Awesome purser David Indge came on the bus to welcome us all to Hebridean Princess. It was raining, and we were informed that some of us had to have a bag randomly searched. Naturally, Bill and I were selected. It appeared that anyone not from the U.K. was required to go into a little guardhouse and have a bag searched. Two adorable little Scottish ladies dealt with me. I had to open one of my bags for them and answer security questions. They were very sweet and apologetic, which I have to say was a nice change of pace after the Frankfurt Airport.
“Dirty underwear.” I helpfully explained when one of them looked in a side pocket. She laughed; they wanded me and I came up clean, so they sent me on my way.
Every Hebridean Princess cruise begins with being piped on board by a real live Scottish piper. Years ago, Hebridean owned another ship called Spirit, which sailed all over the place. We spoke to one couple who took several cruises on Hebridean Spirit and they said they were piped on even when they boarded the ship in Oman! Sadly, Hebridean was forced to sell Spirit and all the wild adventures that could be had on her in lands beyond Scotland, Norway, Ireland and northern France. I’m sorry we missed out on that.
I never manage to get great photos of the piper.
As we walked on the ship, someone told me that they’d show me where my room was. I laughed and said, “Unless you upgraded us, I know exactly where to go!”
She laughed, too, and assured me no changes had been made. Back to the bowels of the ship we went. But if you have to be in the bowels of anywhere, Hebridean Princess is not a bad place to be! We were escorted to Loch Torridon and our bags were brought aboard for us. Then we went to the Tiree Lounge, the living room of the ship. I spend a lot of time there, since it’s where the bar is. I was handed a glass of my favorite champagne, Taittinger, which Hebridean started pouring last year, according to Egita, my favorite Food and Beverage Supervisor. On our last cruise, she handled pouring wines, but she got promoted. It was a well-deserved promotion, too.
Wioletta was there, too, and she remembered me and gave me a big hug. So did Egita. In fact, I was amazed by just how many people remembered us from last time. One gentleman in the kitchen even remembered me from our 2012 cruises. I don’t think he was faking it, either, since he told me he remembered me in 2016, too. It’s my laugh, I tell you!
A somewhat better shot of the piper.They refurbished Loch Torridon since our last cruise!The vanity.Our first briefing with hilarious purser David Indge.Bill at dinner. You don’t have to dress up for the first dinner.It’s not open seating…Lentil soup…
I mentioned Queen Elizabeth II in a previous post. She once had the Royal Yacht Britannia at her service, but it was decommissioned in 1997. She’s since sailed twice on Hebridean Princess, including for her 80th birthday in 2006. She enjoyed chief purser David Indge so much that she made a personal request for him to be the purser on her second cruise. She left a signed portrait of herself and Prince Philip, which is proudly displayed at the reception desk.
There are royal touches all over this ship.
I can’t blame Queen Elizabeth for loving Dave. He’s truly a rare and special breed. He’s never met a stranger and is always smiling. Again… I would love to have a personality like his. Alas, I was born a crank.
We unpacked our bags, had our muster drill, and were soon on the way to our first port of call, Wick… where we would enjoy Old Pultaney whisky and Stroma, Old Pultaney’s sweet liqueur. More on that in the next post.
I really wish we’d gone straight to Inverness. It turned out to be a cute little town with lots of shops and restaurants. I also scored us a nice basic room at Rocpool Reserve, a twelve room property in a residential area of the city. Rocpool Reserve is also home to Chez Roux, a restaurant that uses Scottish ingredients with a French twist. I only booked one night at this hotel, but I could have happily stayed a couple more. In stark contrast to the Kimpton property in Edinburgh, our room at this hotel had air conditioning that worked and a really comfortable mattress.
A nice gentleman checked us in, took our bags, and invited us to go to the bar, where food is served all day. I was glad to hear that, because after our long train journey, I was hungry! Turns out Rocpool Reserve is popular with Americans. We noticed the same American couple who had been on the train with us and complained about the backwards seating were also booked at our hotel. There were also two American couples from Florida who had just done a trekking tour. Inverness seems to be a popular jumping off spot for tours.
I had smoked salmon with a buckwheat pancake and a glass of Sancerre to start. Bill had a really delicious ham and cheese sandwich that was impregnated with a sinful amount of butter. Once again, I ordered the wrong thing! The salmon was good, but Bill’s sandwich really ticked off the comfort food rating. After lunch, I decided to take a much needed nap. Actually, naps were a predominant feature on this trip. I took tons of naps! The weather helped put me in the mood.
I booked our table at Chez Roux for 7:00pm, but we were told to go to the bar, where we would be served canapes and have aperitifs before dinner. I’m not sure why they do it this way, but I kind of liked it. The two American couples from Florida were there at the same time we were, so it kind of made for good socializing.
Here are some photos from Rocpool Reserve and Chez Roux restaurant, where we enjoyed a beautiful dinner.
After a nap, we had dinner at the restaurant.
Bill has a Campari and soda.
I had sparkling rose.
Canapes!
Chez Roux’s classy dining room.
Snowpea “panna cotta”
Halibut…
I went with a chocolate dessert.
Bill loved his lemon tart.
They always soften the blow of the bill with chocolates.
After a restful night, we had breakfast, which is included in the room rate. As we were eating our Eggs Benedict and pastries, I noticed a girl sitting at a nearby table wearing a t-shirt advertising The Inn at Tabb’s Creek, a bed and breakfast in Mathews, Virginia. I grew up in neighboring Gloucester. Neither Mathews nor Gloucester are well known outside of the Tidewater area of Virginia, so I was very surprised to see someone who had been there in Scotland.
Rocpool Reserve… we’d go back to this hotel. Parking is free, too!
We hung out at the hotel until about 11:00am, then checked out and got a cab to the Royal Highland Hotel in Inverness. This hotel is where we would be meeting our coach to the ship, and we were allowed to drop our bags there and have refreshments if we wanted them. I was delighted to find Bryan Hogge, one of two guides on our cruise. Bryan was our guide on our last Hebridean cruise to Northern Ireland, so I knew we’d be in great hands. During the winter, he teaches people how to ski. In the summer, he does tours for Hebridean. I also saw Mariusz, the Polish steward who waited on Bill and me on our September 2017 cruise. He didn’t quite remember me at first, but then I laughed. My laugh always jars people’s memories. As we talked, he told me his beautiful wife Wioletta was also going to be working. I was glad to hear that, since we bonded on the last cruise.
After we dropped our bags, we walked around Inverness, where we were charmed by two buskers. One was a cute blonde girl who appeared to be doing some kind of Japanese anime thing. She was wearing a pink tutu and dancing and singing in the town square. I thought it took a lot of guts to do what she was doing, so Bill left her a tip. She beamed at us as we continued on our way and ran across a pint sized bagpiper. He was adorable and really raking it in, despite not being the most competent piper I’ve ever heard. Actually, for his age, he was very good. Give him a few years and he’ll be a star… and probably a stud, too.
As I was getting a clip of him playing “Scotland the Brave”, some old biddy came over and chastised me for where I was standing, since I was getting people passing in front of the camera. I told her it was okay and she said it wasn’t okay for her. I probably shot “fuck off” lasers at her with my eyes… I’m really good for a dirty look, and she quickly beat it after that. She still ruined my clip, though, so I had to start over.
After we finished watching the cutie pie on the bagpipes, we went into a shop and picked up a proper shirt for Bill to wear with his new kilt. We also got him a bow tie, which requires actually tying. That was a new skill he didn’t quite master this trip. We forgot to get cuff links, so that was something he bought during the cruise.
I love the “polite notices” in Britain…
Very game girl!
Pint sized piper!
Oor Wullie again!
Someone didn’t pay attention to the sign…
But it wasn’t me!
This bridge was kind of scary. It swayed a lot.
And again… and I noticed someone disobeying the sign and sitting on him.
We didn’t really want to hang around in the hotel lobby, since it was full of both cruise passengers and actual hotel guests. Instead of taking the ship’s offer of refreshments, we went to the restaurant next door, Filling Station, and had lunch. Filling Station is a chain restaurant, but they have good roasted chicken there. Bill went with some kind of salad with sheep’s milk cheese in it. He’s always got to show me up by eating healthy.
I had this beer in the hotel. It comes from Orkney and was also on the ship. It became a favorite.
Finally, at about 4:45pm or so, we were invited to board the coach. We were scheduled to leave the hotel at about 5:00pm, but ScotRail was delayed. Big surprise! But finally, at about 5:15 or so, we were on our way to Invergordon, a town that isn’t known for its beauty. Since it hosts a lot of cruises, they’ve been trying to make it more inviting for tourists. The guide pointed out some of the murals local artists have painted. We saw a huge German AIDA ship in port and were grateful to be boarding tiny Hebridean Princess, where we were to be coddled and cosseted to an amazing standard. On the other hand, my husband coddles and cossets me the same way on the daily. My lifestyle is a study in ridiculousness.
Next post… boarding the Princess after almost two years. Gee, it’s good to be home! Indeed, a couple of the staff members immediately remembered me and reacted with pleasure and hugs hello, which is always a pleasant surprise!
We woke up Sunday, August fourth, to lots of rain. We weren’t in the mood to look for breakfast under those conditions. We also had a train to catch. Originally, we were going to leave Edinburgh at about 10:00am, but Bill was fretting that we’d have to switch trains in Stirling. With a tight connection and rain, he worried that we’d have trouble. On Saturday, before he picked up dinner, Bill stopped by the train station and spoke to a very helpful man who told him that if we took the 9:29am train, we wouldn’t have to switch trains. Unfortunately, since it was less than 24 hours before the train was due to run, we couldn’t reserve our seats. But, he said on a Sunday morning, we’d have no trouble getting seats… Yeah, right.
Bill and I decided to brave breakfast at the hotel. We took the elevator to the breakfast area. I immediately noticed that it had a smell reminiscent of French Residence Hall at Longwood College, circa 1991. Longwood is now Longwood University and French is no longer a dorm, but the smell of stale beer and puke tends to leave an indelible mark on the ol’ olfactory organ. To be fair, the elevator smelled more like stale beer than vomit, but I couldn’t be certain. I think someone might have spilled beer in the lift and neglected to tell someone. The floor was sticky and, yes, smelled a bit like a frat house after a raucous party. I wasn’t impressed.
Breakfast is not included in the room rate at the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel. However, in addition to the usual buffet offerings, they do have cooked breakfasts at the hotel. It looked like the main waiter was training someone new. Everyone wore jeans and t-shirts with aprons and, having once waited tables myself, I could tell the new girl was doing a “trail”. Unfortunately, as her trainer was teaching her, he failed to notice us sitting there neglected for several long minutes. I finally shot a cranky look at a busser, who kindly clued in his colleague.
Bill wonders where the wait staff is…
Garden environment… nice for breakfast, but missing a real bar.
Scrambled eggs with salmon.
The aptly named “bacon butty”… my butty is bigger now.
I went with the Bacon Butty, which is aptly named. It was basically a soft bun with a bunch of back bacon in it. It tasted okay, but wasn’t the most imaginative dish. Bill had scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, which he seemed to enjoy.
After breakfast, we checked out. I probably sounded irritated as I told the receptionist about the condition of the elevator. She quickly made a note of it, and again, told Bill about their air conditioning woes. I suppose we could have made more of a stink than we did, but I think we were just ready to get on our way to Inverness. The staff called us a cab and we were soon whisked off to Edinburgh’s huge Waverly train station.
We got to the station at just the right time, as a huge flood of Asian tourists showed up minutes after we did. We were able to find benches to sit on, since there was no track assigned to the Inverness bound train. I passed the time by people watching and reading all of the stuff on the walls. I get a kick out of British nannyism signs, as well as the historic notes one finds everywhere in Scotland… even in the train station!
Those stairs were a challenge with five bags.
But we were rewarded with interesting tidbits about Sir Walter Scott.
Glad to know that ScotRail pays a living wage…
One view on the way to Inverness.
A wonderful mom…
We finally hauled our bags to the correct track and waited for what seemed an eternity for the doors to open. In Germany, when the trains pull up, they let people get on and wait on the train. In Scotland, they don’t open the doors until just before the train leaves. Lots of folks were standing around, peering into the cars. It looked like many people had seat reservations. We did on our original train. At one point, as we waited impatiently for the go ahead to board the train, a recorded female announcer requested that everyone leave the station due to an emergency. It was a false alarm, but some people were noticeably confused and annoyed. I was among them.
The doors finally opened and everyone rushed for a seat. Fortunately, eagle eyed Bill spotted two seats facing the direction of travel that weren’t claimed. Bonus, they were right next to the WC and there was plenty of space for our bags. We were lucky, though. Not everyone managed to score a seat. One American couple got on the train and the wife peevishly said that she couldn’t sit backwards or she’d throw up. That turned out to be a prophetic statement.
I couldn’t help but wonder what second class was like on ScotRail, as the window had an enormous booger stuck on it. It was grossing me out, and I was reminded of the old school bus we rode on in Islay on a previous Hebridean cruise. There were boogers on that, too, but at least they had a good excuse. It was a school bus, after all, and there’s no class system on a school bus.
The loudspeaker on the train was also kind of messed up. It kept cutting in and out, making it sound like we’d landed somewhere in India or Pakistan instead of Scotland. I got a raw video with the sound in it. I’ll have to turn it into something shareable at some point. We had a good laugh about it, though. I posted on Facebook that as long as no one vomited, I’d be okay. Again… I tempted fate.
The first stop after Waverly Station was Haymarket. A young mom with three little girls took the two free seats facing Bill and me. I was immediately reminded of my good friend, Julie, whom I met at Longwood College in 1991, when she was a freshman and I was a sophomore. Julie is a very maternal person. She teaches school and has two sons and, I swear, the Scottish mom who joined us could have been her twin twenty five years ago.
The mom, whose name I later learned was Iona, was amazing. Her eldest daughter looked to be maybe eight or nine years old. She was pretty independent. The other two girls I would guess were about five and maybe two or three years old. The middle aged one sat opposite me. She had big brown eyes and long, luminescent red hair that gently curled down her back. I thought she was adorable, even though she was a little grumpy at first. Iona asked her what was wrong and the redheaded girl, I’ll call her “Em”, said she needed the toilet. Iona asked her why she wasn’t “using her words”.
Over the course of our three hour journey, I watched Iona lovingly tend to her little girls. Em, especially, needed help, since she suffered not one, but two bouts of motion sickness. Iona came equipped with food, games, and even a tiny portable fan that she directed on Em after one bout of vomiting. She never lost her temper and took every opportunity to correct her daughters’ behavior. I thought they were very well-behaved, for the most part. Iona told us they had another long journey once they got to Inverness. They were headed to a northern island to see relatives and would be traveling until at least 5:00pm.
I could not help but be reminded of an experience Bill and I had in France back in 2014. We were on a very full train going from Marseille to Nice. A mom on that train brought her two little girls with her. One girl was about eight and the other was a toddler. Mom basically sized up Bill and me, noted how kind and helpful Bill is, and just left her daughter with us while she took care of the little one in a different car. Iona was a refreshing change of pace. She never let the girls out of her sight and really impressed me with how good she was with them. We should all have a mom like Iona.
We were seated in first class, but ScotRail is decidedly low class regardless of where you sit. There was no dining car and though the WC functioned, we watched person after person fail to lock the door properly. Consequently, quite a few people got interrupted mid whiz, including Bill. Next time, instead of taking the train to Inverness, we’re renting a car. However, I am glad we took ScotRail this one time. The ride up to Inverness was pretty, if not a bit crowded. I also enjoyed meeting Iona and her adorable girls.
We arrived in Inverness in the early afternoon and found a taxi to take us to Rocpool Reserve, the best hotel in Inverness… or so we’ve heard. Stay tuned for the next post for my impressions.
It’s hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago, I was still aboard Hebridean Princess enjoying the last precious moments of coddling that keeps Bill and me coming back to Scotland again and again. We just spent eight glorious nights aboard the tiny luxury ship. The cruise, which originated in Invergordon and ended in Oban, was fully booked. That means there were 47 other passengers sharing this experience with Bill and me. I like to think of the Princess as the anti-mega ship. I’ve got no use for huge floating cities so popular these days. Give me a little vessel with lots of good food, flowing champagne, superb service, beautiful scenery, and like-minded guests.
Bill and I decided to book our cruise in April of this year. Because Hebridean Princess is an all inclusive luxury experience with matching luxury prices, we usually plan much further in advance. Because we booked just four months out, I got us a “cheap” room on the Hebridean deck, in the “bowels” of the ship. Each stateroom on Hebridean Princess is named after a special place in Scotland. I knew what to expect, since we always book the “cheap” rooms. To date, we’ve stayed in all three of the double sized “cheap” rooms: Loch Torridon (three cruises), Loch Crinan (one cruise), and Loch Harport (one cruise). I’m hoping to upgrade us to a higher deck the next time we cruise, although there is absolutely nothing wrong with the “cheap” rooms. They are very comfortable, even though they lack windows or portholes and require a steep climb up and down stairs. At age 47, I was still among the youngest of the passengers and, at least for now, my knees can take the abuse.
We began our trip on the second of August, flying from Frankfurt to Edinburgh. This was the first time I’ve ever managed to score direct flights to and from Scotland. Although Frankfurt is an incredibly obnoxious airport, living close to it does have its advantages. We could have flown to Inverness, but that would have required a layover. I had never been to Inverness before this trip, but I’d heard it wasn’t all that exciting. I also wanted a “do-over” of Edinburgh, which we last visited in 2012 after our first Hebridean experience– two back to back five night cruises in November, during which we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary.
We loved Edinburgh when we visited for four nights in 2012, but our time there was shrouded in sadness. On our last night of the second cruise, we learned that our sweet dog, MacGregor, had collapsed at the dog hotel. Unbeknownst to us, he had a highly aggressive malignant tumor invading his spinal column. Before we left for Scotland, we had been led to believe that he’d had a much less serious condition. We’d had him on prednisone and he was being weaned off, when the tumor suddenly got worse.
The hotel staff took MacGregor to see his vet, who suspected he had a malignant tumor and had recommended euthanasia. We were thousands of miles away and there was nothing we could do but worry. However, the situation was not so dire that we needed to rush back to North Carolina, where we lived at the time. The vet loaded MacGregor up with painkillers and the dog hotel staff took excellent care of him. We finished our vacation, came home, and took MacGregor to North Carolina State University, where he eventually had a MRI that confirmed the vet’s diagnosis. We said goodbye to him on December 18, 2012.
Anyway, because our first visit to Edinburgh was marred by personal tragedy, we decided to go back this year. I’ll go more into detail in the next post, but let me just comment that next time, I’m going to check the calendar more closely before I decide on pre-cruise cities. Edinburgh was teeming with people who had come to to the annual Fringe Festival. It started on the day of our arrival and made the city even crazier than usual! I’m surprised we managed to get a hotel room! I’m glad we were able to experience the festival, but I think I prefer Edinburgh in November, when the city is not so crowded.
We took ScotRail to Inverness on August 4th and spent one night at the lovely Rocpool Reserve Hotel. In retrospect, I wish we’d come directly to Inverness. It’s a very charming city and I would have liked to have spent more time there. If we ever do another cruise out of Invergordon, we’ll suffer the layover required to get to Inverness. It deserves to be explored.
Our cruise began on August fifth and ended yesterday morning. As I finish this post, I realize that it’s still been less than 24 hours! How am I going to get used to life without my daily dose of champagne? Writing helps me prolong the joy. I hope you’ll join me as I digest our latest spectacular trip to Scotland!
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