Fewer cruise ships expected next season

The cruise industry has hit unsettled seas, with fewer ships and passengers expected next season.

The 2008-09 season will end next month when Millennium departs Port Chalmers on April 7, following a record-breaking season of 64 cruise ship visits, but that feat is unlikely to be repeated next season.

When Millennium and its 2000 passengers leave from Port Chalmers, so too does its business, with its owner, Celebrity Cruises, having decided to pull out of Australia and New Zealand for the 2009-10 season.

With Millennium originally scheduled to visit Port Chalmers 11 times next season, the cancellation has reduced preliminary bookings to 52 visits and tourism representatives are hoping that number holds.

Despite this season being an "exceptional year", next season's bookings would still be the second-highest number of visits on record as long as there were no further cancellations, Tourism Dunedin chief executive Hamish Saxton said.

It was too early to know how bookings had been affected by the recession, he said.

The impact of the economic crisis was likely to impact heavily on the demographic of cruise ship passengers, with fewer big-spending American visitors and more Australian visitors expected, he said.

In an effort to encourage more visitors to visit New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand was working with cruise ship companies to help "fill the cruise ships currently scheduled", spokeswoman Cas Carter said.

"We are also working hard to stimulate interest in New Zealand in the markets where most of our cruise passengers come from: Australia and the United States," she said.

Taieri Gorge Railway chief executive Murray Bond said while there was a "drop-off" in ship numbers next season, many of the cruise ships were bigger "so it is not as bad as it sounds".

The loss of Millennium, coupled with fewer American passengers, would mean an adjustment period for the Dunedin tourism industry, which had become accustomed to significant increases in passenger numbers each season.

"But I am optimistic for the future - we will be on that big upward slope again."

With more Australian cruise ship passengers expected, it was a possibility shore excursions would be priced in Australian dollars, making them more attractive for passengers, he said.

A brief by Cruise New Zealand, obtained by the Otago Daily Times, reveals cruise ship visits to New Zealand are down 83 port calls, equating to the loss of 51,250 passenger port days.

Millennium's cancellations of 72 port visits equates to 144,000 passenger port days lost but is offset by several larger cruise ships visiting next season.

One such visitor, the 2100 passenger Sun Princess, scheduled to visit New Zealand 37 times, will result in 77,700 passenger port days, including six visits to Dunedin or 12,600 passenger port days.

Other cruise ships visiting Dunedin next season include Dawn Princess (seven visits), Rhapsody of the Seas (six visits) and Diamond Princess (six visits).

- hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz