WHITSUNDAY volunteer cruise ship ambassadors celebrated 10 years of a unique and highly successful program at the Abell Point Marina last week.

About 30 ambassadors both past and present, attended last Thursday's Whitsundays Marketing and Development Limited (WMDL) night, which was dedicated to their cause.

All in attendance, including Whitsunday mayor Jennifer Whitney, Abell Point Marina owner Paul Darrouzet, WMDL CEO Jeff Aquilina and Rick Hamilton from Tourism and Events Queensland, agreed the ambassadors did "an amazing job" of meeting and greeting passengers and helping to improve the quality of their stay.

Mr Darrouzet told the ambassadors he was "very, very, keen that you guys and I maintain these cruise ships coming into the marina".

"[And] we will do everything we can to support you guys," he said.

Mr Hamilton said that in 2012-13 alone, 33 cruise ships had brought 61,500 passengers and about $11.2 million to the party.

He said this was an incredibly important tourism earner and that Airlie Beach was the highest port of call in Queensland, only beaten Australia-wide by Sydney.

Mr Hamilton also read out a letter from Carnival Cruises Australia CEO Anne Sherry, which congratulated the ambassadors on their hard work.

Volunteer ambassador chairwoman Judi Dunn thanked all of the ambassadors for their efforts and said "we all should be very proud".

"We feel like we do have a family now of ambassadors," she said.

Ms Dunn said in the past 10 years of running the program, ambassadors had welcomed more than 250 cruise ships, over 280,000 passengers, who spent about $200 each.

She said this equated to about $56 million in 10 years.

"So let's keep giving and keep the ships coming in and keep the town thriving," she said.

"We want these passengers to enjoy their experience and come back for a holiday."

Ms Dunn took this opportunity to bow out of her 10-year role as ambassador co-ordinator, which will now be handled by Brian Richardson.