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Dunedin volunteers are again stepping up to welcome the huge throng of cruise ship passengers set to grace our shores this season.

Maasdam, carrying 1200 passengers and 580 crew, will herald the start of the season when it berths at the Beach St wharf tomorrow morning.

Maasdam will be the first of an expected 130 vessels.

They will carry 252,014 passengers, a 6% increase on last year.

Among the 20 or so volunteers who welcome passengers and direct them here and there will be Jan Tucker, the West Harbour Community Board member who has been giving her time for more than a decade.

Mrs Tucker has been volunteering during cruise ship season since 2008, when volunteers took to the streets to provide information for passengers, telling them about Port Chalmers and what there was to do there.

"It was a good experience, and a good learning curve."

In 2011 volunteers were asked to provide help on the wharf, in association with the Dunedin City Council's i-Site service at the cruise terminal.

The role had changed, with volunteers now welcoming passengers to the terminal, providing written material and directing them to tour operators or i-Site, depending on what they were planning to do.

They were still, however, dealing with people who wanted to visit Port Chalmers, often repeat passengers who wanted to do walks at the port, or ride bicycles to places such as Aramoana.

"It's really a matter of being nice, being pleasant, and if you don't know the answer, not making it up," Mrs Tucker said of her role.

She continued her volunteering in part because she enjoyed meeting people.

"It's meeting people from other places, and asking them how they've enjoyed their cruise.

"You just like being helpful."

Dunedin i-Site visitor centre manager Louise van de Vlierd said the volunteers were "really helpful".

They had time to talk to passengers as they queued for the cruise terminal, something the passengers appreciated.