Forget the cafes - just give us a wharf

The Radiance of the Seas is 293m long. Photo / Supplied

Royal Caribbean Cruises wants certainty ahead of flash facilities as the cruise ship superpower expands its presence in New Zealand.

Royal Caribbean Australia managing director Gavin Smith said the company had followed the debate over plans for Queens Wharf - which included turning it into "party central" for the Rugby World Cup and building a modern terminal for cruise ships.

"We'd be more interested in a third berth than a redeveloped, integrated destinational facility because we want the flexibility to be able to see three ships in here regularly," Smith said.

"We want to know with great certainty that there'll be a wharf, whether it's got restaurants and shops and cafes is less material."

Infrastructure development was a sensitive issue around the world as the cruise industry grew both in volume and the size of its ships, he said.

"What the cruise industry would struggle to do is if the Government spent $50 million redeveloping the pier and then said we're going to quadruple your costs."

Auckland was one of the few ports in the world still offering a downtown wharf, which was very attractive to customers, Smith said.

"Because they can turn up, see the port immediately and they can purchase all the touring programmes without having to spend an hour on a bus to get there."

Royal Caribbean, which is listed in New York and Oslo, said it was opening a dedicated office in Auckland to cater for the growing number of New Zealanders taking cruise holidays.

The company said that according to the International Cruise Council nearly 40,000 New Zealanders took a cruise in 2008, up from 30,215 in 2007.

Smith estimated Royal Caribbean's market share for New Zealand customers was about 12-13 per cent.

"It gives us a greater sense of ownership of that responsibility of taking New Zealanders overseas on holiday," he said.

The new office was expected to be fully operational from April 1 and would support the commercial and operation activities of the company, which uses predominantly travel agents to re-sell its cruises.

"If you go into a travel agent there's 3500 products and what we want to give is personality to that."

The company would introduce a second ship to the region towards the end of next year and expected to bring about 25,000 visitors to New Zealand in 2011, compared to about 10,000 this year, he said.

New Zealanders taking a Royal Caribbean cruise would still have to fly to Sydney to join their ship but the company could eventually board passengers in Auckland.

"In an ideal world we will further expand to have product that originates out of New Zealand, out of Auckland, and I would hope that we're able to make announcements to that effect in the coming months," Smith said.