The cruise ship season is coming to an end. Photo / NZME
By SunLive
For those early risers, a picnic breakfast in Pilot Bay at Mount Maunganui this week is a great opportunity to watch two of the last three cruise ships of the season arrive in port.
Returning in the early evening to capture the last rays of the autumn sun will also coincide with the ships’ scheduled departures.
Brilliance of the Seas was due to arrive at 6.45am today and depart at 6.30pm.
The Majestic Princess makes its last appearance of the 2023-24 season, sailing into Tauranga Harbour at 7.30am on Wednesday, leaving at 7.15pm.
Following this, it’s a six-month stretch until cruise ships are expected back in port in mid-October.
For tourist operators, this week is an opportunity again to put on tours and activities for more than 2000 passengers from Brilliance of the Seas and about 3500 from Majestic Princess.
Each ship also carries about 850 and 1360 crew members, respectively.
Downtown the Mount will be a flurry of activity with the influx of passengers enjoying the stroll along The Mall, around Mauao and into the main shopping centre. Businesses in the town have been able to thrive this season, with a minimum of four cruise ships a week, of varying sizes, until late March.
Passengers have also jumped aboard the city’s public buses and headed to Tauranga’s Historic Village, another popular destination, which has a working village of artists and artisans.
Coaches also take passengers on day outings to Rotorua and a Middle-earth walking tour at Hobbiton.
Two new kids on the block this year have been Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Edge and the quickly popular Resilient Lady from the Virgin cruise line.
On its two visits to Tauranga, the Resilient Lady’s enthusiastic and energetic crew engagement and communication manager Carl Dickinson led a team of volunteers on a rubbish-collecting mission to the summit in January and along part of the base of Mauao in March.
Celebrity Edge debuted in Tauranga on December 14 last year on the first of 12 itineraries through to April, visiting 22 ports.
Tauranga’s cruise ship industry missed a much-anticipated economic opportunity in November when an Australian ship failed to meet New Zealand’s strict biosecurity requirements.
Thousands of passengers and crew on the Pacific Adventure were turned away, heading back to Australia instead of spending the day enjoying Tauranga.
The ship had left Sydney for hull cleaning off the Bay of Plenty but the weather didn’t allow this to happen, so the itinerary had to be amended. Bay of Plenty tourism operators missed out as visits to Tauranga, Rotorua, Hobbiton and Western Bay of Plenty were cancelled.
Since the first cruise ship of the season, Royal Princess, arrived in port on October 18, more than 100 ships have visited, bringing more than 290,000 passengers and crew.
Port of Tauranga is consistently voted by passengers as one of the best cruise ship destinations in New Zealand. The port is one of the few in the southern hemisphere where passengers can walk straight off their ship and into a top holiday spot within minutes.