Rahul Dravid with Brian Lara: Here we go!

Calypso, cruise and cricket ? the countdown to ICC World Cup 2007 in the West Indies has begun, and it?s already time to chalk out travel plans.

The 20, 12 and eight-night packages just unveiled pack in stay aboard a cruise liner, instead of hotels, along with tickets to the cricket clashes.

?It is difficult to get rooms on land, as there are a limited number of hotels on the Caribbean islands and most of them are booked to capacity for the World Cup. So, the cruise ships,? Zakkir Ahmed, outgoing president of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), told Metro from Mumbai.

Ahmed is also managing director of one of the five ICC-approved Indian travel agents for the tournament, from March 13 to April 28.

?We are getting a lot of inquiries from Calcutta. We expect a higher number of bookings, compared to the 2003 World Cup in South Africa,? said Anil Punjabi, chairman (east), TAFI.

?Since the packages are on the expensive side, we are in talks with several banks for instalment schemes,? he added.

On the ship with 3,000-capacity, that will dock at Barbados and sail to other Cup venues like Grenada and St Lucia, the 20-night package will cost between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 6.8 lakh. For a 12-night stay, the bill will be between Rs 3.78 lakh and Rs 4.79 lakh, while the eight-night package comes for Rs 3.6 lakh-4.38 lakh. The prices exclude airport taxes and visa charges for the UK.

Travel agents are planning tie-ups with airlines as well. With the easiest route from Calcutta to West Indies being via London, Air-India will be approached for a promotional fare. Chartered flights will fly the tourists from London to Barbados.

Officials of the airline in Calcutta said they would consider a package once the tour operators place a proposal.