Luxury cruise ship MV World Odyssey (IMO: 9141807), also called a 'floating university', left Kochi on Monday after a week-long visit. The vessel had brought with it hordes of students from 270 universities across the world.
The Bahamian-flagged vessel from the Netherlands' Ijmuiden Port is part of the 'Semester at Sea' programme—in partnership with the Colorado State University (CSU)—which sees students literally live and study aboard a ship for an entire semester.
Kerala's Kochi is the only Indian city that the 'Semester at Sea' tour is visiting this season.
Classes are held during the voyage, while field visits and campus tours take place whenever the ship docks. On the (roughly) 165 days of the year that the MV World Odyssey isn't carrying Semester at Sea students, it also operates as a regular cruise ship under the name 'MS Duke Land'.
The floating university currently houses over 1,000 passengers—which includes students and faculty members—and is also equipped with classrooms, libraries, hostel rooms, and luxurious amenities, including indoor courts and swimming pools.
The Kochi visit on November 18 was a part of the vessel's 105-day winter voyage to 12 cities, and was also the first ship to dock in Kochi this maritime tourism season, an OnManorama article said.
After taking in the sights and smells of Kochi for a week, the MV World Odyssey left for Vietnam on Monday, and is expected to reach the Saigon Port on December 1, as per AIS data from Marine Traffic.
After already having visited Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Ghana, South Africa and Mauritius before Kochi, the cruise ship is expected to visit Hong Kong after Vietnam, and finally end its voyage at Bangkok on December 22, the report added.
