Mumbai Cruise Port

Mumbai, India

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the capital city of the state of Maharashtra and is one of the biggest cities in India.

It is a city full of contrasts where sky high modern apartments that house millionaires sit next to crumbling housing providing nothing but the most basic of shelter to some of the cities poorest residents.

The contrasts continue with the cities architecture that is a mixture of historical building taking influence from the global powers, such as the Dutch, Portuguese and British, who have controlled the region coupled with modern skyscrapers and locally designed buildings of all sizes.

From a cruising point of view, the city has developed into the leading turnaround port in the country and is home to the countries leading cruise line, as well as welcoming international cruise lines such as Celebrity Cruises who I visited the city with.

Cruises To Mumbai

Our Visit

I visited Mumbai onboard the Celebrity Millenium cruise ship in December 2024 and it was a mixed visit at best, I have to say.

Firstly, the pollution was so bad that I struggled to breath and certainty had to slow down my movements and for much of the time we were in port, spread across two days of an overnight stay, we couldn’t even see the city despite been docked relatively centrally.

For the first day of our visit, we had an excursion booked with a local company and were told that we would be met at the green gate, or the main port gate, and Celebrity themselves told everybody onboard that nothing would be able to meet you at the terminal unless you were on an excursion booked with them.

The security checks and visa checks were the best organised of any Indian port we visited but outside of the terminal there was some chaos as those heading onto excursions were sent one way and those needing to get the bus to the port gate were sent another way.

In-between that was plenty of local tour companies shouting names of passengers and company names despite them supposably not been able to be there.

Me and my wife got on the shuttle to the green gate, as instructed, and then after clearing more security, we went outside of the port hoping to find our tour operator but despite there been plenty of people wating, none had our name or tour company on their signs.

We waited quite some time before going back through security, on to a shuttle and back to the ship to see if anybody was waiting for us at the terminal but there was nobody there either.

So we decided to give up on that, head back through security and visa checks and get back onboard the ship to have a drink and try a plan a day out which we did, so instead of heading off for a private full day tour of Mumbai we would simply walk from the port to impressive Gateway of India and to the Taj Mahal Hotel.

The second day saw us depart the ship and head to the airport and after huge security the whole time we were in India, in disappeared when we exited the ship with our bags and when we could have had the most dangerous things with us but the lack of organisation continued as we had to guess which coach to get on and they had little space for suitcases, so many bags ended up in seats or the aisle of the coach.

Mumbai Cruise Guide

If you have booked a cruise starting or ending in the city or that calls into Mumbai as part of a wider cruise of the region, this is the guide for you as I take you through everything you need to know about the cruise port of Mumbai.

This guide will also be useful to those who are looking at itineraries sailing in the region and who are trying to decide if they should stop in the city or not.

Type of Cruises Available

When to comes to the types of cruises in Mumbai, there is arguably the widest range in the country as you can cruise with a local line that offer port intensive cruises of India from the port, or you can set off on repositioning cruises onboard international lines that start in the city.

They tend to head to either Singapore, as part of Spice Route journeys to Singapore or you can head north to the Middle East and ports such as Dubai.

Many ships call into Mumbai on Indian Ocean cruises between Southern Africa and Southeast Asia with Cape Town to Singapore journeys amongst the most popular.

For those wanting longer cruises, it is also possible to stop off in the city on World Cruises or partial World Cruises sailing between Europe and Asia.

Mumbai Cruise Port Location

The port of Mumbai is located in the Fort district of the city, which is an historic part of the city full of colonial style buildings that is within walking distance of many of the city’s leading tourist attractions.

Both cruise docks are located in the entrance to the port from where you will need to be shuttled from the terminal to one of the port gates- most likely the green gate.

Mumbai Cruise Facilities

The cruise port of Mumbai is equipped for every type of visit as it can handle up to 2 cruise ships that are either homeporting, getting turnaround, interporting or simply calling in there as a port of call.

The first terminal is the Mumbai cruise terminal which whilst located relatively close to the main sights of the city, it is still some distance due to needing to enter through the blue gate.

This terminal is mostly used by the ships of local line Cordelia Cruises and acts as their main turnaround facilities but despite that, the facilities are still incredibly basic.

The international cruise terminal is located further into the port and further from a port gate, with passengers needing to board a bus to the green gate, which takes a little under 10 minutes.

The facilities here are again incredibly basic as the terminal itself is an old warehouse with no facilities in it other than security and visa checking desks.

Mumbai Attractions

There is lots to see and do in Mumbai with two of the most iconic sights been right next door to each other just a short walk from the cruise port gates.

They are the Gateway of India, an historic monument, and the Taj Mahal Hotel, a stunning building in its own right and one of the most luxurious hotels in the whole of India.

Another attraction is the seafront promenade known as Marine Drive which gives great sea views and is popular with both visitors and locals, especially at sunset and sunrise.

There are also a number of incredible buildings to view in this area including the stunning Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus.

There are numerous temples, churches and other religious buildings that are impressive sights to visit including the Shree Siddhivinayak temple, the Global Vipassana Pagoda and the Sri Sri Radha Gopinath temple.

There are few museums to visit in the city with a trip to the Gandhi Museum offered by most lines whilst one of the most unique visitor attractions is the famous Dhobi Ghat, a large open-air laundry that still services the hotels and apartments of the city to this very day.

Mumbai Shorex

One of the most popular excursions is to take a short ferry ride from near the Gateway of India and then a narrow-gauge railway ride to see the Elephanta Caves, a UNESCO listed attraction where a guided tour will give an insight into their history, and the Hindu deity sculptures you will see along the way.

The historic Kanheri Caves are on the outskirts of the city and but can be easily visited on a coach tour and as well as exploring the caves, you can take in some of the walks and views from the surrounding national park.

There are many neighbourhoods where you can take a guided coach tour to see what they have to offer including the upmarket Colaba district and the impoverished Dharavi district.

One of the most popular options and the one that I booked but didn’t get to take, is to hire a private driver for the day to take you on a full city tour where you see all of the highlights of Mumbai.

If you are a Bollywood fan, you will know that many films have be either fully or partially filmed in Mumbai, so heading on a guided tour of famous filming locations is an option growing in popularity.

Best Time To Visit Mumbai

Although the port is the busiest one in India, it still only has limited options for those wanting to visit there so it is really the case that the best time to visit is when there is a ship going there from a line you want to sail with.

Transport

Although Mumbai has a wide range of transportation options including a metro, buses, trains and more, they are only really designed for locals to use to get from housing areas to commercial areas and vice versa, so when it comes to tourists, and especially those arriving on a cruise, you are left with 3 main options.

The first is to pre-book a private vehicle to drive you around the city and to take you where you want to go, the second is to jump on a tuk-tuk at the port gate and the final option is to jump into a taxi at the port gate.

There are plenty of drivers vying for your business even if you aren’t interesting in using them!

Mumbai Cruises From UK

Although it is possible to visit Mumbai on a cruise directly from the UK, it will need to be either on a World Cruise or a partial World Cruise.

Mumbai Cruises From Southampton

If you have the time and budget needed, the best chance of finding a cruise would be to look for itineraries departing from the United Kingdom’s leading cruise port of Southampton.