Majestic Princess cruise ship confirmed for Napier Port next season

Majestic Princess, which weighs the same as three Titanics, will kick off the 2018/2019 cruise season with a visit to Napier Port on October 2.

After Napier Port pilots undertook extensive simulator training in Europe, another massive cruise liner has been lined up to visit Napier - bringing more than 24,000 tourists to the city.

Napier Port last week revealed that 70 cruise liners were confirmed for the 2018/19 season, which would kick off with the debut visit of the gigantic Majestic Princess on October 2.

At 330m long and 38m wide, the Majestic Princess will be the second largest cruise liner ever to berth at Napier Port, after the 348m Ovation of the Seas.

"It's fantastic news for our cruise sector and will be a great boost for local business," Napier Port services manager Bruce Lochhead said.

"The ship could bring as many as 24,530 passengers and crew into Hawke's Bay."

The ship carries 3560 passengers and 1346 crew, and will call in Napier five times next season. In keeping with maritime tradition, there will be a ceremony onboard the ship to mark the maiden call on October 21, which will see the ship's captain and a Napier Port representative exchange plaques.

The addition of the Majestic Princess calls takes the total number of cruise ship calls for the 2018-2019 season up to 70 and the number of cruise passengers visiting Hawke's Bay up to 130,000, breaking records for the local cruise sector.

"Passenger demand for the Hawke's Bay experience is growing - Hawke's Bay is consistently rated as one of the best ports of call in New Zealand, and it's very attractive as a tourist destination."

Mr Lochhead said the Majestic Princess is the newest in the fleet of cruise vessels operated by Carnival Cruises, and Napier Port worked hard behind the scenes to bring it to Hawke's Bay.

"We worked through an extensive process with Carnival Cruises. We undertook a range of studies including simulations and a mooring analysis.

"Two of our marine pilots travelled to the Netherlands, where Carnival operates a specialist training centre called CSMART. Using a simulator equipped with an exact replication of Napier Port, they worked with ship's masters from Carnival to explore berthing the ship here in a range of conditions.

"We spent a week with the Carnival team, simulating manoeuvres in different wind speeds and directions to understand how these affected the vessel. Together, we were able to determine that the Majestic Princess could berth safely and successfully at Napier Port."