The cruise ship Dawn Princess docked in Dunedin yesterday, passengers and crew celebrating Christmas on foreign soil.
Dawn Princess passengers Kerryn and Danny Robinson, of Melbourne, said they enjoyed spending Christmas in Dunedin.
Mr Robinson said he and his wife decided to take a Christmas cruise with their two teenage daughters, and his mother and father from Western Australia, because his mother wanted a change from the past 64 Christmases, which were spent at home.
''It's been a great family time on board the boat.''
The family visited Baldwin St and St Clair Beach and attended a Christmas service at St Paul's Cathedral.
Christmas decorations were hung throughout the ship and on Christmas Eve a midnight Mass was held and the crew sang carols, Mrs Robinson said.
Mulberry Lane owner Colin Sanders, of Dunedin, said knitwear sales in the Octagon shop were ''really good'' between 10am and 1pm yesterday.
The shop opened because the cruise ship was in. Dawn Princess passenger Chuang Fong said as most Dunedin shops were closed yesterday she and her husband Murray Tait-Kong decided to explore the hills in Port Chalmers.
''We saw a colony of wild chickens in the jungle,'' Mrs Fong said.
Mr Tait-Kong said they had been on a Christmas cruise before and would do it again.
''You come on your ship with your luggage and you unpack and that's it for two weeks - there's nothing else to do - it's all done for you. You just have to sit back and relax.''
