Leading River Cruise Company in India | Antara Cruises

Heritage River Journeys have curated diverse historical and life experiences for contemporary travelers in South Asia on our cruise ships for nearly two decades. Raj Singh, the Managing Director, started to explore river cruising in India in the 1990s, turning his focus to the Ganga in the mid-2000s. With the help of the Inland Waterways Authority of India, Inland Water Transport of the Government of West Bengal, and many individual supporters, he dove into the possibilities of cruise tourism. Sailing on an IWAI survey vessel, he plotted an itinerary and imagined anew the possibilities of starting passenger cruising from Kolkata to Varanasi after nearly a break of more than 100 years. Pontoon bridges, varying levels of water, different regimes of state and central government taxation, and the lack of infrastructure were just some of the challenges the companies and their ships have dealt with.