Volunteer co-ordinator Angela McErlane said most requests were run of the mill, like where to find good coffee, but some questions caught her by surprise.
"I need to pump up my alligator," a passenger from gay cruise ship Volendam said last year.
Most of the 21 people who volunteered to hand out free information to cruise ship passengers and crew met at the Port Chalmers Town Hall yesterday afternoon.
Passengers could be in a bad mood when they disembarked, especially after enduring a choppy crossing across the Tasman Sea, but the volunteers could reinvigorate travellers, Ms McErlane said.
If two cruise ships were in port, the five volunteers on duty could greet more than 7000 passengers, she said.
Volunteer Jan Tucker said when the "herd of people" approached, it was no time to be shy.
"It's no good being a shrinking violet."
She said passengers and crew were encouraged to take time to discover Port Chalmers.
Otago Daily Times commercial manager Matthew Holdridge said 30,000 information guides to Dunedin and Port Chalmers were printed and ready to be handed out.
Dunedin visitor centre manager Louise van de Vlierd said the volunteers could be the first New Zealanders some passengers met.
"That first impression is so important." Cruise ships would start arriving on Sunday, she said.
