Massive cruise ship brings thousands of visitors to Christchurch - and this time shops were open

Wednesday, 28 December 2022

Ovation of the Seas passengers queue in Lyttelton to catch a shuttle back to their cruise.

The largest cruise ship to sail Australian waters brought more than 4000 visitors to Christchurch – and this time the shops were open to greet them.

The ship Ovation Of The Seas docked at Lyttelton at 7am and left at 3pm. At 348 metres long, the ship is nearly the length of an athletics track and can fit up to 4800 passengers.

It joins a week-long itinerary of seven ships landing in the city between Monday and Friday.

Owner of The Lyttel Kiwi handmade crafts and souvenirs store Huia-Rei Couch said Lyttelton was “packed” full of visitors from the ship. They had put on extra staff all week preparing for the business boom.

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Ovation of the Seas is the largest cruise ship to dock in Lyttelton, and brought more than 4000 visitors to Christchurch.

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“We love having the cruise ships, it’s great for business and all of us are excited for it after long Covid years. It’s nice to have the port up and running again,” Couch said.

“I want to… make them as comfortable and welcome to Lyttelton.”

Carl Bonniface, who volunteers at the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre, said the queue for shuttle buses to back to the boat in the afternoon wrapped around the block.

He said the volume of guests put a strain on the bus and shuttle services, but said it was “not bad management”, just a result of a shorter stopover because their next destination was Napier.

“Normally if they’re going the other way to Dunedin that’s overnight, but to go from here straight to Napier, they're going to have to leave earlier,” Bonniface said.

“It has been very busy with that many passengers and people want to know what to do and how to get there and how get to the gondola.”

Coral Princess passengers were dropped off on Christmas morning at Lyttelton – only to find a single dairy open.

The Silver Muse, with almost 600 guests, docks in Lyttelton on Thursday, and two ships arrive on Friday – the Norwegian Spirit with 2000 passengers and the Star Breeze with a smaller group of 300 visitors.