The 2014 cruise ship season is hitting its peak in Portland this week, with eight ships bringing nearly 12,000 passengers to the city to shop, dine and see the sights.

The number of passengers scheduled to sail into port this year is up 15 percent from a year ago, city officials said. About 82,000 passengers on 74 ships are expected. In 2013, 58 ships carried about 71,000 passengers to Portland.

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That’s happy news to seasonal merchant Therese Belanger, who sets up a table on the southwest corner of Commercial and Franklin streets in the Old Port multiple times a week to sell handcrafted jewelry that she makes all winter.

Belanger said she checks the cruise schedules regularly to find out when ships will be in port. “It’s why we all come down here to sell our products,” she said.

Cruise ships are important to the city’s economy because of the significant revenue boost they deliver to local retailers, restaurants, bars and tour operators. And they put hundreds of thousands of dollars into city coffers.

“Last year the total revenue (from taxes and berthing fees) was $800,000,” said Portland spokeswoman Jessica Grondin.

In 2012, the most recent year for which figures are available, the cruise ship industry was responsible for about $45 million in direct spending in Maine, according to a city-issued news release. The industry supported 801 jobs that year with wages totaling $27 million in the state, the release said.

On Monday, the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas, traveling from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia, was in port from morning to evening while its 2,100 passengers disembarked to tour the area and patronize local businesses.

Clarksville, Tennessee, resident Larry Richards was among the passengers returning to the ship Monday afternoon carrying shopping bags emblazoned with the names of Old Port businesses.

“We took the carriage ride tour, and then we went to Stonewall Kitchen, Shipyard (Brewing Co.) and Country Noel (Christmas Etc),” Richards said.

Passengers Jean Gibbs and Marilyn Borquein, both from Cincinnati, Ohio, said they were more interested in checking out the city and sampling its cuisine.

“We did more touring than shopping,” Borquein said. “And we had the most wonderful lobster.”

Grondin said Portland is an ideal destination for cruise passengers because its businesses are so close to the Ocean Gateway terminal, where the ships are berthed.

“When they get off, there’s a lot to do right there,” she said.

Business owner Dean Cole said cruise ship tourism is important to Old Port merchants for numerous reasons. Cole has owned D. Cole Jewelers on Exchange Street with his wife, Denise Cole, for more than 30 years.

“We’re thrilled to have them because the city is just boiling and there’s people everywhere,” he said about cruise passengers.

Even businesses that don’t sell goods directly to passengers benefit from the industry, he said, because the revenue it brings to the city prompts locals to go out and spend more.

Belanger, the jewelry maker, said local merchants support the cruise industry in more ways than providing passengers with goods and services.

They help out with directions and generally act as representatives of Portland, Belanger said.

“We’re ambassadors, too,” she said.