Apart from being a unique way of celebrating, a yacht (or boat) party gives a different experience to its party-goers.
CURRENT OFFERINGS
Currently, a lot of companies cater to clients who want to celebrate their anniversaries or have a special wedding reception onboard boats. Corporates are never far from yachts and they too are regular party-goers on these boats. Events and corporate meetings also find their way into these boats. Once in a while, organisers get requests from only couples for a cruise off the harbor also.
In Mumbai, a number of boats with different facilities are there for taking. Ferries, that do duty to the public moonlight as 'party-boats' at night and acoomodate a small number of 50-60 odd people. For larger capacities organisers offer a special party boat to take on 100-150 people. A different offering is a dhow - an arabian fishing boat, which can take at the maximum 25 people - without the fishy smell though.
These parties are flat-out fun with themes like arabic, italian and more. Foreign artiste that charge as much as Rs. 20,000 entertain the likes or people on the lower deck with DJ music and bar facilities. Upper-decks take care of the food and sight-seeing departments. Cuisines such a Italian, French, Mughlai are offered and special licenses from the port authority takes care of the consumption of liquor.
BUT...
...where to go incase of larger parties?
Most of the boats mentioned above are just that- boats ! These have limitations like the total number of people, restrictions with the music, polluting the sea with garbage, a bumpy ride, licenses and permissions required and more....
Even the largest yacht in Mumbai's Harbor, the Indian Empress - with its state of the art technology and interiors, can not hold a party for 100 people.
Mumbai has even lost its pride of being the berth to the Superstar Libra, which has shifted to Goa due to many local and political reasons. This could take care of extra-large celebrations.
And to rent a ship would not be economically feasible.
There have been regular calls to organizers in Mumbai for chartering yachts for partying and celebrations with different requests and settings.
Hence, a special purpose yacht - with the best offerings in the party-business, are a NEED OF THE HOUR for Mumbai and India. As we are well aware that people other than sailing enthusiasts are getting interested in yachts and boating, the demand for such a yacht would only go upwards.
These yachts would need to be equipped with a good design, 'flexible' decks, best music and HVAC systems, the latest bar equipment, good bilge and garbage disposal facilities. Smaller motorboats that would taxi party-goers to and fro the shore would be an added advantage.
To our knowledge, such 'party'-yachts to cater to personal and corporates are not far away from coming to India and companies such as Hallaway and Princess have the right offerings to fill this gap.
Now would be the best time in order to make the most of this untapped party market. CARPE DIEM...
