Cruise ship wine tourism in Hawke’s Bay
27 May, 2026 - Elaine Ratcliffe
In February 2026, I was fortunate to visit the Hawke’s Bay region in New Zealand to learn about wine tourism experiences provided to visitors from the cruise ship market. This was through a travel bursary provided by the Great Wine Capitals initiative through PIRSA, so I could utilise my experience of dealing with cruise ship visitors to Seppeltsfield to look for ideas of how South Australian wineries can grow revenue from cruise ships and their guests.
The cruise tourism sector
This tourism sector offers regional wine tourism significant opportunities for the SA wine tourism sector. The numbers of ships visiting South Australia has been increasing. The 2025-26 cruise season saw 56 ships visiting SA, bringing over 80,000 visitors and almost 40,000 crew to the state.
Most ships visit between November and March each year, with the largest ship being the Discovery Princess with approximately 3,600 passengers and 1,600 crew members. 18 October 2025 saw the first ship for the season arrive into Port Adelaide - the Crown Princess, part of a 28-day route around Australia with more than 3,000 guests onboard. The ship arrived in SA from Western Australia. A return visit by the Crown Princess was scheduled as the last cruise ship visiting in the 2025-26 season, stopping at Port Adelaide on 14 May 2026. Some of the smaller ships also visited Robe, Port Lincoln and Kangaroo Island, but the vast majority of cruise ships visiting SA only stop at Port Adelaide.
There has been more smaller luxury ships, carrying around 800 guests each, visiting SA in this last season, with 18 maiden visits. These ships provide the best opportunity for wineries as they tend to be less restrictive on guests bringing wine on board (as they are fully inclusive cruises which aren't making money selling drinks on board), and generally attract high-net-worth passengers.
Visit to Hawke’s Bay, NZ
My visit to Hawke’s Bay took place from Monday 2 – Friday 6 February 2026. During that time three cruise ships stopped at the Port of Napier, just a few kilometres from the centre of Napier (the main town in the region). I could observe first hand how visits were coordinated and guests dispersed to wine tourism experiences around the region. I also met with a number of key people who are actively working with the cruise ship visitors and/or wine tourism sector, including Rachel Campbell – Great Wine Capitals lead, Jane Libby – Manager at Napier I-site Visitor Centre, Brent Pilcher – Precinct Manager, Church Road Winery, and Liz Pollock, Hawke’s Bay Wine Experience.
The cruise ship market has been a growth area for visitors to Hawke’s Bay. 60 cruise ships were booked to visit Hawke's Bay, slightly more than the 56 ships visiting Adelaide, in the 2025/26 cruise ship season.
Opportunities for wine tourism
Third party wholesale travel companies are used by the cruise ships to organise trips (known as shore excursions) for guests while the ship is in port at each destination. These are usually sold by the cruise company to guests, with bookings able to be made prior to boarding, and in many cases up to the day prior to the day of arrival in port. More premium ships can offer some shore excursions as an inclusive offering for guests, but in most cases the cruise companies generate revenue through a mark-up on the price of the tour.
Given the numbers of visitors to accommodate on the same day, the trips offered for sale to guests to book directly through the cruise company tend to be larger group experiences. But Hawke’s Bay showed how wineries and local tour operators could offer smaller, boutique experiences that could be sold directly to cruise guests, or through the excursion companies.
Ideas for SA wine tourism opportunities
Regional paid tasting experiences by multiple wineries offered in a central location, with streamlined freight options for guests to send wine home, as well as take bottles back to the ship with them.
In Hawke’s Bay a regional tasting experience is offered to guests of Viking Cruises in a central location at the Hawke’s Bay Club with 10 local wineries and a food store selling local artisan products attending. This is a paid experience that is organised by an event management company, who charge a ‘per head’ price to Viking Cruises for entry to the tasting, with buses provided from the port to the door of the venue. Guests receive a complimentary glass to keep and move around the tables to meet the wineries and taste their wines. Wineries sell direct to the guests with bottles to take away and the option for consolidated international freight.
Coaches from the port to key destination hubs (such as a Visitor Information Centre) with smaller tours connecting from the hubs.
Coaches from the Port of Napier shuttle cruise passengers to the Napier i-site Visitor Information Centre (VIC). Staff and volunteers are there to meet the passengers, and local tour operators collect their guests for paid tour experiences from this location. Some guests will have pre-booked their tours, but VIC staff are actively selling any seats still available on tours prior to departure. The offering include guided walking tours, cycle tours, private tours, and tours in small to medium size buses.
Direct promotion to cruise ship guests by regional tourism websites by developing specific pages for visitors from this sector
The Napier i-site has a section on their website specifically designed for cruise ship guests to assist them to plan with day before they arrive at the port. It clearly explains the arrival location, the range of tours available and has a downloaded guide specifically designed for cruise guests: Cruise | Napier isite Visitor Centre
The provision of tailored printed information on wine experiences that is provided to guests on disembarking, for those who haven’t committed to tour experiences
The downloadable cruise guest guide for Napier outlined in point 3 above is also provided in printed format to guests on disembarking at the port. As well as detailing the paid tour experiences, it also has a map of the town to assist guests to find key locations and is supported by paid advertising by shops and cafes hoping to attract visitors.
Elaine was supported by the Great Wine Capitals Outbound Knowledge Exchange bursary program.
Photos by Elaine Ratcliffe