Last cruise ship turned away

Photo/File

The last cruise ship of the season was turned away from port today because of high winds.

The Insignia was due to arrive at the Port of Tauranga today, the last of 84 cruise ships to visit Tauranga in the 2014/15 season.

Insignia can carry up to 684 passengers and 400 staff.

Due to weather conditions, 79 of the 83 other scheduled ships visited Port of Tauranga this season.

Those 79 ships bought 144,721 passengers and a further 61,862 crew.

This compares to 147,139 passengers and 64,214 crew the year before, a 1.6 per cent decrease due to weather dependencies.

At this stage, 80 cruise ships are tentatively scheduled for 2015/16, beginning with the Diamond Princess on the October 7.