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A new multimillion-dollar cruise port is nearing completion in Falmouth, Jamaica. Known as Historic Falmouth Cruise Port, the facility is expected to open in January 2011.

The $170 million port is currently being constructed by Royal Caribbean Cruises and the Port Authority of Jamaica. Once completed it will be able to berth an Oasis-class ship (the world's largest) and a Freedom-class ship simultaneously.

Falmouth, located on the North Coast between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, was one of the busiest ports in Jamaica during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, operating as a major sugar, rum and slave trade port during this period. However, the port's fortunes as a commercial centre declined in the 1840s.

The new project is expected to bring 10,000 visitors per week to Jamaica after its opening at the beginning of next year.

The first Royal Caribbean vessel to call at Historic Falmouth Cruise Port will be Navigator of the Seas, on a sailing from Port Everglades on January 3rd.

Pictured: Royal Caribbean cruise ship Oasis of the Seas