In the 298-metre-long Noordam’s first season through Napier, in 2015-2016, there were 42 stops.
Missing from the schedule this summer is 348-metre-long Royal Caribbean megaliner Ovation of the Seas, a regular since first berthing in Napier in January 2017.
It was at the time just nine months after its maiden voyage and the largest cruise ship ever to berth in New Zealand.
But sister ship Anthem of the Seas, with a capacity of 4905 passengers and launched in 2015, is due on December 5, for the first of four visits this summer.
Most are on transtasman cruises, but P&O line’s Arcadia, in port on March 1, will be on a 106-day World cruise, Southampton to Southampton.
Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter based in Napier, with more than 42 years reporting for newspapers in the region.