The arrival of the super liner Celebrity Solstice at Napier Port yesterday was a symbolic moment in what has been possibly the biggest cruise week ever in Napier outside of Art Deco Weekend.
At 314 metres long and carrying more than 3100 passenger and crew of more than 1200, it's the biggest liner to have visited Napier.
It is 3m longer than the Voyager of the Seas, which is now a frequent visitor and arrived with a similar complement on Tuesday, in a four-day wave of five liners with a combined total of more than 10,000 passengers and almost 4500 crew. The number of passengers and crew on each of the two bigger liners was more than the number of passengers who arrived in the whole of one season 10 years ago, when there were just eight visits (the biggest with 650 passengers), which compares with the 58 scheduled for this season.
For some it was like Napier's big weekend on February 19-23 came early, including the Art Deco Trust, with all available guides on a roster of about 70 volunteers hitting the streets with their lapel-microphones to show more than 600 people the city, with a commentary of architectural history and features.
Walks and tours manager Nicola Pentelow said about 23 guides had been needed each day, co-ordinated so that all could start and finish at staggered times to co-ordinate those watching the short film which ends each tour.