"And people here have made the effort to open for us; Wellington is a much bigger place but we didn't see that there on Sunday."
His wife said the beachfront drive they took was "beautiful" and both remarked on how clean and tidy the city was.
"We will absolutely be back."
A traveller from Switzerland said the same.
"This place is so smart. You have done very well here."
Lloyd, an American, said it was his first visit to New Zealand and said Napier topped the spots.
"This is such a special place and it feels good ... and how do you keep it so clean?"
The Emerald Princess arrived from Wellington just after 5.30am and was scheduled to depart at 2pm for Tauranga and at 290-metres and 121,878 tonnes is one of the biggest liners to call into the Bay.
It is also the last of the big ships to wrap up the season, with only the boutique liner Sirena left to arrive on April 21.
That will add up to 55 ships for the season, with 59 already scheduled to call next season, which will kick off on October 9 with the Golden Princess.
It has been a bumper season for many tourism operators.
"This has been a record season for us," co-director of Absolute De Tours John Banks said.
They included four to five Art Deco-inspired tours on their schedule of tours and they were always full.
"And everyone tells us they want to live here because it's so beautiful."
Mr Banks said in the 14 years he had been involved with the tourism business he had seen a change in the cruise ship passenger demographics.
It was once the domain of the wealthy, now it had become more affordable and a wide cross-section of people were getting aboard.
"It has really come on in the past couple of years," said Marty Wood, who drives for Hooters Vintage Car Tours.
"And this has been a very good season," he said, adding the increasing size of the liners meant they were seeing more people step ashore year after year.
"Everyone we take out says it's a great place and they're taking a lot of photos so a lot more people will get to see it and maybe decide to come here as well."
The cruise ship industry is estimated to bring more than $20 million a season to the region, and with passengers numbers on the increase so, too, were the returns.
Hawke's Bay Tourism manager Annie Dundas said people made the most of their time ashore and tourism operators and management of the various destinations they went to see had done a top job in catering for them.
The region had accordingly built a reputation as being the top-ranking destination in the country.
Ms Dundas said research into the industry showed that many passengers returned as independent travellers.
"So the long-term benefits of cruise ship passengers are ongoing."