NZ Set to Welcome Record Number of Cruise Ships

NZ Set to Welcome Record Number of Cruise Ships

New Zealand will welcome a record number of cruise ships to its shores this summer, including an unprecedented nine ships making their inaugural calls to the country.

Among the visitors will be the largest ship to sail to New Zealand – Royal Caribbean’s 167,000 tonne Ovation of the Seas – as well as the youngest and most luxurious ship ever to cruise local waters, the boutique Seabourn Encore, which will arrive in New Zealand just one month after she is officially named in Singapore.

Detailing the upcoming cruise season, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia Commercial Director Brett Jardine said a record 33 ships from CLIA member cruise lines would be cruising New Zealand waters between October 1, 2016, and April 30, 2016 – a significant increase on the 28 ships which visited over the same period last year.

Between them, the ships will make more than 600 calls to ports around the country. The visits will include close to a dozen maiden port calls for cruise lines at destinations including Stewart Island, Wellington and Kaikoura, as well as more than 60 inaugural port calls for individual ships.

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