Lakshadweep Tour Packages From Kochi by Ship
The Samudram ship cruise from Kochi costs 22,500 rupees per adult in Gold class and 30,500 in Diamond, official 2026 tariff. Itinerary, child fares, travel time, booking and the entry permit.
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The main Lakshadweep tour package from Kochi by ship is the government's Samudram cruise: a 5-day, 4-night sailing where you sleep aboard and visit Kavaratti, Kalpeni and Minicoy by day. On the official tariff it costs 22,500 rupees per adult in Gold class and 30,500 in Diamond, as of July 2026. Every seat is booked online, and every tourist needs an entry permit.
This is a research guide built from the official Lakshadweep government and Samudram portals. We have not sailed the route ourselves, so every price here is quoted from the official source with its date, and figures the tourism operators disagree on are flagged rather than guessed.
Lakshadweep tour packages from Kochi by ship
There is really one ship-based package that starts from Kochi, and it is run by the government, not a private cruise line. It is called Samudram, operated by SPORTS, the Lakshadweep tourism body. You board a passenger ship in Kochi, sleep in a cabin on board for the nights, and step off onto a different island each day.
The other official Lakshadweep packages are island stays, where you fly or sail across and sleep on land:
- Samudram (ship cruise): 5 days, 4 nights, nights spent aboard the ship. The subject of this guide.
- Island-stay packages: Agatti, Kadmat, Kavaratti, Bangaram and Thinnakara, where you stay in a resort or tent and reach the island by flight or ship.
If you specifically want the "by ship" experience from Kochi, Samudram is the package. The rest are reached mainly by air.
Lakshadweep tour packages from Kochi price
The Samudram package has two classes, Diamond and Gold, and the price is fixed by the government rather than sold at a fluctuating market rate. These are the official per-person fares from the Samudram portal, as of July 2026:
| Class | Adult | Child (1 to 10) | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond | ₹30,500 | ₹22,000 | The higher cabin class on M.V. Kavaratti |
| Gold | ₹22,500 | ₹17,000 | The lower-priced package class |
December sailings cost 10 percent more, the one seasonal surcharge on the official tariff. If you have seen prices like 42,500 or 44,625 rupees quoted online, those are not the government fare; they are private operator packages that add flights or agent margins. Always confirm the current figure on the official Samudram portal before you book, because prices and rules change.
Price for family and child fares
The child fare applies to children aged 1 to 10 years, confirmed on the official Lakshadweep government package page. A child in that band pays 22,000 rupees in Diamond class or 17,000 in Gold, and anyone 11 or older pays the adult fare. There is no separate official "family package," just the per-person tariff added up.
For a family of two adults and two children aged 1 to 10, that works out at:
| Class | 2 adults + 2 children |
|---|---|
| Gold | ₹22,500 x 2 + ₹17,000 x 2 = ₹79,000 |
| Diamond | ₹30,500 x 2 + ₹22,000 x 2 = ₹1,05,000 |
Add 10 percent for a December sailing. Those totals are the package fare only; treat any all-inclusive figure an agent quotes as separate from the government tariff.
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What the Samudram package includes
The Samudram cruise is a 5-day, 4-night round trip from Kochi on M.V. Kavaratti, which carries about 150 Diamond-class berths. You sleep on the ship and visit three islands by day: Kavaratti, Kalpeni and Minicoy, with lunch and a welcome drink served ashore.
The official fare page does not print an itemised inclusions list, but the tour operators who sell the package consistently describe it as covering the following. Confirm each on the official portal before you rely on it:
- Cabin berth for four nights in your chosen class
- All meals on board, three a day plus morning and evening tea or coffee
- The tourist entry permit and heritage fees
- Day visits ashore with lunch, and a welcome drink on the island
- Water sports such as kayaking, snorkelling and a glass-bottom boat ride
Our honest recommendation: Gold class is the sensible pick for most travellers. You are off the ship and on the islands every day, and asleep the rest of the time, so the 8,000-rupee jump to Diamond buys you a nicer cabin you barely use. Put that money into the trip instead.
Kochi to Lakshadweep ship time and fare
The travel time by sea from Kochi to the Lakshadweep islands runs roughly 14 to 20 hours depending on the island, with Kavaratti around 18 to 20 hours. The Samudram cruise builds this crossing into its 5-day schedule, so the overnight sailing is your first and last night aboard.
Boarding is at the Lakshadweep Wharf on Willingdon Island, Kochi, near the Food Corporation of India godown. Reporting time is early morning, around 9:00 to 9:30 AM for an afternoon departure, though sources differ on the exact time, so go by what your confirmed ticket says. The cruise runs multiple times a month in season, roughly October to mid-May, with the monsoon months off. The government usually announces exact sailing dates only one to two weeks ahead, so there is no year-round fixed calendar to book against.
The Samudram package fare is not the same as a plain point-to-point ship ticket. If you only want the ferry fare between Kochi and a single island rather than the cruise, see our guide to the Kochi to Lakshadweep ship ticket price.
The cheapest way from Kochi to Lakshadweep by ship
The cheapest Samudram package option is Gold class at 22,500 rupees per adult, which is the lowest official cruise fare. Unlike a flight, there is no dynamic "ship ticket rate today" that rises and falls; the package tariff is set by the government and changes only with the December surcharge or an official revision.
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If your goal is simply the lowest fare to reach an island, and not the guided cruise, a plain point-to-point passenger-ship ticket in bunk class is far cheaper than any package, in the few-hundred-rupees range on the last published revision. That is a different product with no itinerary, meals or guided island visits, and it books through a separate official portal. We cover those fares and how they work in the ship ticket price guide.
How to book and the entry permit
The Samudram package ticket booking is online only, through the official portal samudram.utl.gov.in. There is no walk-in counter sale for the cruise, and the government states plainly that booking is through the online system. Book early in the season, because the ship has limited berths and dates are released close in.
Every non-islander needs a Lakshadweep entry permit, which is a legal requirement under the islands' entry rules, not an optional extra. For package tourists the permit is handled through the booking and issued within about seven days of the journey, and the older police-clearance and sponsorship requirements no longer apply to tourists. You will need a confirmed booking and a valid government photo ID; foreign visitors also need a passport and an Indian tourist visa. Apply or check permit rules at epermit.utl.gov.in.
For a step-by-step of the ticketing portals and the online process, see our guide to Lakshadweep ship ticket online booking.
Lakshadweep tour package from Kochi by flight
If you would rather fly than sail, there is a flight from Kochi to Agatti, the only airport in Lakshadweep, taking about an hour. Alliance Air and Fly91 operate the route on small turboprop aircraft, with one-way fares that run from around 4,000 to 6,000 rupees and vary by date, since these are market airline prices rather than a fixed tariff.
Flying still requires the same Lakshadweep entry permit as sailing, and from Agatti you transfer to your island by boat. A flight-based trip pairs naturally with an island-stay package rather than the Samudram cruise. For the airline details and fares, see our guide to the Kochi to Lakshadweep flight ticket price.
Sources
- Samudram cruise official tariff and booking, samudram.utl.gov.in, prices accessed July 2026
- Lakshadweep Administration, tourist packages (duration, ship, islands, child age band)
- Lakshadweep entry permit rules, epermit.utl.gov.in
- Official passenger-ship e-ticketing portal, lakshadweep.irctc.co.in
- Cover photograph of M.V. Kavaratti at Kochi by Aswin Krishna Poyil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Prices and rules are quoted from the official portals as of July 2026 and change without notice. Confirm the current fare, sailing dates and permit requirements on the official Samudram and Lakshadweep government sites before you book or travel.
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