Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders said there were 131 ships booked to call into Dunedin from November 6 to April 7.
"If they all come, it will be a record year," Mr Winders said.
"We are looking forward to welcoming 200,000-plus passengers into the city and potentially delivering $100 million of economic value to the city. It’s exciting."
Mr Winders was hopeful of a return of a Dunedin Railways service to take some pressure off a transport network that buckled under the weight of cruise passengers at times last year.
However, a return to a full service for the port appears to be likely for next year at the earliest.
Additionally, Mr Winders said the opening of the new shared path, connecting Port Chalmers to Dunedin could require a "bit of a watch-and-learn" approach as it became clear this year what was required to support the growth in visitor numbers using the path and the pressure those users, which could include cruise passengers, put on the area’s infrastructure.
When the cruise industry resumed last year after a Covid-induced hiatus, issues arose around bringing passengers into the city.
There was no train service and a more costly shuttle was shunned by cruise passengers who flocked to public transport.
At the start of this month, West Harbour community board chairwoman Ange McErlane told a Dunedin City Council civic affairs committee the pressure put on local buses by cruise passengers caused long queues at bus stops and locals missed medical appointments, job interviews, or were late for school.
"We need less tourists on the local bus," she said.
Otago Regional Council transport manager Lorraine Cheyne said the regional council, which controls the buses, was working with the city council, Waka Kotahi/NZ Transport Agency and Port Otago on the matter.
"The issues are due to the volume of cruise ship passengers and staff arriving at one time in Port," Ms Cheyne said.
"We were delighted to help convey tourists into the city last year and happy to report that this year we have a full complement of Orbus drivers.
"However, to accommodate the anticipated busy periods could take as many as 150 extra bus trips," she said.
"We have around 80 buses in our entire fleet servicing the entire city so we would need to redirect every service. This is not feasible."
The regional council was working with the community board on plans for the coming year, she said.
Dunedin City Holdings Ltd chairman Keith Cooper said Dunedin Railways had been working with Port Otago and KiwiRail on bringing trains back into the mix.
About two-thirds of the days cruises were scheduled to arrive at Port Chalmers a train would be able to collect about 300 passengers, but only for early arrivals.
If cruise ships arrived much after 7am, the planned service would not work.
It would only be a one-way service as commercial activities on the line in the afternoon created a juggling act that "gets too challenging".
KiwiRail operations executive general manager Paul Ashton said KiwiRail was working through an agreement with Dunedin Railways on their request to have their trains pick up and drop off cruise ship passengers at Port Chalmers.
"We are looking at how best to accommodate this while at the same time limiting risk in what is a busy area for freight."
In the Covid-shortened 2019-20 season, there were 130 scheduled cruise ship visits.
That season, 112 cruise ships carrying 204,000 passengers made it into port before travel restrictions curtailed what had been poised to be Dunedin’s busiest season.
The season previously, 2018-19, remains the busiest when 115 cruise ships called into port with 229,000 passengers aboard.
