A Disney cruise ship headed to Auckland will be arriving a day late after an hours-long search for a passenger lost at sea.

The Melbourne man was lost overboard from from the Disney Wonder at 4.30am on Saturday, 7 News reports.

At around 12pm the ship turned around to search for the missing 73-year-old, circling the waters of the Tasman Sea for five hours.

Crew members were unable to locate his body after scanning the sea with thermal-imaging cameras.

A police spokeswoman confirmed it was believed the man, a resident of Moonee Ponds, was dead.

Fellow passenger Mitch Talbot said cruise guests were informed about the incident over the ship’s intercom.

“The captain came on and updated the boat and basically stated that there was someone, a passenger had fallen overboard ... [but] that they were unable to find them,” he said.

“It was quite sombre, and it was a bit eerie the rest of the day. A lot of the staff kind of took some time.”

Around 600 passengers are currently aboard the five-day voyage across the Tasman, setting sail from Melbourne to Auckland on Thursday.

The ship is now expected to arrive in Auckland’s port on Wednesday afternoon, a day later than scheduled.

In the sailing’s Facebook group, several cruise guests anticipated they may miss their connecting flights.

Disney confirmed in August that the crossing will be one of the company’s final transtasman cruises for the foreseeable future.

“While Disney Wonder will not return to Australia and New Zealand for the 2026-27 season, we want to reassure you that sailings from this region remain a strong consideration for future itineraries.”

The Disney Wonder will voyage across the region for the last time on January 30 before being repositioned to Hawaii.

Launched in 1999, the 11-deck vessel first set sail around New Zealand in October last year.