A cruise ship which sat in 'purgatory" 77km off the coast of Tauranga last week, while having snails removed and being cleaned by divers, has sailed on to the South Island, with passengers experiencing a less than merry Christmas.

Just days after being denied entry into Milford Sound because of a sea snail infestation, more than a thousand cruise ship passengers aboard the Coral Princess were dropped off on Christmas morning at Lyttelton – only to find a single dairy open.

Passengers who disembarked the Coral Princess after it docked at the Christchurch port town shortly after 7.45am were given the chance to take a shuttle bus to the local information centre.

But, unsurprisingly, it was closed when they got there.

Instead, they were left to stroll Lyttelton's picturesque streets on Christmas Day – though most of the town was shut.

Cruise passenger Jenuine See Kee said: 'When they said there's a shuttle to the info centre I [thought], ‘They must be open, and we'll find out what else is open from there', and we get down there and it was shut.

'We were thinking, ‘Why are they dropping us here?'.”

Natasha See Kee said she expected most places to be closed for the holiday, but felt an opportunity for local businesses and consumers was missed.

The cruise ship Coral Princess' woes continued on Christmas Day, with passengers greeted by a ghost town after earlier being denied access to Milford Sound due to a sea snail infestation. Photo; Chris Skelton/Stuff

'Does the [cruise] company not let Lyttelton and Christchurch know we're bringing 1500 passengers in on Christmas Day?” she said.

The Coral Princess set off from Brisbane five days earlie, but could not enter Milford Sound or Dunedin as planned earlier in the week because sea snails were found in the ship's discharge pipes.

The ship instead spent an extra two days at sea while a dive team cleaned the hull and pipes 77km off the coast of Tauranga, out of the country's territorial waters – forcing passengers to miss some of New Zealand's finest tourism opportunities as they were re-routed around Cape Reinga.

Many were left fuming after being offered AUD$100 ($106) in compensation, along with 15 per cent off their next trip with operator Princess Cruises.

As their itinerary continued as normal on Sunday, in Lyttelton only the London Street Dairy was open to wish visitors a merry Christmas.

Bob and Hilary Miller, frequent cruise passengers from the Gold Coast, said hopping off the ship into a ghost town was 'a shame”, but they were stoked to score some ice creams from the dairy.

'The little store across the road – you can get all sorts of things, but they're the only one,” Hilary said.

Coral Princess passengers, Jenuine and Natasha See Kee with their children on Christmas Day in Lyttelton. Photo: Chris Skelton/Stuff.

'Why they couldn't have [cleaned the pipes] while we're in port is beyond me, we had to sit out in the ocean for two days while they cleaned and as a result, of course we missed Fiordland and Dunedin,” she said.

Phil and Anne Roberts, from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, described their Christmas Day as 'a bit strange”, and were heading back to the boat to have lunch, like everyone else, before its departure at 5.45pm.

'We thought it was strange to come into a place over Christmas because there'd be nothing open,” Anne said.

Phil and Anne Roberts said they were having their Christmas Day lunch on the cruise ship, after spending the big day walking around quiet Lyttelton streets. Photo: Chris Skelton/Stuff.

Christchurch welcomed back cruise ships in October for the first time in 11 years, after the February 2011 earthquake destroyed Lyttelton's cruise terminal and ships were rerouted to Akaroa.

The industry was also hit hard by Covid-19 and saw ships cruise back into New Zealand shores after a two-year hiatus in August this year.

Lyttelton Harbour Business Association chairperson Vicki Tahau-Paton previously told Stuff everyone in the town was prepared for the influx of tourists, and she believed it would be a successful cruise season.

The Coral Princess is one of 86 cruise ships from late October until early March that Lyttelton is expected to host, carrying over 170,000 passengers and 35,000 crew. Akaroa had 17 booked over the same period.

Tatiana Gibbs/Stuff