Princess Cruises Chennai Port India

 

 

Chennai India – Sailing into the Port of Chennai.

 (Getting to actually set foot on Indian soil has been quite an ordeal for most aboard the Sun Princess. Obtaining a Tourist Visa (which had to be purchased before we left Australia) to enter India has proved quite an experience for many on the ship, with passengers paying differing amounts from $75 - $330 each for the correct visa to cover the 10 hour stay in the city of Chennai. Indian Immigration Staff have been on board for the past two days since Phuket, doing face to face interviews and issuing their own going ashore passes. They have also made us declare cameras and any other electronic devices we are taking aboard. All this and the checking involved slows up getting off the ship and causes many problems as many find out.)

The Port of Chennai with the City Behind.

 

We are again up early and standing at the very front of the Sun Princess as the sun comes up and we enter the Port of Chennai India. We really enjoy sailing into (and out of) different ports and seeing all that is involved in the docking process for a large ocean liner.

We first see the City of Chennai emerge in the distance clouded in a thick haze – this haze I presume is from the refineries, industrial buildings and railway that are all positioned near the port. (We will be docking at the container terminal and this is the first time that a ship the size of the Sun Princess has entered this part of the Chennai Port. The authorities have also made the pier area off limits to all passengers and staff, so we have to go straight off the ship’s walkway and board a tour bus or a shuttle bus to be escorted out of the container terminal area and there is no market allowed on the dock.)

Local fishermen looking for Todays catch.

Our sail into port takes us close to many local small fishing boats with up to 4 men in each casting lines over the side to catch squid and other small fish. The closer we get to the port proper, we see many concrete breakwaters protecting the port and much more port infrastructure.  This is not a very busy port – only one container ship being off loaded and the other few vessels seem very old and unloved. There are several old rusted tugs that look like they have been around for many years but they have a certain charm about them.

 

Sailing through the narrow opening into the container port.

 

Two modern tugs come out to greet us and then we see why. To get to where we will finally dock for the day, we have to pass through a very narrow opening in the breakwater– in fact from where we are standing it does not look like we will fit. There are many military people and port workers who are all standing watching (to see if we fit) and waving at us as we arrive. You can tell that they are very interested in seeing such a large vessel enter their port. By 8am we are tied up and docked. It is a very tight fit and the last manoeuvres the ship makes is to do a complete turn so we are now facing the right way to go out and then by using it’s sidewards thrusters we move sidewards into position.

The tugs come out to meet us.

 

This dear old tug looks like it needs some TLC.

 

Military Ships in the port.

More Old Tugs.

 

We are late departing Chennai as some of the tours are very late returning to the ship. Most of the timing issues eventuate because of the immigration requirements with tours going out late to start with. Many passengers who choose to do their own thing have had a less than successful day – shuttle buses were small only carrying 10 at a time and then they did not return to pick people up. Many chose not to even go ashore and many others were forced to catch private transport back to the ship and they paid heavily for this privilege. There are many different stories and many very unhappy people - However our day was fabulous and I will tell you all about our experiences in my next blog.