India's homegrown cruise line Cordelia is giving followers a front-row seat to a ship makeover. Its newest vessel, the Cordelia Sky, is currently in drydock at a Turkish shipyard, and the line has been posting behind-the-scenes updates showing what actually happens when a 77,000-ton cruise ship gets hauled out of the water.

The ship only left Norwegian Cruise Line's fleet earlier this month — it's the former Norwegian Sky, built in 1999 — and work began in mid-September with crews running around the clock. The scope is what you'd expect for a handover refresh: hull cleaning, propeller and stabiliser maintenance, plus a new look, with Cordelia's logo now on the funnel and hull.

Once the cosmetic and mechanical work is done, the Sky moves into a busy schedule. Cordelia's version of the ship will carry around 2,000 passengers across roughly 1,000 staterooms, topped by a Chairman's Suite with a private balcony and whirlpool. There's a lot packed in below deck too: 11 bars and lounges, 11 dining venues and five entertainment areas — a hefty list for a ship this size, and a sign Cordelia is betting on short, amenity-rich itineraries.

The Sky's maiden season starts on 23 October 2026 with two- to five-night sailings out of Mumbai, calling at Goa and the Lakshadweep islands along with other Indian ports. That's the classic short-break cruise format, aimed at Indian holidaymakers who want a resort-at-sea weekend rather than a long-haul voyage.

Bigger changes come in 2027. From June, the Sky shifts to longer Southeast Asian runs between Chennai and Singapore through late August, stopping in Malaysia and Thailand — a route that effectively stitches an Indian embarkation point onto a classic Southeast Asian cruise corridor.

And Cordelia isn't stopping at one acquisition. Under a long-term charter deal with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, the 2001-built Norwegian Sun joins in 2027 and becomes the Cordelia Sun in September, sailing from Mumbai alongside the Sky and the existing Cordelia Empress. In under two years the line goes from a one-ship operation to a three-ship fleet, all focused on Indian homeports.

For travellers, the practical takeaway is simple: short-cruise options from Mumbai are about to get more plentiful, and prices on a new-to-fleet ship in its first months often undercut what the same hardware costs elsewhere in the world. If you've fancied Lakshadweep — which is notoriously tricky to visit independently — a couple of nights at sea from Mumbai is now one of the easiest ways in. If Southeast Asia appeals more, mid-2027 brings the option of sailing from Chennai to Singapore instead of flying in to start your cruise.