Anticipated Kerala backwaters cruise

To see the “Kerala backwaters” at Vembanad Lake in southwestern India, I booked a 4-day, 3-night trip aboard the MVVrinda (April 13-16, 2016) through my travel agent at Aloha, Seven Seas Travel in my hometown. My agent booked the cruise through Oberoi Exotic Vacations at a cost of $2,062.

(While I do research before any trip and make the initial deposit, I have my agent make the final payment. In the meantime, she has answered my questions, provided assistance, arranged for any needed visa, etc.)

In Kerala state, the backwaters is a labyrinth of lagoons, lakes, rivers and canals. The promotional material for the Vrinda described the trip with the phrases “scenic waterways,” “picturesque locations” and “Venice of the East,” saying passengers would visit “narrower sections of the backwaters.” 

That was exactly as I had remembered it from a shore excursion I took from a cruise ship into the backwaters around Cochin in Kerala in March 2012. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to return to the Kerala backwaters and spend more time on a houseboat.

The 8-cabin M/VVrinda is a houseboat owned by Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, a company in India. The name Oberoi is synonymous with luxury. I expected them to do whatever was necessary to ensure a 5-star experience throughout.

On Day 1, we were supposed to go on a 4-hour trip along the “scenic waterways,” but, a few yards from the jetty, one of the two propellers became entangled in water hyacinths. This caused one of the two engines to become inoperable, making it impossible to follow the scheduled itinerary.

Oberoi operates the Vrinda from Oct. 1 to April 30 every year, and this jetty is their exclusive berth. Surely, it was not the first time the propellers had become tangled in vegetation at this location. Are they not able to do preventative maintenance?

Instead of cruising among the waterways and being able to “participate with the local fishermen in the Alleppey Canal,” all we did that day was cruise on Vembanad Lake so far from shore that there was nothing to see or photograph. I found out the next day that the boat was supposed to go into the canal but couldn’t do it with only one engine.

On Day 2, as originally scheduled, we transferred to a rice boat that plied the waters of a wide canal to, according to the brochure, “observe and experience a way of life unique to this region.” There was an occasional unoccupied shack along the canal bank but no views of the “way of life,” in my opinion. Again, where we were taken, I felt there was nothing to see or photograph.

A rice boat, or kettuvallam, is a small boat originally used to carry rice and spices. It can go into the narrower backwaters where the larger boats can’t go. When modern trucks replaced this system of transport, many of these barges were converted into sightseeing boats for passengers. 

When I got back to the Vrinda, I complained to Chanchal, the boat manager, that I had only one day left and still had not seen the Kerala backwaters, the narrow canals where people live along the banks and are seen bathing, doing laundry, frolicking in the water, etc. — all the activities of daily living. 

Chanchal said he would arrange for a 2-hour private excursion for me the next day, but I had to be sure not to tell anyone. 

On Day 3 I finally saw, for only 2¼ hours of the 4-day trip I had bought, the backwaters of the type I had been looking forward to.

The next morning, I left the boat at 7:30 to go to the airport for a flight to another city to begin a 2-week tour.

I was greatly disappointed to have spent so little time in the true backwaters.

JEAN FISCHER
Brevard, NC

Ms. Fischer’s travel agent sent an email to Oberoi Exotic Vacations (exoticvacations@oberoigroup.com) stating that she felt that compensation was in order, and the following was received in a reply on May 10, 2016.

Thank you for sharing the feedback from Ms. Jean Fischer’s stay on the Motor Vessel Vrinda in April 2016. At the outset, please accept our apologies for not meeting the expectations towards the stay. I want to take this opportunity to apprise you of details, which will help you understand the situation. 

• Day 1 was the half-day cruise towards the R-Block in the backwaters. This [The “Vrinda” — Editor] had a downtime since one of the propellers got entangled with natural vegetation of water hyacinth. For the safety of our guests, it was risky to run the boat on a single propeller [i.e., the half-day cruise was canceled].

An alternative arrangement was done and the rice boat was arranged to take Jean to Kumarakom for the half-day cruise. This was around 1330 hours [1:30 p.m.], when lunch was served, post which she was offered the excursion. 

However, she mentioned she would proceed at 1630 hours, as she wanted to sleep for some time. She was informed by Chanchal that by 1800 hours they needed to be back, as post 1800 hours cruising is not permitted on the backwaters.*

• Day 2 was the cruise to R-Block (the “rice bowl of Kerala”). [The “Vrinda”] started cruising on the waterway from 0700 hours in the morning and reached the docking point. From there, all the guests were transferred to the rice boat and [went] for the excursion along with the guide.

Ms. Fischer had shared with the boat manager [Chanchal] that she did not enjoy this excursion, as she expected it to be narrow canals wherein she could actually touch the trees, etc.

• Day 3 was the cruise to the Pompa River side. We organized an exclusive tour for Jean wherein she was taken to narrow canals (the narrow canals where she had visited can only take two small boats at one point of time). After the excursion was over and she came back to the boat, she mentioned that she was happy with the excursion.

We could not dock in Karumadi/Champakkulam on the said day, but we did create an exclusive customized excursion at her request along with special [attention] extended to her all through.

The above has been shared to give you an insight into all the efforts which we placed in making this a memorable holiday for the guest, despite factors beyond our control. 

AMARDEEP SINGH, Hotel Manager, Trident Cochin & The Oberoi Motor Vessel Vrinda, Bristow Road, Willingdon Island, Kochi 682003, India

* ITN asked Ms. Fischer about the excursion to Kumarakom that Mr. Singh said had been offered to her on Day 1, and she replied, “I did not feel that I wanted to spend the entire afternoon motoring around Vembanad Lake, as that was not the reason I had come. Also, I thought that I had two full days in the backwaters coming up.” That is, Ms. Fischer chose not to take this offered trip on Day 1. 

ITN emailed copies of the above letters to The Oberoi Group and received the following in a reply.

We had contacted the travel partner [of Ms. Fischer], Aloha, Seven Seas Travel — which was the principal agent involved in making the necessary arrangements for Jean’s visit to India and had sold the itinerary on The Oberoi Motor Vessel Vrinda — in order to address the concerns raised by Jean. Each of the concerns were reviewed and addressed, however we never received any follow-up on our communication dated 10th May 2016.

We made special exceptions on the program, to customize the excursions to Ms. Fischer’s individual preference, when she mentioned that some parts of the day’s excursions organized for the guests were not what she wanted to partake. 

Our understanding in this case is that the sales agent had given a different brief to Jean, hence her expectations for the stay were very different than what we offer.

It is our endeavor to strive for the highest level of customer service and the exemplary service which our group is recognized for.

DIVYAM JOHRI, Senior Sales Manager-Travel Trade, The Oberoi Group, 7, Sham Nath Marg, Delhi, 110054, India

ITN sent to Ms. Fischer a copy of The Oberoi Group’s response and asked her to share it with her travel agent. Her agent provided the following response.

As Jean Fischer’s agent, I want to explain that she does many hours of research on her own for many months before any trip that she plans to do. She is very knowledgable and has traveled extensively. 

Regarding this trip on the backwaters, she had done a similar trip years prior and was really looking to go back and do more extensive backwaters [cruising] on the Oberoi vessel. However, the ship encountered a problem that did take away from the unique experience she was expecting.

Thank you for the opportunity to respond. 

ROMONA NEWTON, Aloha, Seven Seas Travel, Brevard, NC

Editor’s note: To sum up, when mechanical problems prevented The Oberoi Group’s boat from operating the first day’s cruise as scheduled, the company worked to provide a replacement activity and even offered to do more. Still, even if the entire program had gone as scheduled and as advertised, it would not have included visits to extremely narrow channels of the type that Ms. Fischer expected to encounter (based on a prior visit to another part of the Kerala backwaters) and that people may have seen pictured in some travelers’ photos of the region.

No contract or promise was broken, and the itinerary’s descriptive material was not intentionally misleading; many passengers have enjoyed the cruise offered by The Oberoi Group. The company’s brochure simply contained terms that were subjective. After all, the Kerala backwaters comprise a large geographical area with channels and canals of many different widths, not to mention its largest body of water, Vembanad Lake.

So we’re asking ITN subscribers who have taken a cruise in the Kerala backwaters within the last few years to write in with the following information. If you traveled in particularly scenic, “very narrow” channels — where locals could be easily observed “nearby” on the banks at their daily tasks — let us know which company you traveled with (include contact information) and indicate the sort of a trip you were on. Was it a cruise ship’s shore tour, a local company’s day tour or a several-day group tour or independent travel? How long was the trip (how many overnights or about how many hours)? When were you there (year or month and year)?

Further, for someone researching a trip to the area and wanting to cruise in such “very narrow” backwater channels, what advice could you give to insure that they visit areas like those Ms. Fischer hoped to visit?

Email editor@intltravelnews.com or write to Kerala’s Narrowest Backwaters, c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818. (Include the address where you receive ITN.) Do send photos, with captions, if you have them.