A cruise ship was forced to skip docking in Tauranga Harbour on Labour Day due to extreme winds.

The Anthem of the Seas was seen off Mount Maunganui Main Beach at 7am heading towards the harbour entrance. It appeared to slow down before changing direction.

In a statement to the Bay of Plenty Times, the Port of Tauranga confirmed the ship had “skipped” Tauranga due to the extreme winds forecasted for the afternoon and evening.

Owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises, the ship was set to dock in Tauranga Harbour today, carrying up to 4180 passengers and 1500 crew.

According to Tourism Bay of Plenty, it would have been the ship’s only NZ port of call, with its passengers starting their voyage in Vancouver and finishing in Sydney

A heavy rain warning was put in place from 6pm today until 4pm Tuesday, according to MetService.

Metservice meteorologist Lewis Ferris said the wind and rain would be increasing moving through the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.

“Looks to be quite a bit of rain around most of Bay of Plenty overnight into Tuesday, but it does look like it moves through pretty swiftly.”

Ferris said gale-force winds were expected from this evening through tomorrow.

“We have a forecast to reach 74km/hr tomorrow through the marine area, in the Bay of Plenty.

“So that’s possibly playing a part in that decision.”