Enthusiastic and appreciative groups of people from vantage points as far as Plummers Point watched as the Ovation of the Sea left port on Monday evening.

It was a flying visit for the ship which is longer than three rugby fields (348m), has a gross tonnage of 168,666 and brought 4905 passengers and 1500 crew to Tauranga, pulling into port 12 hours earlier.

The USD $1 billion (NZD $1.4B) Royal Caribbean vessel is the fourth largest cruise ship in the world, and the largest to visit New Zealand.

A large crowd gathered to faewell Ovation of the Seas on Monday evening. Photo: Larissa Loveridge.

Photo: Katie Rickard

Her visit is part of the biggest cruise ship season on record for the Bay of Plenty, with 83 ship visits scheduled, carrying 153,000 passengers – including five ships berthing overnight in Tauranga.

Ovation is returning to Tauranga on February 5 and will berth alongside Emerald Princess for a double ship day, bringing an estimated combined 9500 visitors.

Hugo Sandall and Melanie Thornton, on holiday from Wellington, at Plummers Point, watching Ovation of the Seas depart on Monday evening. Photo: Roasalie Liddle Crawford