Strong winds at Victoria's Ogden Point hampered the arrival of the first cruise ship of the season for several hours Wednesday.

Holland America's Westerdam vessel was the first of 245 cruise ships scheduled to dock at the port this season, but its 1,800 passengers had to wait a little longer to set foot on land.

Its scheduled arrival time was 1 p.m, but the captain of the vessel made the call to avoid docking until the cruise line could confirm a safe landing.

Peak wind speeds at the port reached a high of 41.7 knots, or about 78 kilometres per hour, at 2:40 p.m., GVHA's website said.

The wind settled down for a little while before spiking back up to 38.6 knots, or about 71.5 kilometres an hour, at 3:30 p.m.

After trying and failing to dock twice, the vessel waited offshore for favourable weather. It was finally able to dock at around 5:45 p.m.

More than 150 of the ship's passengers were expected to disembark in Victoria and the Westerdam was scheduled to depart at 11 p.m.

The ship was coming from its most recent stop in San Diego.

High wind emergency alerts are activated at Ogden Point when speeds above 30 knots are reached.