After seeking 108 permissions over a span of three years, AB Celestial has finally become Mumbai’s first floating restaurant. The three-storey boat, with three restaurants and a banquet hall, is anchored on the Bandra end of the sea link and will now be open to the public. WB International Consultant and AB Hospitality have collaborated with Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation.
The boat was earlier launched in 2014 but has been docked at Mumbai Trust Port as it hadn’t received all necessary permissions to operate. “Environment, road and liquor permissions took the longest,” a state official said.
The ground floor of the “floatel” will be a 24-hour coffee shop where as the first floor will be for banqueting. The second floor will be a high end lounge bar and the open terrace will be the sky lounge and dining area.
The boat has a capacity of hosing 660 guests. The food, officials said, is continental and a meal for two persons could cost between Rs 3,000 and 5,000, including drinks.
Currently, states such as Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry already run floating hotels and attract a good number of tourists. Cities like New York, Dubai, Hong Kong and Saigon in Vietnam, have floating restaurants.
