i-SITE Dunedin Visitor Centre manager Louise van de Vlierd said the ship was ''chased'' by bad weather from Fiordland to Port Chalmers.
''They were beating the storm.''
It was originally scheduled to arrive this morning but arrived about 2.30pm yesterday and was expected to depart as scheduled for Akaroa at 5.45pm today. Due to the early arrival, the passengers missed a night of Milford Sound cruising, she said.
Sun Princess was near its capacity of 1900 people and a ''barrage'' of passengers disembarked in Port Chalmers.
A ship arriving a day early was rare and had occurred thrice in recent times - once last year and twice last week, she said.
Oosterdam arrived a day earlier than expected on Thursday because of forecast bad weather in the Tasman Sea. It left on Saturday.
MetService duty forecaster David Miller said the severe weather warning in Fiordland yesterday included strong northeasterly winds.
Dunedin had ''blustery'' northwest winds yesterday and the ''strong'' southwest winds today were expected to ''ease'' tonight, he said.
