Greenock Ocean Terminal's 2011 cruise season will be its busiest yet with almost 54,000 wealthy passengers expected to flock ashore and spend their holiday cash.
Owner Clydeport has invested £250,000 in the facility will welcome 11 new ships such as the Cunarder Queen Elizabeth and the Adonia for the first time.
It will also host repeat visits from familiar vessels including giant 3000-passenger Grand Princess and the QM2.
The terminal is quickly building a reputation as a starting point for sea trips, with a total of 8,414 passengers embarking next year on 12 cruises organised by operators Hebridean Cruises, Nova Cruising, National Trust/ Saga Shipping and Fred Olsen.
It comes as the Scottish Parliament launched a national study into development of cruise tourism in Scotland which could quadruple visitor numbers to almost 1.1 million by 2029.
Cruise Tourism in Scotland - The Way Ahead, was commissioned by Cruise Scotland and shows the domestic cruise industry could increase expenditure to £156.7m and employ 2500 people by 2029.
Andrew Hemphill, Clydeport's operations manager at Ocean Terminal, said: "The Cruise Scotland report clearly shows the massive potential of the industry, and year on year we have been building the cruise business at Greenock, with 2011 the best to date."
"Last year we broke the 50,000-passenger barrier for the first time, which was a fantastic achievement, and it is testament to the efforts that have been made to improve the experience of overseas visitors arriving at Greenock that we have again significantly upped our figures."
"Greenock is ideally placed for Scots passengers wishing to leave from a local port, as can be seen by the number of major operators using us as an embarkation point. "
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