A 27-year-old cruise ship is getting a full makeover in Yalova, Turkey, ahead of a new life sailing Indian waters. Cordelia Cruises has been sharing details of the refit of the Cordelia Sky — the former Norwegian Sky — which enters service for the India-based line on 23 October 2026.
The 77,000-ton vessel, built in 1999 for Norwegian Cruise Line and rated for around 2,000 guests, is in drydock for technical maintenance, deep cleaning and a new livery. Roughly 300 crew members are working on the project, and the paint bill alone is striking: more than 30,000 litres in total, with a single coat of the hull taking 8,000 litres.
Cordelia has also been spouting some fun engineering stats. The ship carries over 1,300 kilometres of electrical cabling — about the road distance from Delhi to Mumbai — and its three anchors weigh 9.7 tons each, roughly two elephants apiece. There are 1,834 doors, 835 exterior windows, and six engines producing 69,000 horsepower in normal running, about 80 percent of which goes to propulsion. During the drydock stay, just one engine is supplying around 3,600 kW of power.
Once the yard work wraps up, the ship will fire up more engines for a empty repositioning cruise to Mumbai — no guests aboard — ahead of its official debut.
So what does this mean for travellers? Cordelia's inaugural season focuses on short Indian itineraries, calling at Goa and the Lakshadweep islands, an archipelago that's otherwise tricky to reach. From August 2027, the Sky branches out with longer Southeast Asia sailings departing Chennai and Singapore. For Indian cruisers, it's a rare chance to board an international-standard ship without flying to a distant homeport; for anyone eyeing Lakshadweep, the cruise route may be the easiest way in.
Worth keeping in mind: this is a 1999-built ship, so expect a classic mid-size vessel rather than a megaship with surf simulators — which many cruisers will count as a plus. Watch for cabin and itinerary pricing once Cordelia opens bookings around the October launch.
