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2025 Oct. 18; Stornoway to Gairloch, Scotland.

October 19, 2025 / Captain Albert / 0 Comments

The route from Stornoway to Gairloch. I think that the captain wanted to be in the lee of the islands ahead of the turning weather, intstead of having to bounce through it tomorrow.

We left Stornoway at 08.00 hrs. in the morning and crossed a stretch of open waters called “The Minch”. An excellent area for bird and whale watching and several reports came in that all this wild life had indeed been sighted. It turned into a sunny day, which is very good for mid October in Scotland, but it is also the harbinger of a change in the weather. There is a depression moving in from the North Atlantic ocean and it is pushing the area of high pressure into Europe. This high pressure system gave calm and warm weather with overcast skies but the depression coming in is pushing the clouds away for the day and the coming night.

Gairloch harbour on the inside of the Ferry dock which also acts as a breakwater.

So after a sunny crossing of”The Minch” we docked at the town of Gairloch, which has a ferry dock. The ferry only comes in every other day or so, so the dock is open to the Hebridean Princess, which with its 85 meters is about the biggest ship that can dock here.

Even while being a small ship, the stern still overhung the nick in the dock. The ships gangway had to be hooked in on the Promenade deck, due to the tide, on a deck where most of the public rooms are and some cabins.

Fishing and tourism is the main business here and the buildings around the dock were all there to support the industry. A small village shop complemented the setup. Gairloch is home to the Gairloch and Conan Estate, a 60,000 acre spread, owned by the MacKenzie family but is open to those who want to go walking around the place. At the entrance to the Gairloch Estate, there is a small Inn called “The Old Inn” which, looking at the empty beer barrels outside, must be doing a roaring trade. For once I did not see any Germand or Dutch cars but there was one from Belgium , from Antwerp and that is also sort of Dutch /Flemish.

The main locality here in Gairloch is the Old Inn. As it is an Inn, it is more focused on rooms and dinners, than on being a Pub, so we walked by. I like my pint in a pub atmosphere,not while over looking tables with diners.

The main reason to be here was to offer the guests the opportunity to visit the Inverewe gardens. (Not to be mistaken by the Inverness Botanical Gardens. The ship had laid on a coach for transport and paid the entrance fee. The main reason for these gardens to be here, is the influence of the Gulf Stream whose warmer waters just hit the sheltered bay in the right way, and thus all sorts of plants, even palm trees can grow here and survive the winter. But you have to be into plants and gardens to really apreciate it.

Inverewe Gardens, located north of Gairloch. (Photo courtesy, unknown source on the Internet)

We left Gairloch at 18.00 hrs. and dropped anchor in a location called Applecross an hour later, in a sheltered bay for a quiet night. During cocktail hour, the Captain was rather vague about what he was going to do tomorrow, it is a mystery cruise after all, but we were going for a morning stop at the metropolis of Shieldaig, and then sailing down the coast for the remainder of the day. I think he did not want to be more specific as the route will depend on how fast the wind will turn from the East (which gives the sheltered bay in Shieldaig) to the South West which could give a bumpy ride in The Minch.

This is from an internet photo, but it gives a good idea of how intense the Northern Lights were this evening.

Thus we had a quiet day today, but during dinner pandemonium broke out as the naturalist Brian came down to show the photos he had just taken of the the Northern Lights. Luckily he did so after the main course had been served as a considerable number of guests dropped their cutlery and raced out. Had he come in earlier, I think he would have been confronted by a Chef who would not have been “amused”. The Northern Lights were rather faint but on the Smart Phones the fotos came out quite nicely. Lesley and I did not race out as we have seen it much more intense in the North of Norway and in Alaska.

The shipping forecast for 19 Oct. We are in the forecast area called Mailin which is just North of Northern Island.

Tommorrow morning we are in Shieldaig and then in the afternoon scenic cruising while heading South. The Shipping Forecast is predicting a 975mb low off the Scottish Coast with gale force winds. But with nearly every port being protected by high mountains, there will sufficient anchorages and/or docks to pull into.

As she was originally, the RMS Columbia in 1964.

As this was a short blog, a little bit of history about the ms Hebridean Princess as before 1989 she was the car ferry RMS Columba and later the MV Columba when the Royal Mail Contract fell away.

Cars being loaded in the old days. This location is now covered in with cabins and the ships galley.

She could handle 500 – 600 day passengers and 50 cars, via ramps in the stern and in the bow and a few extra could be hoisted on deck by means of a deck crane.

The main restaurant. Slightly less luxurious than that shown on the photo in yesterdays blog. (Photo courtesy: from a Calmac Brochure)

The ship was in those days in service between the ports of Oban, Craignure (on Mull) and Locahline (on Morven) until new ferries came along with much better Ro-Ro capacities and the company decided to change the ship into a small cruise ship. She was converted in Great Yarmouth to a very high specification with a capacity for 48 passengers and 38 crew.

The high “quality” cabin accommodation of 1964. This looks like an inside cabin, so see below, how an inside cabin now looks like.

Since then she has been sailing around the coast of Scotland with deviations into Norway and the English southcoast. Lately she has been concentrating on North West Scotland and also for 2026, there are no cruises further afield than what can be reached from the port of Oban.

The Loch Crinan cabin on deck 1 (that is on the lowest deck) where there are four insides in the bow section and 2 in the stern section. All cabins are named after Lochs or Isles so there are no cabin numbers. The cabins one deck up (Waterfront deck) have portholes and the deck above (Princess deck) has windows and are the biggest ones.

2025 Oct. 17; Tarbert to Stornoway.

October 18, 2025 / Captain Albert / 0 Comments

Hopping around the corner at the island of Lewis. This route made it possible to do two ports in one day.

From Raasay it was a few hours sailing to Tarbert located on the border between Harris and Lewis. There are quite a few Tarberts in Scotland as the name means “Ford” or connection between two areas where you can pass. Same as the Dutch have the word DAM in town names, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. A DAM where you can go from one area to another area. Thus this Tarbert grew automatically in importance an eventually became a ferry terminal. There was a ferry in when we arrived and thus the captain anchored for the night until the dock became free and we could dock for the morning. The Hebridean Princess, being an old local ferry, has the right lenght for these sort of docks and so it was all easy-peasy. The government of Scotland has been upgrading all these ferry docks in the last few years, with new dock podiums, mooring fenders, and new terminal buildings so it was a delight to be alongside there. Certainly for me, who has seen docks that were on the edge of collapsing.

The guests might be advanced in age but it does not stop them from having a “wee-dram” at 09.30 in the morning. Here you see Mari of the Hearnoch distillery extolling the virtues of a glass of her whiskey in the morning.

Today there was no sleeping in for the wicked as there was another distillery on the program. The distilery of Hearnoch. Located a 5 minute walk from the dock. The ship had arranged a visit for 9 am. so we could enjoy it all before the official opening time of 10 am. By 09.15 we were having our first “Wee-Dram” followed by a short walk through the distillery plant, narrated by a fiercely proud lady. whose patriotic heart was first to the small island she was born on, then to the larger island of Harris, and then to Scotland. And there it stopped. It seems that the Romans did not built Hadrians Wall for nothing.

The distilling tanks. The brass was bought in Italy as there was not enough good copper in the UK.

Unfortunatelly my lack in whisky meant that the sales fever did not grab me and with 70 pounds a bottle, I was not tempted anyway but many of my fellow guests were. Especially the discount (Bottle of Whiskey and bottle of gin for 110 pounds) did well. I must admit the specially designed bottle was worth the purchase if you are into it. The distillery was founded in 2013 to provide work for the locals who were slowly fleeing Harris for a better future. More information: https://harrisdistilley.com

Here the stern of the Hebridean Princess. Where the name is painted, used to be the ramp with access for 50 cars into the car deck. Now there are cabins in the car deck, bicycle stands for bike tours, a small gym and a lot of storage for all sorts of items, including our suitcases.

Our natualist Bryan pointed out a shop next door that sold Harris Tweed so everybody marched in that direction. Harris Tweed is not produced in a factory but in private houses and the production is strictly regulated. No more than 2 looms per house and a whole host of other requirements to adhere to, to ensure it remains a cottage industry. Exccellent quality materials are the result but very expensive. Still some Gentlemen and Ladies who felt compelled to feel more Scottish supported the local industry with some purchases. I had hoped for a tweed bow tie and cumberbund but they did not stock those. Plenty stuff though to make your dog feel very scottish with cold weather blankies and dog harnasses. Also that sold well. Scotland is very popular with the Dutch and Germans, who feel culturally closer to the Scots than to the English and by 10 am the first German campervan was seen descending on the town to enjoy the ambiance.

The lunch and dinner menu for the day. The Exe Chef has been off and on the ship since before 2010 (he catered for Queen Elizabeth when she chartered the ship in 2010) and his menu’s are very good.

By 11,30 we all had to be on board as the captain was going to race (with a warp speed of 16 knots) to Stornoway for at 15.00 hrs. arrival. Between 11.30 and 14.00 it was good to be in the lounge for cocktails and to enjoy the Scottish scenery coming by. The morning had started in a hazy way but by noon time, the sun came out so we had a glorious view of the landscape with an abundance of Autumn colours. Then there were dolphins, whales and all sorts of birdies to see and everybody had a great time. 1300 hrs. was time for lunch and there is no whale who can keep a guest away from that occurance.

The portside section of the diningroom. You can request a table for 2, 3 or 4 but also a table of 8. If you are social and enjoy good dinner conversation, I suggest to request a big table as the discourse is normally very good (each evening the large tables are the last to leave) and also the officers dine with the guests when duties allow,

Indeed we were docked at Stornoway at 15.00 hrs. There is a big dock now (see the Nieuw Statendam review on this site) but the small Hebridean Princess docked at the 2nd ferry terminal, right in downtown. We threw the mooring rope right into the Pub so to speak. (e.g the Star Inn, made up of a pub, restaurant, cafe and accommodation, with a great view over the harbour).

The village. I do not think that when people were living there it was so clean and tidy, but then museums tend to be. The reed on the roofs comes from the local peat bogs, little ponds created after peat had been removed.

As we had been to Stornoway many a time we opted for the complimentary excursion to Gearannan the Black House village. This is an open air museum about how the people of Lewis lived before modern housing came in. The houses were made of Black stone with a open peat fire in the center of the cottage (more Scotts died in those days from smoke related cancer then from any other disease) and with it came the cottage industry of weaving Tweed. This village was reconstructed in 2000 and all houses have roofs but there are still hundreds of similar ruins all over the island, where only the walls still stand. This village was abandoned in 1972 but the descendants still live, now in modern houses, nearby.

The cottage industry of tweed weaving. A very laborious activity and hence the reason that good quality tweed is expensive.

As it is the end of the season, the local weaver had already packed up, but a video in the small museum gave a good idea of how it went. Very difficult and very skilled work. There was also a small restaurant with home made cakes, all included in the excursion, and thus the whole bus (with a small ship everybody fits in one bus) marched into the place for tea and scones. I have no idea where these people put all that food, we just had an elaborate lunch, so I avoided the temptation and inspected the bookshop which was very impressive for such a small place at the end of the world.

The standing stones of Calanais. (Photo courtesy: www. Outerhebrides.com}

Then on the way back, our naturalist Bryan Hogg had the driver deviate for a short visit to the standing stones of Calanais. I had never heard of them but it is the Scottish answer to Stone henge. The stones are not so big, but there are more and there are also more then one. We could see a second circle not too far away on the top of another hill. As with other stone circles scientists really do not have any idea what it was all for, and then this one is even more complicated as it ended up in a cross formation, although it is much and much older than christianity.

By 18.30 we were all back and in a hurry as at 1900 hrs it was cocktail time with the next appearance of the Captain to explain where we were NOT going and where we WERE going. The ship is now going to slowly sail south again and with an eye of on the coming weather hugging the coast. Tomorrow morning we will have the morning at sea with the ship leaving Stornoway at 08.30 and then sail to Gairloch (another local ferry dock) and from there, one can take the excursion to Inverewe to visit the gardens or go for an un-accompanied walk.

Jamie Campbell in full action. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBDyL-e6bKE)

The Captains show was followed by dinner (we had the Chief Purser Jim Fraser at our table this evening) and then by 21.30 hrs, we had a local show. Willie Campbell a local singer (folk, own songs, country etc.) with a very good voice gave an hours performance which was very well received. The atmosphere was good enough for all the English present to join in with the Scottish National Anthemn “Flower of Scotland”.

Weather for tomorrow: Overcast with maybe sunny periods, temperatures around 12oC/54oF, and a moderate breeze in open waters. But change is a-coming with rain and more wind. The shipping forecast speaks of Gale Force winds in open waters by Sunday morning.

linek

2025 Oct. 16; Scenic cruising and the Isle of Raasay, Scotland.

October 17, 2025 / Captain Albert / 3 Comments

Today we sail from our anchorage at Harris down the Sound of Raasay to Raasay itself

Just after 07.00 the engines were started, the anchor went up and the good ship Hebridean Princess sailed south from the anchorage for a morning of sightseeing in the Sound of Raasay. (Pronounced Ra-siee). Which is located between the Isle of Sky and the Scottish Mainland. We fell straight asleep again and thus skipped breakfast. A sign of the good service here on board, is that a very concerned waitress popped up in the bar later on asking if we were ok without breakfast.

The Card room. Four seats and one table. I hope for shipboard management that they never have more than 4 bridge players otherwise there will be mayhem.

Lesley went to the lounge for the sightseeing and I retreated to the “card room” to write my daily blog of yesterday. WiFi on board is very good, good enough for real time streaming but very marginal in our cabin down in the dungeons. All the seats on board are for reclining in comfort so the card room table (only one in an alcove in the corrdor on Deck 2) is about the only place one can sit upright.

As we have an inside cabin, our t.v. has to tell us what goes on outside. This is the scene we saw when we woke up this morning. Flat calm seas, the ship at anchor (with the compulsory anchor ball up) and nicely overcast so no fog.

In the mean time we sailed down this passage between the Isle of Skye called the Sound of Raasay, with the eventual objective of anchoring in the harbour of Raasay, under the eye of the House / Hotel of Raasay and the distillery of Raasay. As you can see it is “Raasay” all over the place. This area is heaven for those interested in wildlife as there is hardly any vegetation so deer, sheep. goats and birdies are all clearly visible. Our naturalist Bryan Hogg was on and off the bridge to make announcements, whenever there was something to be seen.

One of the many small hamlets on the various islands.

On occasion we saw small villages and interspersed with in the middle of nowhere a farm. Those people must be very lonely in the winter, with the nearest neighbour living over the montain ridge behind the snow drifts. Better to sit on a nice little cruise ship with a glass of wine in hand.

The “Old Man of Storr”, as seen on a stock photo. We were saling by down below.

The scenery is very bare with some farming on the lower slopes of the barren hills. The best known port in this area is Portree and opposite is a large rock formation known as the “Old Man of Storr”. Storr in old norse means “great man”. It is part of a mountain ridge called the Trotternish Ridge and its claim to fame is being the longest landslip in Great Britain. The pinnacle itself was formed by an ancient landslide and is a remnant of a 2.8 billion-year-old volcanic plug. It is one of the most photographed rock formations in Scotland.

Cutting through the islands is very scenic with the wildlife (do we look at them, or do they look at us ???) coming quite close.

From there we sailed through the passage between Rona and Raasay and then dropped anchor outside the metropolis of Raasay, main town of the island and the location where the ferry comes in. According to the local information this is one of the easiest accesible “real islands” e.g. the best ferry connection, so there is a higher number of tourists coming in for walking and related. As a result the local manor “Raasay House Hotel” is now a successful hotel where many people stay to enjoy the surrounding nature.

Raasay House Hotel. Looked very pleasant and the coffee was very good.

The two small ships tenders ran a shuttle service to a Marina pier next to the ferry ramp and then one could go for a long walk with naturalist Bryan Hogg (he has a channel on U-tube called Hoggblog) or go up to the hotel and the distillery next door. The Chief Purser had made arrangements with the Hotel that everybody could pop in for a coffee or tea and most guests took advantage of that. We walked up to the distillery and then walked out again as a bottle of Raasay whisky was anywhere between 65 and 95 pounds. Still there was interest, even for those prices, as a large group of men was congregating around the tasting bar, looking very serious but also very happy.

The view from the hotel grounds. The mv Hebridean Princess at anchor in the bay and the ships purser to the right, busy with taking a photo of a local cow.

Thus the cheaper alternative was a cup of coffee in the bar of the Raasay hotel which was equally well appreciated. Behind the hotel was a ruined chapel with some graves still visible (last interment around 1976) and from there we went back to the ship.

The ship’s bar in the main lounge. It is small but because there is always one person in attendance (and during cocktail hours 2) it works very well. All drinks are included in the fare and the quality of the drinks is very good. All premium labels and the same goes for the diningroom where the wines are of a very good standard.

It is important to be present at cocktail time as during this cruise we have each night as guest speaker Captain Heaton, to tell us first where we are NOT going and then to tell us were we ARE going. For the guests who know the area, and we have some on board who have done 10 or 14 cruises (the top scorer seems to have around 85 according to the crew), it is a sort of Who-dun-it to see if they have guessed right. So tonight we will anchor & then dock at the port of Lewis, called Talbert, for a visit to (guess it) another distillery and then shift to the port of Stornoway. Due to the size of the Hebridean Princess we can dock downtown and from there the company has laid on an excursion bus to a small old Black House village.

Weather for tomorrow, Same as today. Overcast with little wind and temperatures around 12oC / 54oF.

2025 Oct. 15; St. Kilda, Scotland.

October 16, 2025 / Captain Albert / 4 Comments

The route for the day. Because of the nice weather the Captain grabbed the opportunity to venture out in the open ocean and race to St. Kilda. See the red line. Returning to the sheltered islands was a lot easier (Black Line) as it was only a short crossing to Harris for the overnight anchorage,

By 08.00 hrs. the engines stopped and the anchor went down, so we knew that the captain had found St. Kilda and had safely anchored in the bay. of Hirta (in Scottish Gaelic: Hiort) which is the largest of four islands making up St. Kilda. In 1930 the last of the islanders left the island and since then there are only sheep (mainly a brown breed call Soay), seabirds and other protected animals, representatives of the Scottish National Trust (also protected) and a military missile tracking station on top of the mountain range.

Going ashore. You pick up your brass cabin tag and put it back when you return. No bag searches, no calls for I.D. It is just to make sure that you are back before the ship sails.

We had breakfast first in the Columba Restaurant, which is made up of a small continental buffet and a full – high quality- English Breakfast that is served. There is porridge which can be served with a “wee dram” if you would like so. Todays special was: eggs- benedict which was done very well. And in a very civilised way, tender service started when breakfast closed (08.00 to 09.30). A small skiff that can handle 10 guests (of which 6 sitting outside) then ferried everybody, who wanted to go, into the small harbour. Because of the prevalent weather and this skiff, guests are advised to wear rain gear and everybody gets a lifejacket (inflatable) to wear when in the skiff.

The mv Hebridean Princess at anchor in the bay of Hirta. The ships tender (normally stored on the forward deck) is alongside to ferry guests to and from the ship.

Hirta has been occupied since pre-historic days and was in more recent times (since the 13th. century) occupied by islanders who made a living harvesting birds, for feather, meat and oil. That was mainly subsidence living and by 1930 most had emigrated to the main land, so the remaining inhabitants asked to be relocated to the main land. Since then sheep are the main occupants apart from the natural wild life. Since 1957 the island is looked after by National Trust of Scotland with the RSPB (read professional twitchers) in full attendance during the summer months. Tomorrow, 16 October, is their last day and then they are evacuated by a militairy helicopter until next season.

A view over the bay. In the front the military accommodation.

For the militairy there is a concrete ramp for a landing craft and for tenders and other small boats, a small sea wall which shelters a small pier with steps. As you will see during the rest of this cruise, neither navigating the ship nor going ashore is possible if you are not fit and ambulant. We have a number of quite elderly guests on board who can walk well but found getting in and out the tender quite a challenge. There is no lift on the ship so you have to climb and descend the steep staircases. Then, as today, the land is grass, moss, peat and most of the time swampy. Although currently we are lucky as it has been dry for a few days.

Some of the sheep that now roam freely over the island. The stone walls are the reminders of the labors of centuries of small groups of islanders.

When you step ashore, the first thing they ask, is to dip your shoes or boots in a bucket of dis-infectant to keep the danger of Foot & Mouth disease off the island. Then the first thing you see is a modern building which houses the military who operates the base on the top of the hill. They live separated from the naturalists working on the island and this building, although necessary, somewhat marrs the natural view of the island. But this is the sheltered area of the island, hence this is were the original inhabitants used to live and thus it makes sense that the Army has built here as well.

One of the Cleitean bird stores on the island. Some of them are hundreds of years old

The people of the island lived off the large bird population and collected a few thousand of them each year, and the people of the RSPB have still not been able to figure out if the large numbers “harvested”really impacted the total population or not. We did not see any of the birds (Northern Gannets, Atlantic Puffings, Terns and the Northn Fulmars) while here as they had all migrated a few weeks ago. What is left of those days for hunting and killing birds are stone storages called Cleiteans. 1260 of them have been counted so far and this is where they stored the captured birds.

The grass roof kept the contents dry and the gaps in the stone walls let the cold wind blow through freely.

A number of cottages have been restored and some are now used by the guardians, or rangers, of the RSPB. One has been turned int o a museum and then there is the school and the church that is also open to the public. The main challenge is avoiding the sheep droppings which are everywhere as large flocks live on the lush grass on the lower slopes of the hills. The sheep are indigious here and are of a original kind that dates back to the iron age and even older. When going back to the tender, the crew had positioned cleaning buckets and brushes on the dock to make sure that whatever we had picked up was left behind.

Some of the houses of the old islanders. One is now a Museum and 3 are used to house the RSPB rangers. On the top of the hill is the MOD military missile tracking system.

When descending again from the hillside, the senior hotel staff were waiting with champagne. I was impressed, bceause you do not expect that they would go through all the bother for just 40 odd passengers going ashore. But the champagne stand was there (Taitlinger = so real champagne, not sparkling wine or other cheap bubbles) So we had the opportunity to sip champagne close to the end of the world. It cannot get much better than that.

Champage at 11 am. at the top of Scotland. From left to right:Matt, the bar tender, Charlie, Hotelmanager, Daniel Grmys Beverage manager and Mr. Jim Fraser, Chief Purser. All out in force to serve 40 odd guests champgne. In good old english tradition, the Chief Purser is the head of the Hotel department and thus the focal point for the guests service.

By noon time we were back on board and after a quick change it was lunch time, which again was very good. Then it was time to go sightseeing and the captain sailed the ship passed “The Stacks”, which are tall rocks rising out of the ocean. As they rise straight up, you can sail very close to them to have a good view and the on board Naturalist was on the tannoy to advise what could be seen, which included dolphins and even humpback and Minke whales.

During World War II a German submarine was sighted in the bay and the army responded with installing a single & very lonely and exposed gun. I do not know if it made any difference but no more enemy was seen here for the remainder of the war.

This was formal night and I was very happy to see that everybody had dressed up and all gentlemen were all with bow tie. There is still some elegance left in the world. During pre dinner cocktails, the captain announced that he would be raising anchor around 0730 in the morning and then sail north towards Raasay, sightseeing along the way. There would be a tender stop in the afternoon.

The early drinkers assembling in the day lounge, the rest soon to follow.

By 1930 dinner was served which happily lasted until 2100 hrs. With good food, good wine and good conversation. Most guests then returned to the main lounge for an after dinner drink. I had a good chat with the captain about the joys of being able to operate free of shore side office operation, and yes for him it worked. He was supported by his office, not interferred with. Then the conversation swerved to how to deal with local officials whendealing with red tape, and how to comply with the rules, while it not affecting the ships operation. I will not give any details here, but it seems that we both had applied the same sort of “creativity” during our careers to “get things done”.

Tomorrow morning we are at sea (sheltered waters between the islands of Isle of skye, Ronna and Raasay) and in the afternoon we have an option to go ashore. Weather for tomorrow: mainly overcast, little wind, smooth seas and temperatures around 12oC / 54oF. And that is very good for the North of Scotland in October.

Somebody is living the good life.

2025 Oct. 14; Oban, Scotland.

October 15, 2025 / Captain Albert / 0 Comments

In 2010 I was at anchor with the ms Prinsendam (II) at Oban. Tendering in windforce 10. But as we had a sheltered anchorage right under the cliff off a small island just outside the port entrance, we could do it. The tenders hugged the harbour wall to stay out of the wind and swell we had a good day. (At least for Scottish standards). Around 10 am. we were asked by the harbour master to stop the tenders as the ferries were coming out and the Hebridean Princess was going in. I had heard about her, never seen her, and had heard only rumours about what the little ship did. I sort of an kept eye on her as I found it amazing that this litte ship, of a one ship company, could survive. But it did. From 1996 onwards. It even acted as a private yacht for Queen Elizabeth and family in 2006 and 2010 after she had lost the Royal Yacht Brittania.

Fast forward to 2025 and in the spring we got an offer in the post with an early discount, too good to miss, so we signed up, That is not that simple as all the cabins on board are different. Located over 4 decks and the largest cabins do not necessarily have the biggest bed. Some cabins have a bath, some a shower, some a combination. As we had no idea what to expect, we booked the Torringdon Suite, an inside cabin, on the lowest deck (former car deck)………… but with a 6 foot bed.

The Kelpies. There are 2 ways of going North into Scotland, following the west coast route or the east coast route. Our Sat Nav decided that we were going West and thus we drove past the Falkirk Wheel (see cruise review of the Nieuw Statendam) and the Kelpies. Here an action shot taken at 70 mph. from the car by Lesley, as this section of the road is the last stretch of a dual carriageway.

Oban is halfway up the Scottisch West coast so it takes a bit of doing to get there. We cannot fly to Glasgow from where we live but you can if you come from London. (The ship sends a coach to pick people up from Glasgow airport) Taking the train in the UK is fraught with challenges as you never know if you get there on time, plus for us it would entail several train changes. So we took the car, 5 hours to Newcastle with a night in a hotel and then 5 hours across and up Scotland to Oban. The wider roads/ motorways, disappear near Glasgow and then it is a regular, sometimes small A road for the rest. (Think 40 miles an hour maximum due to villages, roadworks, tight corners and opposing traffic). By 16.30 hrs. we pulled up at the Northern Lighthouse Pier in Oban where the ship was docked. Offloaded the luggage and Lesley and then I went with 4 other cars, by following a taxi , to a covered & secure car storage in the middle of the town. Then the 4 drivers piled into the taxi and were taken back to the ship, were Tea was waiting. All very civilised.

Before I start the cruise, I need to explain a bit about the ship, as it is a one ship wonder and more of a Five to -seven star happening than a run-of-the-mill small luxury cruise ship.

The ms Hebridean Princess was built as a local ferry in 1964 but refurbished to a very high standard in 1989.

2025 Sep. 27 Azamara Cruise. Final Review and Verdict.

October 7, 2025 / Captain Albert / 4 Comments

We made it safely home from the Fusina cruise terminal as we had booked our own transport. The ship offered transport (to be bought separately) to the airport by coach which did work quite well. (At least we saw them all back in the Airport). It was just interesting to see how the local ground staff managed to change something so simple as boarding a coach into a mass of confusion; including blocking the exit to the outside for those not involved.

We had organised our own transport. Azamara does offer direct transfers from the airport to the ship but not a pick up from a hotel after an overnight. A good job we did so, as our flight got moved at the last minute due to a strike of klm ground staff so we did not arrive at our hotel until midnight the night before our cruise. Then it is better to get your own transport directly to the terminal yourself.

Our verdicts in a nut shell: (and this is the personal opinion of me and my wife)

Azamara Website is not good at all

Shoreside Customer service is not good either. It was very hard to get answers out of them when phoning. Everybody blamed it on the split up from RCI, but that is were Management Leadership steps in and ensures that the transfer is smooth and painless.

Shipboard service is very good; up to excellent as long as it does not has to do with shore side. It seems that the hands of Guest Relations are tied when trying to deal with issues on board generated by the shore side. It seems that they can not even correct the letters sent to the cabins on boarding day.

The Glare: 100%.

For those who do not know what this is: as long as I have been in a management position on the ships, I have tried to improve the friendliness of my crew members. (It takes 17 muscles to smile and 30 to frown ……..so why don’t you smile…..) I do this by gazing straight into a officers or crew members eyes when I meet them and note the reaction. I have continued to this during all the cruises (From the captain downwards) that my wife and I are now making. It is not fool proof but it gives a pretty good idea of how friendly a ship/company in principle is. All companies claim to be friendly but it does not always work out in real life. Especially officers (often very Senior) do not seem to get the message all the time.

So I am very happy to note and very impressed that the Azamara Onward Scored 100%. During the whole 9 days I did not meet a single person on board (Including Sr. Officers and Engineers) who did not smile or did not greet. VERY IMPRESSED and kudo’s to the whole on board team. Because of this (and the Greek itinerary of small ports coming up in 2027) we have booked another cruise on the Azamara Onward.

Details:

What is wrong with company and website ? Well it gave the wrong information at the time of booking. If you do that as part of the booking process, it becomes proof of what is booked and what you are entitled to. It still advised things that had already changed on board. When we tried to find out details about where the ship was docked and how certain things worked, the person who answered the phone, just read back what was listed on the website.

Because of the promises on the website we paid for a higher level cabin, to get extra perks/amenities. Only to only find out, when boarding, that these were not provided anymore.

Based on the website write up, we decided to book a Verandah Plus cabin instead of a regular Verandah. Deck 8 forward (there are 4 of them, 2 on the portside and 2 on the starboard side)

This came with: as listed on the website.

Priority Boarding —————— We were not on the priority boarding list

Newspaper in cabin (*) ………………….. Discontinued

Flowers in the cabin……………………….. Discontinued

Spirits in the cabin (**)…………………… Not defined what we would get

Bathrobe and slippers (***) …………………… No slippers. We got them after we complained to housekeeping

Fruit in the cabin……………………………. Seemed to have changed to on request.

(*) this was also still on the welcome letter in the cabin but they had stopped that at least 2 months before.

(**) we were expecting a bottle each. But you get one per cabin. Some cabins have 4 beds, you pay for four people but still only get one bottle. Except for the four top suites, there it is 2 bottles. (When looking at You Tube, there was a video from post Covid when it was still 3 bottles.) In principle I do not even know why they bother as most spirits are included in the basic Drinks Included “complimentary” package. But if you provide/ advertise a perk, you have to do it right.

Very confusing directions to get Fusina. All information says: go to a Ro-Ro terminal but the important part that is omitted is that once you come close to the entrance you have to keep to the righthand side and security will direct you through a not-used ferry gate to a side road going to the Terminal. Once through, you get the first sign saying “cruises”. Luckily most taxi’s know it but there was a couple who had rented a car themselves and ended up in the queue of the boarding/ticketing lane for a ferry and could not get out anymore.

The website is very unclear of what the “complimentary” drinks include. Hence I published the on board listing on one of the days write ups. We had the premium package included as part of our booking but we really did not need it. So we would not have been very happy if we had bought it (At $ 31.95 a day a person) and then would have realized that we did not need it. We spoke to a Canadian couple who were rather pi……d off because of this. (Then they tried to upgrade to the Ultimate package $ 39.95 a day, just to make it worthwhile. So they expected that they could just pay the difference of $ 8,– a day. No, they had to pay the full price so they would each be paying $ 31.95 + $ 39.95 a day………………….)

The cabin (8800) had been in someway converted in 2022 and they had forgotten to install 2 ceiling spotlights above the mirror. The asst. housekeeper was really startled about it but found a desk lamp somewhere in a locker that we could use. Good and appreciated gesture but it should not be necessary. Housekeeping was going to try to get the Electricians to put 2 ceiling lightspots in. If it works, then future ladies sitting behind the desk can be grateful to us when putting on their make up.

Other Observation & Suggestions for improvement:

*Guest Services. We had a meeting with both the Concierge and the Guest Relations Manager about the discrepancies between the Azamara Website & perks and although they felt very sorry for us, nothing was done. We did not request anything, we will take it up with the office, but it would have been nice to have seen a token of concern. Holland America (5 star) does chocolate covered strawberries, Celeystial (3 star) does flowers etc.etc. But Azamara which hovers somewhere between 4 and 6 star, only smiles.

*Tender service. It was very bad in Hvar. This was a 4 tender distance and only 2 tenders were in operation causing (during our return to the ship) 50 guests to sit and wait in a hot tender. The other 2 tenders were housed. I hope that will be better next cruise when each of the ports we visit, will be a tender port.

Special compliments to the Food &Beverage Manager Laze, the Exe Chef and the Lido Sous Chef who actively walked around the Lido restaurant (Windows Cafe) to talk to the guests.

Final note: There are 3 drinks packages available.

1. Complimentary package (everybody gets this)

2. Premium package ($31.95 a day a person)

3. Ultimate pacakage ($39.95 a day a person)

We had the 2nd level included with our cruise booking. But we found that what was included “complimentary” was more than enough. We used the package only a few times, when Lesley wanted a Bombay Saphire Gin instead of the basic gins. So in our opinion it is not worthwhile to buy the two top tiers of the drinks package unless you want to have a upscale gin, whisky or cognac each evening. For the average drinker there is more than enough varation in beers, cocktails, wines and soft drinks available.

Our next cruise with Azamara is to the Greek Islands and we hope that by that time the Head Office has sorted out their communication problems and we can trust their website.

2026 Sep. 26; Fusina, Italy.

September 27, 2025 / Captain Albert / 5 Comments

Last night we crossed the northern part of the Adriatic Sea and arrived this morning at 0900 at the cruise terminal. We docked at the Cruise Dock, which is not that usual, because when there are 2 cruise ships in port, the smallest one is bumped to the other side, which is technically the Ro-Ro dock. There seems to be a gate in between but I have not been able to ascertain that the small terminal of Fusina services both ships or that a Marquee is rigged up, and/or if one has to go through the confusion of the Ro-Ro terminal. But we were back right opposite the cruise terminal building from where we will go back home tomorrow.

Internet photo with two cruise ships in. Here we see the Explora I, which is bigger alongside the terminal and the Azamara Onward is banned to what is normally a Ro-Ro ferry dock. The authorities in the enthusiasm in 2022, assigned 4 docks to the cruise terminal but 3 of them are really the Ro-Ro docks. Quay Abbruzzo ( the real terminal), Quay Umbria, Quay Toscana and Quay Marche.

Today is thus really the day to visit Venice. Which can be by taxi (65 euros) or renting a car and it takes about 40 minutes to the Plaza Maritima and from there you can walk into town. Then you can also through the ship book a shuttle that takes you directly into Venice. So while Fusina is a nice terminal it is not that greatly located but as long as the 30,000 ton rule exist for all the “Venice cruise ships”, there is not much that can be done. There were two other cruise ships in port, the L’Austral which is 10,700 tons in size and thus could dock in downtown Venice and the other one is the Norwegian Luna, 156.300 tons and that one docked in Marghera which is the industrial port and also where the Fincantieri shipyard is located. The Viking Jupiter we saw yesterday in Sibenik is today and tomorrow in Chioggia further to the south and that is almost an hour taxi drive to Venice.

The good old days, when there were no limits and cruise business was booming. Four ships at these two terminals and 2 more ships to the left at the other pier not on the photo. so 6 in port altogether/

Today about half of our guests went ashore and the rest made it a quiet day on board. Not a bad idea as by 11am it was poring down and I do not know if those going ashore had a rain coat with them. Nobody I saw leaving carried an umbrella so they might have gotten wet. Some of the Australian and American guests on board made this cruise a part of a larger holiday period. Makes sense as flying from Australia (26 hrs. with 7 hr. stop in Malaysia or Singapore) or 12 hrs from the US west coast is not really worthwhile for just a seven day cruise. So some had made a river cruise and some were city hopping. (see Paris in 3 days, Europe in 7 days …….. etc.)

What is the problem? The Lido where all the ships have to sail through is not that wide and if a ship would not make the turn for what ever reason (technical or human) then it would hit the old port. And most likely at this point where the fairway makes a turn. The port tried to alleviate this with a safety tugboat forward and one aft but a large ship at 10 knots is not that easily stopped. This is the ms Koningsdam of HAL which measures just under 100.000 tons, when this was still the maximum size allowed pre Covid.

We also decided to stay on board as the transfer was not cheap, rain was expected and with at least 4000 passengers on top of the regular visitros would call for another busy day in Venice. Plus there is the additional 5 euro’s Venice Admission Tax, and all together it makes it not cheap just to go ashore with the intention to just go for a walk. And we have been here many, many times. Plus there is the conundrum that we had to pack. The ship has advised that they want all the suitcases out tonight by 21.30, so there is also not the option to pack after the show. Hence we packed this afternoon and it gave me the chance to take some more photos of the interior.

Our Cruise Director Linda Love from Melton Mombray in England. She started out as a dancer and then moved up the ranks to Cruise Director. During Covid she worked in a Garden Center. Unfortunately Azamara has done away with flowers in the cabins, otherwise they would have had an expert on board with extra pay

This morning we had the weekly safety drill of the ship at 10.am and this time there was a crew cabin on fire ,but it seems to have been extinguished to the satisfaction of everybody. Also it has been crew change over day. We saw the first group coming and leaving in Kotor and today and tomorrow there will be a steady stream of crew pulling and pushing suitcases both today and tomorrow. Today the Captains changed and tomorrow it will be the Cruise Director. There are 2 Captains for each ship and I assume also 2 Cruise Directors. We saw the the Cruise Directors show from last night today on the tv. All shows are recorded and shown in the cabins. So nothing about this nonsense we see on other ships about no recording etc. At the end of the show, which was very good, all the cast streamed onto the stage with flowers, champagne and compliments. Hopefully the captain did not see it, as his goodbye during Captains introductions was much more muted.

Yesterday during lunch Lesley had asked if there would be any Spaghetti Bolognaise during the cruise and today in Italy, here it was. Unfortunately bolognaise divided over the penne and the spaghetti with the con Vongole). But the sous chef popped up again ad combined the two items in one Spaghetti Bolognaise without any fuss. It was a quiet moment in the Windows Restaurant (Lido), so he had time, but still it is a good example of how the crew is focussed on the delivery of the cruise product.

We are flying tomorrow from Venice via Amsterdam to Norwich, with 5 hours overlay in Amsterdam. but at least our suitcases will make it. As usual I will post my review and verdict in a few days, where I bundle all my observations, complain (=constructive suggestions) or praise. You will get a ping, but otherwise please look mid week. In the mean time, a few photos of “The Den”. We spent a few nights having cocktails and after dinner drinks there. Nice place with a good piano player.

The Den. The bar tenders, only two, as it was a quiet moment. (Not very usual in the evening)

Apart from the free booze, the main attraction is the entertainment in the evening. Either the Resident piano player (also plays accordion) or a visiting performance by one of the Cast entertainers. All nice and very social.

The Resident piano player, He was really there but his seat was rather low, so he was hard to see.

XXX

2025 Sep. 25; Sibenik, Croatia.

September 26, 2025 / Captain Albert / 4 Comments

Today we are in the small, but old town of Sibenik, located about half way between Split and Zadar. For this the captain had to make some speed as he had to sail outside the islands to the North of Dubrovnik and then re-enter again as Sibenik is located Inland.

By 8 am, we were at the pilot station in the Sibenski Kanal and then sailed into a (fairly) narrow channel called the Pasmanski Kanal. The Croatians use the name Kanal for a waterway between 2 islands but it is not a “Canal” in the English sense of the word as a canal has locks at either side (like the Panama Canal) but more of a channel or a fairway with land at either side. So we sailed in the Pasmanski Channel which was very scenic. I can understand why the Romans, Greeks and the Venetians were excited about this space, as one Fort (located at the entrance) can keep any fleet away from coming close. You are then forced to land troops and the mountain ridges and crevices do not make that easy.

The Fortress of St. Nikolas. This defense point is one of a series of Venetiian Forts located along the islands to protect Sibenik and the surrounding area. It is open to the public via boat tours and seems to be under renovation as there was a large pile of big stones stored at the other side.

Sailing in, is about a mile and not unlike the more narrow part of the Panama Canal. The ship had two pilots on board, one on the bridge to guide the ship and the other at the stern to see if it made the turn safely. Once through you end up in a large body of water with the old city of Sibelink perched against the hill side. The whole of the old town is now given over to tourist shops, restaurants and holiday apartments. On each side, outside the city walls, is the new city which is built on the more flatter parts of the land.

The sail through. The Azamara Onward is not the biggest ship that goes through. When we came to the anchorage we saw that the Viking Jupiter (1000 guests 60,000 tons) had come through as well and was docked at the main terminal.

It is a very sheltered anchorage and during the day our ship barely drifted around on the anchor. This gave for a very scenic view of the city which in the old days was protected from inland invasions by several big forts. Apart from that the old town has 16 (!) old churches on what I think is barely a quare mile and several palaces as the Venetians knew how to live well. So we went ashore by tender. This was a 2 tender distance and 2 tenders were in use, with this time the waiting times for the tenders being not so long as Security was wise enough not to stick to 30 minute departures but worked more on the “demand and supply” method. I complained about the bad tender service in Havr (a 4 tender distance with only 3 and after 1300 only 2 tenders going) so maybe somebody listened.

The view of the old town from the ship. The fortress of St. Michael is towering above the town on top of the hill and there are two more of them nearby. To the right the cupola of the Cathedral of St. James is clearly visible.

We had plans to find the “main” shopping street but there is not really one in the old town. Each row of houses is on a different level so leaving the boulevard along the water means climbing 10 or 15 steps, finding a small square surrounded by houses/and maybe a shop and then another 10 to 15 steps to the next level. Getting that way to the top, the Fortress of St. Michael, is about 300 steep steps in small increments. But you can take a taxi. The only larger square is in front of the Cathedral (yes another one) of St. James is about 20 steps above boulevard level. But then one does need some space to get processions lined up and you do need a location where the local magistrates can address the population. Now it was filled with several tour groups from the Viking Jupiter and Tui- tourists as TUI has a resort nearby.

This is the end of the main square outside the Cathedral. The people standing here are listening to their tour guide via their bla-bla box and it seems something exciting about the roof is being explained. Behind them, the next set of steps up to the next small street of houses.

We tried a few of the small streets on the various levels and then walked back along the boulevard where some of the very expensive yachts were docked. It was interesting to see how the owners or guests (most of these yachts are out for charter if the owners are not on board) were going ashore. Of course at that level of luxury you do not order an Uber, Bolt or regular taxi, no, 3 porsche SUV’s were used to whisk them away. I wonder if your life becomes really boring if you can afford anything you want and there is nothing left to long for.

The ms Azamara Onward at anchor in the bay. The gap just of the left of the ship is the channel through which we came in and would leave.

By 12.30 hrs. we were back on board and in the Lido, the Windows Cafe, and here we had our next interesing exchange with the crew. It looked to me that the food on display did not change very much from day to day. Not that this is unusual but normally when you are on a 5* to 6* ship you see a bit more variation. So we asked the waitress, who felt very uncomfortable about the question and was going to pass the message on. No less then 5 minutes later a sous chef popped up with the question if anything was wrong. No that was not the issue, it was just a genuine question out of interest. Then came the explanation that about 90% is standard / the same every day but depending on the port, or sea area, they change one or two stations to local speciality dish. With Croatia this seemed to be a little bit more difficult so it was sort of limited to one fish dish. But they had 3 new flavors of ice cream for the day and a different selection of cheese. (which is quite an extensive selection, bigger than on many other much larger ships) And with me being “Jan Kaas or John Cheese” from Holland I had absolutly no problem with this.

Departure, all on board at 16.00 hrs., was slightly delayed due to two guests who missed the last tender. Luckily the tender was still in the water and could return after the ships agent spotted them at the now deserted tender dock. Most companies have the policy that they pay the Agent to stay behind for an hour or so, when guests are missing and then get them back on board in the next port.

One of the two holes in the wall. A relic from World War II.

When sailng out through the Kanal/channel we could see the other side of the shore line and here the rock formation is a little bit higher. Because of the location, the Germans dug a tunnel into the rock during WWII so their torpedo boats could sail in and out of Sibeniks harbour while the sea mine barrier in the channel could be left untouched. The in/out entrance and the out/in entrance together are called locally “Hitlers eyes”. It was in use for quite a while after the war but with the collapse of Yuguslavia the navy left the base behind. (In the back of the island there are still a lot of Nissen Huts and other military facilities visible).

A view inside. The entrance is blocked off for boats but pedestrians can walk through via the pathway on the side. ( Photo courtesy: Camera Obscura Website)

Evening entertainment started early today. One of the castmembers, Linda Fitzgerald gave her own show at 17.30 in the Cabaret Show Lounge. She is from Irish decent and sang a number of songs which influenced her career. She studied in London and joined the cruise ships in 2016. Not a bad move as the days that you “had to make Broadway” are gone as the entertainment on the ships is as good and sometimes of an even higher standard.

A very good show by one of the talented cast of the ship.

Then it was off to dinner in the dining room where as usual the food was pleasant and the service friendly. Next stop was “The Den” where another cast performer was given a solo performance. Now it was “Richie” an American from New Jersey who had two Master degrees in modern music/musicals. So he sang for 45 minute some of the well known and not so well known songs from various Broadway shows. Again very good. Then we had the option to go to the main show in the Cabaret Lounge by the Cruise Director Emily Love. Again a very talented singer with a very powerful voice as we had heard during the White Night. But as we knew that we could see her show on the TV tomorrow we decided that we had enough culture for one evening and called it a day.

Tomorrow we are in Fusina for an overnight stay. This port, where we boarded, is about 30 minutes by car and 45 minutes by Vaparetto from Venice. So those who wanted to see Venice could buy tickets for transfers. Weather tomorrow: Overcast with a chance of showers and temperatures around 21oC / 70oF. We should be docking around 09.00 hrs. so we will be able to gorge ourselves on the wonderful skyline of the Mestra industrial area. (see day 1)

2025 Sept. 24, Dubrovnik; Croatia.

September 25, 2025 / Captain Albert / 2 Comments

It is only 110 miles from Kotor to Dubrovnik so a slow speed run all the way.

Today we are in Dubrovnik also in Dalmatia and Croatia but at an another location than planned. We were supposed to anchor in downtown but last night the captain came on the tannoy and advised that there was a frontal system expected to come over Dubrovnik in the course of today and that would make anchoring in downtown dangerous. So the ship would instead dock at Gruz, which is the commercial harbour of Dubrovnik, and a shuttlebus would be provided to take everybody to downtown. A decision I fully concur with but it requires a little explanantion.

The downtown anchorage of Dubrovnik. You have to drop anchor in the only section that is free of underwater cables called Lokrumski Prolaz.

Being at anchor in Dubrovnik is great for the guests as it is a very scenic tender ride sailing to the tender dock with the ancient city towering above you. It is not that great for a captain as the water is about 90 meters deep so a lot of chain has to be paid out to even reach the sea bottom and then the sea bottom is mainly stone so the anchor itself does not dig in very well. A bit of wind and the anchor starts dragging and the ship goes with it.

In all my years of coming here with my own ship, I never had the chance to anchor here in the first place as the anchorage was always booked/blocked by the Costa Line cruise ships. They even put the very large ships there. And not seldom there was a cry later in the day when the wind picked up and the anchors dragged. A lot of uncouth Italian could then be heard over the VHF working channels but they kept doing it.

This is the nautical map of Gruz. The commerical port of Dubrovnik. The ships dock at the pier with all the black dots under the yellow circle. That yellow circle basically indicates that you should not block that area as A. there is a lot of traffic coming through and B. on occasion the Bora wind comes funneling down the river canyon in front of the dock.

So we always docked at Gruz which has a very nice cruise ship dock (for 2 big ones or 3 small ones) and then it is a 15 minute bus shuttle to the North Gate of Dubrovnik old town. This is a very sheltered port and nearly always open to the ships. Sometimes you have to wait for a few hours until the Bora wind stops blowing. That is a wind that forms on the Hungarians plains and then picks up velocity when coming down the river gorges. I had that myself a few times but normally the pilot gets advance warning and we waited outside until approx. 11 am or so until the wind eased off.

Today no Bora and thus we were arlongside by 09.00 hrs. behind us was the Mariella Explorer which is an old Chandris / Celebrity ship owned by Tui and sailing for the English market. Yesterday we had the Mein Schiff 6, also from Tui but sailing for the German Market. We decided not to be bothered with taking the shuttle as we have been here many times and Her Ladyship had no intention of getting wet. Luckily for the guests the rain did not come through until 17.00 hrs. and by that time it was cocktail time anyway.

So I used today to have a walk around the ship tp take some photos. I will post a few each day. The resemblance with the ms Prinsendam is striking although the Renaissance Class of ships were all built some 12 years later. But the Royal Viking Sun was a trendsetter, mainly due to the fact that the company let the ship be designed by the guests who travelled with Royal Viking and not a President with “a vision” surrounded by a group of V.P’s and Directors who all had to say yes in order to get a good appraisal by the end of the year and their $5,– a day salary increase. I have an very extensive history about the Prinsendam II under the ships subdirectory on the website which explains the why. But when walking around I saw small RVS design touches that were similar everywhere.

The R Three as the Pacific Princess. Looking amazingly good with a white hull.

The ms Azamara Onward was built in 1999 in France as the R Three for Renaissance cruises as part of a series of 8. They did not have names as such, only numbers, as the company said that nobody remembered the name of a ship that they had sailed on anyway, only the company product. Renaissance went bankcrupt after 9/11 in 2001 as they had been paying off their building loans with the cash flow generated during the cruises. With air travel coming to a near standstill and a heavy reliance on the American market, the bookings dried up and that was it. Several other companies snapped up some of this fleet of handy little ships, great for intense -small- port cruises. The R 3 or R Three went to Princess Cruises and became the Pacific Princess for cruises to the islands in the South Pacific. In 2021 the P.P. was sold to Azamara Cruises and after some refurbishment renamed into Azamara Onwards. She has a tonnage of 30,277 grt. A length of 180.00 metes and a width of 25.5 meters. There are 4 main engines connected to 2 propellors giving a speed of 18 knots. She carries between 670 and 688 guests in lower beds and 826 when all sofa’s and couches are filled. (Although it might now be less as the company seems to have been tinkering with the size of the sofa’s) And there is the crew capacity of 373. If I understood the captain correctly, the current number of crew on board is 343.

Deck 11 top deck with sun deck loungers.

There are 11 decks and the highest one is the roof above the Living Room, which is like a Crowsnest (HAL), or Commodore Club (Cunard). Here there are stretchers behind a glass wall to keep the wind away and a steward to take drinks orders. Then on the deck below is the “Living Room”. which is one of the 3 main public rooms on board. (The other two being the show Lounge = Cabaret lounge, and the night club = The Den)

The “Living Room” with the photo taken from the fwd. port side, next to the bandstand (located between the dancefloor and the front windows) looking aft.

The place has on the starboard side a section bordered off for puzzles and games and opposite on the portside a similar section acting as a library with about a 100 hard cover books. (There are another 20 books downstairs in “the Den” for cooking and travelling). This place opens at 14.30 in the afternoon and then also offers nibbles for those who missed lunch. These nibbles / tapas continue through cocktail and evening time. Music is there from the early evening onwards and there are also on occasion small shows. It normally closes around midnight.

The portside of the Atlas Bar, for people who do not want to sit at the bar.

Behind the Living Room is the outside deck looking down on Deck 9 with the swimming pool. It offers a jogging track around the open well. Opposite, under the funnel is a space called “The Atlas Bar”. This used to be a multple purpose room called the “The Drawing Room”. Since some time Azamara is experimenting with this space on all the old R ships. Here on the Azamara Onward they have installed a cocktail bar, called The Atlas Bar. This is for high end cocktails. (If they are included in your “Ultimade Drinks Package) then it is all free, otherwise you just pay the going rate. They do not do beer or the simple mixes like I to drink, so a place that is lost to me, but it is well designed and hopefully it will work. Sofar, but this is a 7 day port intensive cruise, it has been very quiet.

The Bar side of the Atlas Bar.

More interiors tomorrow.

Then here in Dubrovnik we were supposed to have an “Amazing Night”. A special outing in line with the upscale cruise experience of Azamara. Well things have been watered down. While on the ship it was announced that instead of going ashore and having this “amazing experience” shore side in an amazing location, the local show would come on board. Well that saves them on paying for a shoreside venue and local drinks as board it is included anyway. In the end it turned out it was no more special than a local folkoristic show which most company’s do once a cruise. A good show, but nothing out of the ordinary that would have made it an “Amazing Night”. So we felt a littlebit let down, same as we were in the beginning of the cruise, when we found out that we did not get what was promised us during booking.

Lateron we went to “The Den” were one of the cast members was performing Country & Western. The place was full to capacity. He was very good and, being from Texas USA, was able to sing with the right “country accent”. The crowd was very appreciative, caused apart from recognizing his talent, also that a lot of the guests had also been busy with recognizing Johnny Walker and friends.

Tomorrow we are in Sibenik, also Croatia, and a much smaller port. Still an imporant city in the Venetian Empire of the 16th. century. The approach to the town, located behind a long island, is through a narrow channel so I have to be out of bed by 08.00 to see this. It rained most of the evening in Dubrovnik but tommorrow it is going to be sunny again with temperatures around 25oC or 77oF. Although there is a dock, we are tendering, so I assume there is another cruise ship in port with us,

2025 Sept. 23; Kotor, Montenegro.

September 24, 2025 / Captain Albert / 3 Comments

Today we are in Kotor, Montenegro which is located at the end of a fjord. From the pilot station, where we arrived at 08.00 it is a 2 hour sailing time to the dock. And it is a very scenic route so we had breakfast on the balcony and watched Montenegro float by.

The fjord has one narrow part where you have a nice view at the local villages. Fully in line with local tradition they built on this very scenic spot a church. I suppose it is a way to stop people arguing who has to right to build a house there. This little place is called Kamenari and provides a ferry service to the other side of the fjord.

The ship had made a lot of noise about the fact that this country is not (yet) in the European Union and thus everybody was warned multiple times that the global roaming on their phones might not work and that one could incur considerable costs. For the North Americans who had packages for Europe, they had to find out if their “Europe” package was the whole of Europe or only for the countries included in the European Union. I never have worries here as my Lord and Master can quote each England package and tariff out there by heart and I am reminded every day whether my phone package works, does not work or where it is subject to expensive tariffs.

For the large ships (Mein Schiff carries about 3000 guests) it is a long tender distance. The area of houses you can see in the photo is the modern part of Kotor where most people live and which has the larger bars, restaurants and shops. The Mein Schiff tender is the brown box at the dock.

There was another ship in port, the Mein Schiff 6, belonging to the German Operator Tui but as she was much too big to dock, she had to anchor quite far out and ran a 6 tender service to the pier where we were docked. Big tender as well, with two big entry doors, so the 300 person capacity could embark or disembark very fast. The pier can handle ships up to about 220 meters length and that normally means nothing over 60.000 tons or 1400 pax. Thus for these little ports it makes sense to come in with a smaller ship. It did not deter the Germans from marching ashore in large numbers and the small old town was full to capacity with 3000 of them, tourists coming for a day tour or staying in Montenegro and about 600 of us.

Old Kotor is a walled city with a moat at the sea side and snuggled against the mountain at the other side. A number of years ago the City decided (see the blue canopy to the left) to put in a under ground crossing with escalators for tourists to get to the old town. There were too many car accidents. The Kotorians are very friendly people but once they drive a car , there is a certain disrespect for the rest of the world that also might be using the road. And of course there is always a number of pedestrians who just cross the street with paying attention to any traffic at all. Together a potential mix to keep the emergency services busy. Now accidents have been reduced to tourists falling down the escalator.

The old town has been completely taken over by souvenir shops, small restaurants and the upper floors of the houses are now all apartments for rent. I did not see many locals living there but they must be making a lot of money from the apartments and shop rents. We just went for a walk, bought another soup spoon and avoided the more expensive goods. There were a lot less jewerly shops than in the other ports but they had been replaced by leather shops. Also ceramics were more prominent. All in all better quality than we have seen before. But the nicer ceramics were the large hand painted plates and how do you get them home ?The problem is that with the United Kingdom out of the European Union, the postal charges are quite considerable. The Ottoman (turks) were in the area for a long time and this considerably influenced the merchandise in the shops as well. Hence the leather, ceramics but also very nice turkish lamps. Which look a bit like Tiffany lamps but are much more detailed.

The wall or ramparts as they are called locally, leading to the top of the protecting mountain San Giovanni. Above the top of the photo on the rim of the moutain is another fortress, serving as a look-out and early defense against intruders.

Most of the old town defences and buildings are from the Venetians days when the City State of Venice controlled much of the Mediteranean and established a very large trading network. They built or improved the city walls and also the ramparts going all the way up the montain. If you want to walk them it is 1350 steps to the top. Maybe ok in the winter but not on a summers day like this.

Kotor Square with Bell Tower. I had to wait a considerable time before the square was somewhat cleared for a photo as it was a very touristy day,

Because the city is walled, you always end back up in the middle of the town which has an open square, overlooked by the Clock tower of the 15th. century. It still rings the hours. More to the back is the Tryphon Cathedral (yes yet again another cathedral with a bishop) that is even older. After looking at so much culture it was time to go back on board. We decided to skip lunch as we had a heavy evening coming, “white night”. This is a signature event of Azamara and we had heard good reports about it and if the buffet was comparable to the Balkan Buffet of a few days ago, we would have nothing to complain about. It runs for the whole evening and the ships crew sets up tables and chairs around the pool, on pool level and deck 10 above (running track). Everybody is encouraged to dress up in white. About 90% of the guests were completely in white and the rest in a variation of white. A few guests had not gotten the memo and showed up in other colors. Here crowd control set in, with “Negative Vibes” and they quickly left the scene to go to the dining room)

Table set-up. Those who are “in the know” arrived early to beat the quickly forming line for the food,

18.15 White Night warm up with DJ Symz (barbed wire techno music)

18.30 Buffet opens (Guests start to line up)

19.00 Get the party started with SensAsia (4 piece band with singer)

20.00 Special Event Crew Waves (crew parade)20.15 Azamara Presents…. The White Night party (Cruise Director, full cast and showband)

21.45 White night After party with SensAsia

10.45 White Night After Party with D.J Symz.

We were dressed accordingly and I was one of the very few gents who wore white shoes (courtesy of my sailing days and in normal life hard to buy) and it was a great party. The setup was perfect with the SensAsia band providing entertainment during dinner. Then most of the crew marched in, waving flags to say thank you (for paying their salaries) accompanied by some wise words of the captain. Then it was dancing time and the band & performers & C.D sang and danced for 90 minutes straight. The dance floor was full and each castmember and also the C.D could showcase their individual talents. Compared to this, Holland America’s Orange party, is a VERY poor relation. This how a deck party should be ran and the entertainers clearly loved it as they could show off their talents. And most entertainers are at their best when they are not hemmed in by corporate restraints. So they went for it here, while making sure that the music remained dance music and the crowd could hop, swing and disco. This was very good………… very very good.

The buffet being prepared. Similar to the “Balkan night” but with more variations in meat and a spaghetti station.

The line up for the buffet.

The crew is coming out, everybody waves their napkins.

The crew assembly and flags at the ready.

With drinks included it is not so difficult to get a conga line going.

The ship sailed at 22.00 and it was a very scenic sail-a-way though the fjord with the lights of the small vilages on the mountains twinkling at either side. Tomorrow we are in Dubrovnik and we were supposed to drop anchor under the walls of the old town. However the weather, with rain storms and wind gusts, is not looking that great so the captain wisely decided to dock at Gruz which is the commercial port at the other side of Dubrovnik. The ship will lay on a shuttle bus service to the entrance of the old town but now from the land side. Weather for tomorrow: partly cloudy with rain and thunder storms expected later in the day. Tl 25oC / 75oF.

As can be clearly seen from this photo, sea air does shrink a men’s T-shir.t