Cruise-ship passengers flooded Dunedin yesterday, as two
liners tied up at Port Chalmers for the day.
Dick and Danuta Chad, of Sydney, Australia, spent their shore
visit exploring Port Chalmers, after arriving aboard
Oosterdam yesterday morning.
The couple took the cruise to celebrate their 42nd wedding
anniversary.
"I'm lazy, and the best thing about going on a cruise is no
cooking and no doing beds. You just do whatever you want and
everything else is taken care of," Mrs Chad said.
"We love Dunedin. We first came here in 1975 and we thought
we'd have a look around Port Chalmers this time. It's good to
get out and walk about and get the feel of the land."
The two cruise liners dwarfed the port basin, between the
container terminal and Beach St wharf, yesterday.
Many locals visited Observation Point, overlooking the port,
to take photographs of the vessels.
Oosterdam, carrying 1918 passengers and 800 crew,
arrived from Hobart at 7.18am, followed by Dawn
Princess, carrying 1950 passengers and 830 crew, from
Akaroa at 7.55am.
The ships were only in Dunedin for the day, Oosterdam
leaving for Akaroa at 5.30pm yesterday and Dawn
Princess departing for Milford Sound at 6pm.
Two more cruise ships are due in Port Chalmers today.
Sun Princess is scheduled to berth at 7.30am and sail
at 6pm, while Pacific Pearl is due to arrive at 9am
and depart at 6pm.
Dawn Princess is due at 9am on Thursday.
Seventy-seven more cruise-ship visits are scheduled for Port
Chalmers before the season ends on April 5.
The busiest day will be February 9, when Dawn
Princess, Caledonian Sky and Carnival
Spirit will bring more than 4000 passengers to the city.
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