The week of visits that should fill otherwise mostly quiet streets and pack the city during its post-Christmas sales period, begins tomorrow when smaller ship Silver Shadow arrives.
Its 388 passengers will be followed the very next day — Christmas Day — with almost 7000 passengers and more than 3000 crew from Ovation of the Seas and Diamond Princess.
While passengers arriving on Christmas Day will not have the full quota of tourist activities usually on offer, many operators, tourist shops and food outlets have stepped up to make sure they will be catered for.
Dunedin i-Site visitor centre manager Louise van de Vlierd said tourism operators from Larnach Castle to Olveston, as well as literary tours and various bus tours, would be working.
A Pacific Showcase would entertain with cultural performances in the Dunedin Community Gallery in Princes St.
Cadbury World would be open, but was close to being booked out yesterday, and some city food outlets would be open.
Five shops in Port Chalmers had indicated they would open.
Ms van de Vlierd said shops did not have to close if they were tourism-oriented, and food outlets could trade with liquor restrictions.
"We’ve got a lot of places doing food, which is good."
Churches would be available for Christmas services, and the ships arriving on the day had already requested church service times, "so that will boost the congregations".
The i-Site would also be open.
"We’ll be absolutely pumping over this Christmas time."
Dunedin Railways was running services, but only for those who had booked, and "the ships have basically booked them all out".
"It’s going to be a lovely exciting day," she said.
On Boxing Day, when the city would be busy with post-Christmas sales, Radiance of the Seas and Sea Princess would bring more than 4000 passengers and 1500 crew between them.
"It’s all good," Ms van de Vlierd said.
"We just keep our fingers crossed we get no sea fog and everything happens as it should."
The season had been "fantastic" so far, without the number of cancellations of last year and with ships staying overnight on two occasions.
