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The News
Sunday December 27 2015
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Crusing . . . Cruise ships are set to visit Kaikoura again this summer.
Cruises returning
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Kaikoura is gearing for a busy summer, with six cruise ships scheduled to visit in the coming months. Visits from cruise ships has been a growing trend over recent summers and could be set to grow, with local authorities seeking to make the harbour area more attractive. Five cruise ship visits are scheduled for January, four of those by Australian cruise ship Coral Discoverer which is due to arrive on January 2. Coral Discoverer, which is set to make return visits on January 14, 18 and 30, carries up to 72 passengers and 20 crew. Another cruise ship, Silver Discoverer, is scheduled to visit on January 18 and return on February 13, and carries up to 120 passengers and 96 crew. Destination Kaikoura general manager Glenn Ormsby says the town is continuing to explore options to address the issue of rocks in the South Bay in a bid to attract cruise ships with 700 or more passengers. ‘‘We are working with Environment Canterbury and the harbour master, so we can increase the number of cruise ships arriving here and attract bigger cruise ships. ‘‘If we can attract more and bigger cruise ships there will be benefits for our neighbours as well.’’ A marina is also included in the
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Kaikoura District Council’s long term plan, but this is likely to require outside funding, Mayor Winston Gray says. ‘‘It is an item that for a small community is a real challenge and needs to be commercially viable.’’ Cruise ships anchor off the coast from either South Bay or the New Wharf, to the north of the Kaikoura Peninsula, with the tenders bringing passengers ashore. So far the largest cruise ship to visit Kaikoura is the Seabourn Odyssey, which has up to 450 passengers and 330 crew. The biggest cruise ships which visit New Zealand have 2500 to 3000 passengers, however Mr Ormsby says it is unlikely a cruise ship that big will visit Kaikoura anytime soon. ‘‘At this stage I’d say zero. There’s a lot of work to do before we can get over 1000. We’ve got to cut our costs accordingly and the logistics don’t bear thinking about. ‘‘It can get pretty busy in South Bay with all the fishing boats, so we have got to make sure everything is done properly and it’s safe.’’ Mr Ormsby says cruise ship schedules are subject to change due to the weather and other issues, so it is possible there may be a last minute additions to the scheduled visits during the season, as there has been in the past.
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