New Zealand Herald journalist Grant Bradley finds out how giant Royal Caribbean cruise ships are built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.
Herald writer Grant Bradley travelled to Papenburg, Germany for the launch of the latest breed of cruise liner mega ships - Quantum of the Seas. See his video report here:
A cruise industry leader says he is encouraged by Auckland plans to expand facilities to handle bigger ships.
Auckland city has outlined four options to cater for the booming cruise ship industry, including wharf extensions and replacing Marsden Wharf with a pontoon structure for ferries.
Two of the options include removing cruise ships from Queens Wharf, where the council has spent $16.8 million refurbishing Shed 10 as a cruise ship terminal and events venue.
One option includes wharf extensions to Queens and Captain Cook wharves.
One option shows cruise ships docking at Bledisloe Wharf to the east, which is part of Ports of Auckland's operations.
"The sort of work that's happening in Auckland will permit larger ships to arrive and larger ships mean more passengers," said chairman of Cruise NZ, Kevin O'Sullivan.
He said extra capacity would allow more turnarounds in Auckland where a ship load of new passengers board a vessel. This is the most lucrative for airlines and other tourist operators as this involves thousands of passengers coming to the city many of who will have to stay overnight.
"We would like to see more and larger ships and we would like to see more turnarounds in Auckland."
Other ports such as Otago were also making moves to improve their facilities, said OSullivan.
One of the biggest operators in this region, Royal Caribbean says New Zealand must be prepared to host the next generation of cruise shipsin order to remain competitive.
While ships with 3100 passengers have called at New Zealand ports, new mega ships can carry around 5000 guests.
Image 1 of 23: Quantum of the Seas being built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany. Photo / Grant Bradley
Royal Caribbean's associate vice president of global deployment and itinerary planning, Chris Allen, said New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific was growing at about 15 per cent. Getting more ships here was not just dependent on facilities here but linked to improvements in Australia.
"In order to attract more ships to the region a strong focus needs to be placed on cost effective infrastructure improvements. Specifically, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises only have one berth in Sydney which then impacts deployment to New Zealand," he said.
Cruise companies plan deployment years out and Royal Caribbean relied on information including:
"Ultimately we go where our guests want us to go and where we believe that we can maximize our profitability," said Allen.
At a New Zealand Cruise Industry Association conference last month he said high costs of operating here were a challenge for cruise lines.
"More than ever, established products and ports are competing globally. Auckland is competing with Port Canaveral and Barcelona. Napier is competing with Cozumel, Palma and Ushuaia," he said.
New Zealanders are also taking cruises in record numbers. Last year close to 60,000 went on a cruise - up 23 per cent on the previous year and the largest increase of any of the markets industry body Cruise Lines International measures.
Most Kiwis cruised around the South Pacific.
• See the Weekend Herald business section this Saturday for a feature on how mega ships are made.
