Westerdam, Seabourn Odyssey and Le Soleal will bring up to 2638 passengers and 1286 crew to the city while two graduation parades will be held — for arts students at 1pm and science students at 4pm.
New Zealand Hospitality Association Otago president Mark Scully said the combination would mean a "nice busy day" for hospitality operators.
Cruise ships passengers would usually be in town around lunchtime and early afternoon, while graduation celebrations take place later at night.
While business would hopefully be very busy, the different groups of customers would dine at different times of the day which was "absolutely" the ideal scenario.
Most graduations tended to book ahead which made it easier to manage staffing, although finding workers was still extremely difficult, with hospitality operators desperate for workers especially those who were highly skilled in roles such as duty managers, Mr Scully said.
Vault 21, Deja Vu Eats and Prohibition Smokehouse owner Andre Shi said this year had definitely been busier than the previous two.
Former staff who had gone on to new jobs, including a teacher and a corporate worker, had come back to help out with the surge, as were Mr Shi and his partner.
Their efforts were "very much needed", as his businesses were pretty much at capacity.
Deja Vu Eats, while usually a functions space, would be holding a dinner for graduands.
Across the three spaces they were expecting 600 customers, while on a normal weekend they usually had up to 350, Mr Shi said.
No 7 Balmac and Esplanade owner Katrina Toovey said No 7 Balmac was fully booked for tonight and while Esplanade did not take reservations it was "fully staffed and ready to go", Ms Toovey said.
Staffing had been a challenge and she was lucky to be able to call on previous employees, whom she described as "our triage workers".
With more travellers and people on working holiday visas visiting, she was optimistic they would be able to get back to their normal lives.
