Cruise ship passengers are continuing to jump ship and flood local transport, saying port to city shuttle buses cost "a bloody fortune".
The cruise ship shuttle fares result in many passengers opting for far cheaper local transport, filling buses and forcing residents off buses.
One cruise ship passenger, Sarah Hawley, from the United Kingdom, said the shuttle cost "a bloody fortune", resulting in her taking the local Port Chalmers bus.
"It’s £10 [$NZ20] each way, or 75p [$1.50] for the bus," she said, to the agreement of other passengers.
Akorn DMC provides city-to-port shuttles for cruise ships including yesterday’s cruise ship Celebrity Eclipse, on which Mrs Hawley was a passenger, and Ovation of the Seas.
Akorn DMC New Zealand operations officer Benjamin Dale declined to answer questions regarding the cost to passengers for the shuttle service as they were "confidential business operations".
The company declined to comment on the number of customer complaints it had received or the price of its service.
IDNZ, which provides shuttles to other cruise ships including Grand Princess, Majestic Princess and the Pacific Adventure, was more forthcoming. It said cruise passengers were charged $35 return for the service, and for crew $10, and this was the case across all of the ships they provided the service for.
IDNZ senior account manager Rohanca du Plessis said the price of the shuttle reflected the cost of hiring the coaches, the staff rostered and to pay drivers.
The service meant guests could rely on the shuttles to meet private tours and visit venues and so they did not have to wait for taxis or public transportation.
"Offering the shuttles puts the guests at ease that they will be taken care of and that they will make it back to the ship before all-on-board time.
"The unknown can be a daunting thought if you are in a foreign country and especially for our more senior guests," Ms du Plessis said.
Cruise passengers, however, were often "well aware" of local public transport options.
"You can do the math of how many guests will try and use the public bus at 9am in the morning," she said.
IDNZ executive director Debbie Summers said IDNZ understood the complaints about prices stemmed from competitor company Akorn DMC.
Ms Summers said the shuttle service IDNZ provided had "literally zero complaints" over the many years it had operated.
