Napier's week of cruise ships, little and large

The giant Ovation of the Seas started the visiting week which will wrap up with one of the smallest passenger liners to call at Napier.

The largest cruise liner to visit Napier kicked off a working week which is set to be wrapped up by one of the smallest.

With about 4200 passengers aboard, the 348m giant Ovation of the Seas arrived from Picton and tied up at 7.30am on Monday — discharging a steady stream of visitors into the city aboard coaches before departing at 5pm.

But the big crowds of visitors will be missing for the rest of the week with no more cruise ships scheduled to arrive until Friday.

But even then the crowds will be missing as the boutique liner Caledonian Sky is at the other end of the size scale and carries just 114 passengers.

As they had on previous visits by the Ovation of the Seas, traffic marshals were in place at the entrance to Napier Port to keep the flow of passenger coaches running smoothly.

The giant liner is scheduled to make three more visits to the Bay this season, calling again on March 4, March 15 and April 5.