For one, we don't herd you around. Our Cruise is highly personalised. There are never more than 5 guests at a time on board our open boat, the 'Spirit of Meenachil'. Our Cruise is not just a ride in a boat. Rather, it is an experience by itself! We take you to places that you would never have even dreamt of! And opportunities to meet interesting people who live in and own 'genuine' heritage homes.

These heritage homes, nestling alongside the picturesque backwaters are amazingly well-preserved wooden homesteads known as tharawads. They contain a wealth of historical, cultural and artistic artifacts, generally hidden from the public. Many of these tharawads are hundreds of years old and contain old paintings on wood, done with vegetable and herbal dyes—an astounding art form, almost extinct today. Very often such tharawads also have a variety of equally ancient utensils, implements, furniture, and household tools that are unique to the region. And some of them also have interesting historical connections with the former ruling families, local temples, churches, and the Vallom-kali (Snake-boat races, for which the area is famous).

While the inhabitants of these houses are fiercely conscious of their privacy, and generally resent any intrusion, in view of our close family connections with many of them, we have been given limited access to some of these stately homes. As such, we are in a position to take and guide visitors around a genuine heritage home (tharawad) during the course of our ‘Heritage Cruise’.

Our Heritage Cruise consists of a 4-hour run along the backwater-lagoon systems, south of the Vembanad Lake and envisages, among other things, halts at an old tharawad, an ancient church, a colourful waterfront temple, and a 9th century Buddhist shrine (one of the few such left in this part of the country). If asked for, a traditional Kerala breakfast can also be arranged at the tharawad, at extra cost.