A very successful cruise ship season, which began when Dawn Princess berthed on October 22, 2008, comes to an end when Millennium makes its eleventh visit tomorrow.
All told, Port Chalmers will have received 51 visits by 14 ships.
Dunedin's tally of 13 visits by five vessels included that of Columbus, which had earlier been scheduled to berth in the lower harbour.
And the previous planned visit by Millennium was cancelled.
Incidentally, this Maltese-flag ship, our fourth largest visitor at 90,228gt and longest at 294m, has also made visits to Akaroa.
And on these figures it must have established new records for that picturesque harbour.
Of the major players, the Carnival group, through the brand names P&O Australia, Princess Cruises and Holland-America Line, accounted for 26 of the calls shared between Dawn Princess, Diamond Princess, Sun Princess, Pacific Sun and Volendam.
Next was the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line with five visits by Rhapsody of the Seas, and 11 by Millennium from its associated Celebrity Cruise Line. Looking ahead to the next season, the current Port Otago cruise ship schedule has Port Chalmers down for 48 visits by 19 ships.
It starts when the 2002-built Star Princess makes its first return visit on October 22.
The 108,977gt vessel, which made six visits in the 2002-03 season, was then this port's largest visitor.
While thirteen of the ships are already known visitors, five new names, Arcadia, Journey, Pacific Jewel, Saga Ruby and Pacific Dawn, appear on the list.
Pacific Dawn, which has only carried this name since October 2007, is really no stranger to this harbour.
As Regal Princess it made 19 visits from 2000 to 2007.
So far this year, the log and phosphate trades seem very quiet, with only Portland Bay loading logs last month and Sea Sparkle, on its fourth visit last week.
And until yesterday, the only visitor to Ravensbourne was Mount Owen early in February.
Yesterday's visitor was the Hong Kong-registered Kuanyin.
This newcomer, much smaller than those usually seen at the fertiliser berth, is a 159.9m-long, 14,912gt, 22, 019dwt vessel.
One of five ships operated by Fenwick Shipping Services Ltd of Hong Kong, it is registered to the ownership of Northpoint Shipping Ltd.
Ordered from the Zhejiang Hongxin Shipbuilding Company Ltd, at Taizhou, in December 2004, it was laid down on December 24, 2005, and delivered on January 25, 2008.
The Fenwick concern, in business since 1984, was last represented here when its 12-year-old, 11,478gt Tien Hau berthed at Ravensbourne last year on September 16.
But instead of discharging phosphate, the ship made local history by loading phosphate for Albany, Western Australia.
The next log ship scheduled to call, Belle Masuka, is also another comparatively new Hong Kong-flagged, first-time visitor. Launched on May 8, 2008, it was handed over to the Tradewind Navigation Company on July 1.
This 170m-long, 17.971gt, 29,664dwt vessel represents a bulk/lumber carrier type built at Takamatsu by the Shikoku Dockyard Company since 2001.
Sister ships already seen here are Belle Aruya, Benedetta D'Amato, Golden Hawk, Peony and Umberto D'Amato.
