Le Soleal arrived on Friday evening and National Geographic Orion arrived the following morning.
Both expedition ships left on Saturday night.
Le Soleal was destined for the New Zealand subantarctic islands, as well as a stop in Antarctica, while National Geographic Orion made its way to Stewart Island.
Port Otago commercial manager Craig Usher said having two cruise ships at the city port at the same time was mainly down to chance.
"We usually have about 120 to 130 cruise ships per year and only about 10 to 20 in the city port, so the chance of them doubling up is generally not good.
"This is the first one we’ve encountered, and the funny thing is, we have another double up coming on March 2," he said.
The Dunedin city port is only able to accommodate smaller vessels, and the cruise ships that dock there are almost exclusively expedition ships making their last stop before or coming back from the New Zealand subantarctic islands.
Saturday was a busy day for the city and Port Chalmers ports, most of the berths full of large vessels.
Cruise ship Noordam, two container ships and a log ship were in Port Chalmers berths, as well as the two large expedition ships in the city.
"These two vessels are high-end expedition vessels, so we have a full change-over of passengers.
"It’s different from a normal cruise ship. The people boarding in Dunedin will be entering from around the country.
"Dunedin is the last place to fuel up and get food before you hit the subantarctic islands."
Advertisement
