One of world's biggest cruise ships to open season in Napier

Ovation of the Seas during its first visit to Napier in 2017. Photo / NZME

One of the biggest cruise ships in the world is scheduled to open the cruise season in Napier.

Napier Port is gearing up to welcome back cruise ships from late October following a two-and-a-half-year absence as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rather than ease back into the service, Napier Port plans to welcome one of the biggest cruise ships in the world on October 24 - the Ovation of the Seas.

"It will be our first cruise ship of the season," Napier Port chief executive Todd Dawson said.

He said it was a great way to mark the return of cruise ships and the port would "take it in our stride as we always do".

Ovation of the Seas off Napier in 2018. Photo / NZME

It comes as Tourism Minister and Napier Labour MP Stuart Nash says cruise companies have put in a lot of work to reduce risks of Covid-19 spreading to areas they visit, following outbreak issues during the early stages of the pandemic including in Napier.

Ovation of the Seas has an unenviable reputation in New Zealand as passengers from the cruise made up the majority of the 22 deaths during the 2019 White Island eruption disaster.

The gigantic vessel, which has visited the city multiple times and is operated by Royal Caribbean, is roughly 350m long, can carry over 4500 passengers, and is 16 decks high.

More than 80 cruise visits are scheduled at the port this season but it is unlikely all of those will turn into actual visits, as a lot of work has to go into logistics and planning after scheduling a visit.

Napier MP and Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said it would be great to see cruise tourists walking through town again spending money in shops.

Tourism Minister and Napier Labour MP Stuart Nash (centre). Photo / NZME

He also said the wider cruise industry had done a lot of work to ensure strict Covid procedures were now in place.

"The cruise industry knows that it lost its social licence during Covid and certainly in places like Napier where the Ruby Princess was responsible for bringing Covid to our region," he said.

"But, because they are aware of that, I think that they have worked incredibly hard to put measures in place to ensure that they will earn their social licence back.

"I think the people of Hawke's Bay can be assured that the cruise industry understands they have a lot of work to do and they have put the processes in place to ensure that if anyone does have Covid on their boat, that they are well taken care of and the risk of it spreading into a community from a boat is very, very low."

Cruises inject millions of dollars into the local economy through increased visitor numbers.

One Napier business owner told Hawke's Bay Today earlier this year it marked the "light at the end of the tunnel" for many businesses, who had been desperately waiting for their return.

Napier Port has just opened its new wharf Te Whiti which cost about $175 million.

For huge cruises like Ovation of the Seas, it means the vessel will be able to pull up alongside the new wharf rather than reverse into the existing wharves.