Celebrity Eclipse is piloted into Lyttelton Harbour as the first arrival at the new cruise wharf and largest ship since the 2011 rebuild. Photo / Supplied
Celebrity Eclipse is piloted into Lyttelton Harbour as the first arrival at the new cruise wharf and largest ship since the 2011 rebuild. Photo / Supplied
Christchurch is now a two-cruise-port town.
This morning, the first cruise ship arrived at Lyttelton's newly built Cruise Wharf.
Carrying almost 3000 passengers, the 122,000 tonne Celebrity Eclipse is the largest passenger ship to dock in Christchurch since the 2011 rebuild.
In the years since the earthquakes, Akaroa, on the far side of Banks Peninsula, took over as the main cruise destination for Canterbury. Following the pandemic Maritime Border Order neither has seen any international cruise passengers since the beginning of 2020.
In a subdued event, the freshly built cruise berth was officially opened by Mayor Lianne Dalziel in November that year, eight months into a national "cruise ban". Now the wait is over.
Captain Zisis Taramas of the Celebrity Eclipse, left, swaps plaques with Margaret Devlin LPC Chair. Photo / Thomas Bywater
Freshly appointed Mayor of Christchurch, Phil Mauger was present at the plaque ceremony.
"It's so good to see it being used," he said of the new cruise wharf on the edge of Christchurch City. "I used to feel sorry for the passengers who spent the day on a bus going to Waipara and had to be back on the bus that night. That's hard work."
Opening up the whole of the region to almost 200,000 passengers it was a great asset to have the new cruise berth in Lyttelton. "I look forward to welcoming anybody off a cruise ship," he said.
It is with great enthusiasm that the first arrivals were welcomed at the beginning of a 197,000-passenger season, from October 27 to April 2023.
The wharf on Lyttelton Harbour will be able to accommodate far larger ships including the Ovation of the Seas. The largest ship to ever visit New Zealand, the Ovation's 6000 passengers and crew are due to dock in Lyttelton next Thursday.
Photo / Thomas Bywater
"We've got so much to be proud of as a city, much of which has been regenerated, and we want to encourage our visitors to appreciate all we have to offer and come back," says Tracey Wilson, acting GM of Destination for Christchurch NZ.
Celebrity Cruises VP and regional managing director for New Zealand and APAC, Tim Jones was delighted to be bringing the first ship into the brand new port this week.
"These have been challenging times for those of us who are reliant on the travel and hospitality industry but today is a day of tremendous hope and optimism as we celebrate the restart of cruise tourism in Christchurch," said Jones.
Chief executive of the New Zealand Cruise Association, Kevin O'Sullivan was also present.
Following a long and unpredictable pause in cruise operations, he said scheduled cruise arrivals across the country were almost back to their former levels.
"The numbers of port calls in New Zealand are over 900 which is similar to the 2019/20 year - so we're pretty much back in business the way we were pre-pandemic," he said.
"It's going to be great news for Christchurch to have the main berth up and running in Lyttelton again."
Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship. Photo / Thomas Bywater
The Return of cruise tourists
Eclipse is the first large cruise ship to arrive in Lyttelton since the 2011 quakes.
With international passengers from Australia, the States and the UK sailing in from Sydney, for many returning guests it was the first time back to New Zealand since the pandemic or even since the Canterbury Earthquakes.
Visiting the cafes of downtown Lyttelton, Passengers Colin and Sue from Southampton UK said they had been looking forward to the trip for over a year. They had booked their trip even before the maritime border order had lifted on cruises.
"We were just lucky to have booked on to the first ship back," they said. They were looking forward to carrying on sailing up the country and had booked their tickets around the Hobbiton movie set.
Calling into Christchurch five times this season, the ship will bring 15,000 passengers from around the world. These include a floating Lord of The Rings Convention "Cruise to Middle-earth", which arrives in January.
Travel agent and convention planner Cathy Udovch said that the rebuilt wharf has allowed the Tolkien itinerary to return after a decade.
"I've been blocking space on cruises that specifically said Lyttelton was the Christchurch port, each season during the pandemic, waiting for the one that I thought was finally going to get to sail again."
The Eclipse in Port Chalmers, Dunedin yesterday. Photo / Supplied, Celebrity Cruises
Two ports, one Peninsula
Even ahead of the lifting of the Maritime Border Order, Christchurch was planning a different look to the cruise calendar.
The Eclipse marks the beginning of an 85-ship season across the Ports of Lyttelton and Akaroa, roughly 20 of which will call into Akaroa harbour.
This is a huge reduction on the 90 arrivals into Akaroa seen during 2019/20.
While some of this is the gradual return to New Zealand following two and a half years without cruise traffic, ECAN said that a smaller, shorter season could be expected on environmental and infrastructural grounds.
In previous summers, when a ship was in harbour, the 624 residents felt it. As did the area's marine life.
Having a larger cruise wharf in the main port of Lyttelton will help ease some of the pressures previously seen by Banks peninsula locals during summers past.
Back in May, Harbourmaster Jim Dilley said that it would be put to residents whether they thought cruise traffic was back at an acceptable level.
Currently the largest scheduled arrival into Akaroa is the 2414-passenger Norwegian Spirit, over new year. The majority of ships will be between 400 to 700 passengers.
It won't just be residents that will notice a reduced number of cruise passengers.
A redesign of the new cruise berth was made early in the process after concerns on the impact on the area's marine life. Specifically, this was to protect Hector's Dolphins which are endemic to the area. The marine mammals have been a big draw for cruise tourists, with many itineraries offering dolphin safari experiences on excursions out into the harbour.
During the hiatus of cruise visits, ECAN worked with the Department of Conservation and LINZ/ Toitū Te Whenua to monitor the impact of reduced cruise traffic in the harbours.
In 2019 the group commissioned a review into environmental damage from cruise ship propeller wash and anchoring activities in Akaroa Harbour. It was found that cruise ship activity had “potential for significant or unacceptable adverse ecological Effects,” but further research was needed.
