Cruise ship Silver Moon sailed into Otago Harbour yesterday morning.
Silver Moon was built in 2020 and is the sister ship of Silver Muse.
At 40,700 tonnes with capacity to accommodate 596 passengers and about 400 crew, the ship is aiming for the top end of the market and offers some real culinary treats.
Port Otago customer general manager Craig Usher said a couple of new ships usually visited the port each year.
"They’ll put a few cruise ships into the region and then they’ll run it for a few years and then they’ll change it — just because they get a lot of repeat customers — so it just gives the customers a different experience," he said.
It was a high-end vessel, with fewer than 600 passengers, and about 400 crew, and the culinary experience was a drawcard.
There were few pies and sausage rolls to be seen.
The passengers were a mixture of Americans, Aussies and Germans, he said.
Silver Moon passengers had a busy itinerary — travelling to Auckland and then Tauranga, Wellington and Lyttelton before arriving in Dunedin yesterday. It was a fleeting visit, the ship arriving at 8am and leaving just before 4pm, bound for Stewart Island, then Fiordland and Hobart. Smaller ships could get into ports quicker.
Mr Usher said wild weather in the Tasman Sea was forcing ships to change their itineraries.
A Disney cruise ship was trying to get to Fiordland by Christmas Day but that was in doubt. It was at Napier yesterday.
Dunedin would host the large cruise ship Anthem of the Seas tomorrow.
The port will be closed on Christmas Day.
Mr Usher said last year two large ships, Ovation of the Seas and Celebrity Edge, had arrived on Christmas Eve and it was felt it was too much for the city to cope with on that day.
