High winds in the Canterbury area prevented hundreds of cruise ship passengers from returning to Sea Princess in Akaroa Harbour on Saturday afternoon, forcing the cancellation of its Dunedin visit.
Stranded passengers were forced to spend the night in hotels, motels and private homes before boarding the ship yesterday afternoon.
Dunedin operators were notified on Saturday night the ship would not be arriving in Port Chalmers on Sunday, Dunedin Visitor Centre manager Louise van de Vlierd said.
Those affected included food and retail outlets, and tourism and transport operators, many of whom had rostered on additional staff for the expected influx.
Taieri Gorge Railway chief executive Murray Bond said news of the cancellation was "bad luck ... and the weather beat us".
He said 290 passengers were booked on the shore excursion from the vessel, and a further 120 were booked to leave from the Dunedin Railway Station.
In addition the tourism operator was trialling its new Silver Fern Railway car, and an estimated 160 passengers were expected.
"The [impact] is many tens of thousands of dollars from this one ship. But you expect it and you factor in a certain amount of cancellations each season.
"But this being the first makes you a bit uneasy about the rest of the season."
Mr Bond said operators had only two nonarrivals for the 2011-12 season, and "let's hope this is the only visit we lose and the rest of the season is strong".
Operators were looking forward to a record season, expected to deliver 230,000 passengers and crew into Dunedin.
"This takes a big chunk of income out at the start of the season, because we have just come out of a long quiet winter with few tourists around, and now is the time you have to start paying your bills."
In addition, 290 prepared meals had been given to staff, volunteers or disposed of, as the company did not have the resources to redistribute the meals.
Staff had fielded disappointed emails from Sea Princess passengers looking forward to their Dunedin visit, Mr Bond said.
The next scheduled Dunedin visit by a cruise ship is Dawn Princess on Sunday, October 28.
