On Saturday, the cruise ship Celebrity Solstice set a record when it berthed at Port Chalmers carrying 2850 passengers and 1500 crew for a day in Dunedin.
The vessel - on its first visit to New Zealand - weighed in at 121,878gt, making it about 16,000gt lighter than the record-holding Voyager of the Seas that visited Dunedin on November 17.
However, Celebrity Solstice took the honours when the tape measure came out, stretching 317.19m - just over 6m longer than Voyager of the Seas - from bow to stern, earning it the title of the longest vessel to visit Dunedin.
It also carried with it a set of unique floating features, from a two-storey glass tower of wine bottles in the ship's main restaurant to a natural grass lawn on the top deck for passengers to kick a ball or recline on, a spokeswoman said.
The vessel was operated out of Sydney by Royal Caribbean, the second-largest cruise ship company in the world.
It would be a repeat visitor to Dunedin, bringing 30,000 passengers to the city over summer, she said.
