Silver Muse berth marks Napier Port’s 1000th cruise-ship visit

The Silver Muse berthed on Monday, heralding Napier Port's 1000th cruise ship. Photo / Warren Buckland

Napier Port has heralded its 1000th cruise ship visit with the summer season on track to be the “busiest ever”.

The milestone was accomplished courtesy the berth of the Silver Muse on Monday - 30 years since the liners began calling at the port.

Port chief executive Todd Dawson presented the ship’s captain with a gift to commemorate the occasion.

“This cruise season is set to be the port’s busiest yet with 72 cruise visits already and another 17 bookings through to early April. We’ve had more double and triple ship stays than ever before, and also welcomed a number of maiden cruise line calls,” Dawson said.

“That translates to more than 130,000 cruise visitors to Hawke’s Bay, which is a significant and timely boost to the local economy and our region’s ongoing post-cyclone recovery.”

He said the recent addition of Te Whiti (6 Wharf) as a multi-purpose berth has “boosted the port’s wharf capacity” and provides greater operational flexibility to manage different types of cargo vessels regularly calling to Napier.

Cruise bookings remain healthy over the next couple of years, with Napier and the wider Hawke’s Bay region “driving demand as a cruise tourism destination”.

Former port employee, local maritime historian and regular cruise ambassador volunteer, Tony des Landes, joined the Silver Muse presentation and said, “I’ve had a front row seat to history you could say – watching the increasing trend of cruise ships to Napier Port over the last 30 years. Not only is Napier Port facilitating the arrival of more cruise ships, the ships are also getting much bigger and in turn bringing with them a growing number of visitors to the region.

“The boom of the cruise industry over the last couple of seasons has been spectacular, particularly in light of the two-year absence due to the pandemic as well as the disruptions caused by Cyclone Gabrielle last season.”

Modern-day cruise experiences began in the 1960s. However, it wasn’t until 1994 that cruise ships started calling in to Napier, with the arrival of the Marco Polo (176m) on February 24 making seven visits that first season and returning for nine the following season.