Families, young professionals, and solo adventurers are drawn to the idea of a vacation where travel, accommodation, dining, entertainment, and multiple destinations are all wrapped into a single, well-organised experience.
Responding to this trend and latent demand, Int2Cruises—a cruise booking platform founded in Singapore in 2022—launched its India operations in January last year.
The platform positions itself as an exclusive cruise OTA (online travel agency), offering a consolidated, tech-enabled experience. In the Indian market, it claims to offer an experience tailored specifically for Indian outbound cruise travellers.
Currently, Int2Cruises provides access to over 400 ships from 25+ international cruise lines, with 30,000 itineraries and more than 50,000 sailings and individual cruise departures, across 300+ global destinations. The platform offers real-time details on pricing and cabin availability, which are updated instantly based on demand and bookings.
Itineraries include departures from ports in Mumbai, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and Dubai, sailing to nearby regional ports and multi-country routes, as well as long-haul journeys across Europe, Alaska, and the Caribbean, and remote expeditions to destinations such as Antarctica, the Galápagos, and the Arctic.
An industry-built platform
The founding team at Int2Cruises brings over 50 years of combined experience in cruise operations, travel sales, marketing, and customer service. The leadership comprises Akansha Agarwal, Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer; Vinu Vijay, Head of Operations; Rohit Jaiswall, Cruise Counseling Lead; and Josh Wen, Regional Director – Asia.
Each member of the team had previously worked across Southeast Asia and India’s cruise and travel sectors.
Vinu Vijay, who earlier led operational teams at Royal Caribbean, notes, “Cruise travel in Asia was underserved not just in terms of inventory, but in how platforms functioned. The digital interfaces weren’t designed with cruise needs in mind, such as complex itineraries, multiple cabin types, or onboard experiences—and most were simply modified to add cruise options rather than built for them.
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MSC Euribia
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“We knew the demand was there. What lacked was an ecosystem that could handle the complexity—flights, visas, hotels, excursions, and insurance—all in one integrated path. That’s what we built with Int2Cruises.”
Addressing structural gaps in cruise planning
Traditional cruise booking in India involved navigating a fragmented process: separate bookings for flights, cabins, visas, hotels, and transfers—often handled by multiple agencies and offline channels. This process is a deterrent, especially for first-time cruisers unfamiliar with the process.
“We started by solving a very real problem. People had to book flights, cruises, hotels and then apply for visas separately. Everything had to be sourced separately. We removed those barriers and built an ecosystem that’s smarter and more accessible. Our aim was to unify the entire experience under one platform with complete transparency,” says Vijay.
Int2Cruises was designed as a cruise-first, end-to-end platform, allowing users to explore, compare, and book sailings from major global operators including Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, Costa, Disney Cruise Line, Silversea, and Viking River Cruises.
Users can also book cabins and bundle essential services such as flights, hotel stays, visas, curated excursions, and insurance—all within a single digital platform. Real-time inventory, live pricing, and AI-powered recommendation tools personalise the experience based on user preferences.
‘Cruise counsellors’ offer live support via in-app chat and phone, guiding travellers through planning, documentation, and complex itineraries, especially for multi-destination and long-haul sailings.
Demand patterns
Sailing typically involves two types of trips: regional trips that depart from hubs like Mumbai or Dubai, and international sailing where travellers fly to Europe or North America to board cruises that cover multiple countries or coastal cities.
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SKY Princess Cruise
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Across all markets, including Malaysia, Myanmar, Africa, and China, the platform’s total user base surpassed 11,000 passengers by mid-2024. Int2Cruises, which is bootstrapped, has clocked a consistent 40% YoY growth across Malaysia, Myanmar, China, and Africa. In India, it estimates Rs 600 crore in gross sales value by FY2028, while group-wide projections exceed Rs 1,000 crore.
Following its India launch, Int2Cruises saw 500–600 Indian travellers book cruises on its platform during the first quarter of 2024.
“People aren’t just browsing casually, they’re actively engaging with cabin types, itineraries, and add-ons. It’s a sign of maturing demand,” Vijay observes.
The platform primarily serves travellers aged 35 and above. There is rising interest from those over 60 years old, especially for long-haul and expedition cruises to destinations such as Alaska, Antarctica, and the Arctic. The demand from Tier II and III cities of India is also growing, Vijay notes.
About 70% of users opt for cruises as the anchor of their trip, where the cruise itself is the main vacation plan rather than being just an add-on to other travel elements.
Business model and challenges
Int2Cruises’ revenue streams include standard cruise commissions, bundled travel services (flights, hotels, visas, transfers), curated experiences, pre-purchased cruise inventory, and marketing co-ops with cruise lines, tourism boards, and destination partners.
The platform currently offers cruise-only packages starting at Rs 6,500 per person per night, while premium experiences scale up to Rs 5.16 lakh per night for ultra-luxury all-suite sailings that include dining, beverages, excursions, Wi-Fi, and concierge service.
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Rather than replicating its Southeast Asia model, Int2Cruises has developed India-specific formats. One such innovation is ‘Team Cruise’, which blends Indian cuisine, cultural activities, and live performances onboard by singers including Hariharan and Mano.
Building an end-to-end cruise booking platform involves multiple challenges including technical integration, as different cruise brands operate on diverse tech stacks and bringing all inventories in one place is complex, notes Vijay.
Market potential
The cruise market in India is projected to generate $322.6 million in revenue by 2030, growing at a compound annual rate of 15.1% from 2025 to 2030, according to Horizon Grand View Research.
Int2Cruises competes with players such as TIRUN Travel Marketing, TravelTriangle, MakeMyTrip, Yatra, and CruiseBay.
To seize market opportunities, the platform plans to add more features and simplified tools—live support including AI chatbots, a self-serve model, group dashboard, dynamic price alerts, and real-time itinerary builders to customise cruise plans.
Edited by Swetha Kannan
