The world’s latest cruise ships, Azura and Queen Elizabeth, set to make a big splash when they enter service in Southampton next year, will be the most energy- efficient passengers vessels ever seen in the city.

Incorporated in these two new ships will be the latest, and most sophisticated equipment ensuring that every voyage will take passengers on a green route into the blue yonder.

This will be achieved through a variety of initiatives including increasing use of energy- efficient lighting, improved control of the chilled water system within the air conditioning plant and the fuel tank storage temperature, together with the introduction of passenger key cards which switch off the television and lights when a cabin is vacated.

Both, P&O Cruises’ Azura and Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, will be part of the Carnival UK’s fleet of ships based in Southampton.

On Queen Elizabeth, there will also be twilight sensors to switch deck lighting off automatically at dawn, and on again at dusk, as well as time clocks to do the same to airconditioning in public areas overnight.

Improved double-glazing will also reduce the need for air- conditioning.

P&O Cruises has agreed to host experts from the Marinelife & Biscay Dolphin Research Programme on board its ships to monitor whales and dolphins now that global warming appears to have prompted them to travel further north.

One suspected downside of the new bulbous bows on ships, which improve fuel efficiency and reduce the noise they make in the water, is that whales do not hear the ships coming. The suggested solution is for ships to run a tape of a predatory bird call.

Although eagles are hardly renowned for carrying off whales and dolphins some experts believe the call would still have the effect of making them alter course.

Carnival UK ships docking in Southampton are already trialing the collection of used cooking oil for conversion into environmentally-friendly bio-diesel.

Unlike many bio-fuels, this does not use virgin plant oils and therefore does not impact on the global food shortage and also releases less CO2 than standard diesel.

Carnival UK ships now use Veolia Environmental to recycle high quality office paper and every tonne reused saves 17 trees, 32,000 litres of water , 27kg of air pollutants and enough electricity to heat the average home for six months.

Other green credentials on Southampton based ships include: ■ All Carnival UK brands adhere to Worldwide Environmental Cruising Standards .

■ Each ship has an Environmental Officer ensuring that these standards are met.

■ Overall standards exceed those for award winning Blue Flag beaches.

■ The company also has a zero discharge policy for solid waste with hazardous substances segregated at source and stored and most being recycled at Southampton.

■ All metal is segregated while the silver in photo processing waste is recovered and the contents of aerosol cans extracted.

■ During 2008, Carnival UK landed 26 per cent less waste than the previous year.