The 2007 cruiseship season begins in grand style next week with the arrival of the 90,000 ton cruiseships, Constellation and Jewel of the Seas, carrying up to 5,000, mainly American, passengers.

Both vessels are inward bound from Fort Lauderdale, USA, via Ireland as they near the end of their 12-day trans-Atlantic re-positioning cruises to begin an intensive period of cruising in north European waters this summer.

Constellation, owned by Celebrity Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International's (RCI) Jewel of the Seas are making their inaugural cruise calls at Falmouth. The port and indeed the county will be under the spotlight as both companies analyse reports on Falmouth's facilities and the quality of the excursions provided for passengers wishing to explore Cornwall.

The 290-metre long Constellation will be the first vessel to arrive at 0700 hours on Monday when she will anchor off Black Rock. The following day Jewel of the Seas will anchor in a similar anchorage. Passengers will have to be tendered ashore in a fleet of boats, something which cruise companies dislike, due to the logistics required.

Port bosses will be praying for fine weather and a smooth passenger transfer otherwise Falmouth will receive negative reports at a time when it wants to court the world's leading cruise ship executives. If the capital dredging scheme and new berth at the docks was completed both ships would berth alongside.

The multi-million pound Constellation, a four stars plus cruiseship, is known as a large "resort" vessel and one of the most luxurious of her type. She is fitted with a "Pod" gas turbine propulsion system. Instead of the conventional shafts, propellers and rudders most ships have, pods are like giant outboard motors attached to the hull with external propellers. The units can be rotated through 360 degrees. Each pod can weigh up to 170 tonnes. Constellation has two azipods driven by a gas turbine plant.

Celebrity operate seven ships all above 72,000 tons with three 118,000 tonners being built in Germany for delivery in the next two years.

Royal Caribbean International is the second largest cruiseship operator in the world with a 20 ship strong fleet that includes the largest cruiseships in the world, the Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas, both with the capacity to carry 3,600 passengers. The company is building a massive 220,000 ton cruiseship code named Project Genesis due to enter service in 2009 which will carry 5,400 passengers.