TRAVEL SCRIBBLES - CRUISE TRAVEL ARTICLES - Scotland



CRUISES Antarctica Sailing the Atlantic Britain Canada -St Lawrence River Canada - British Columbia Caribbean China Ireland Myanmar Mississippi Norway Scotland Tahiti Turkey USA -Maine Coast For even more cruise articles visit Prow's Edge One stop shopping around! Cruise prices can vary $100's from agency to agency, so CruiseCompete makes it quick and easy to get the best price on your vacation. Just select the cruise you want, and independent travel agents will compete to offer you the best deal. www.cruisecompete.com	CRUISES : IN AND AROUND THE SCOTTISH ISLES by Ursula and Eldrid Retief The Isle of Staffa was our home for a week. We lived there ensconced in extravagant comfort, our every whim catered to. This was not, you might have guessed, the barren lump of volcanic rock rising out of the Atlantic, one of the Hebrides, the patchwork of mystical islands off Scotland's west coast. Our personal Isle of Staffa was, of course, our guest room on the Hebridean Princess, that queen of small cruise ships which was introducing us to the charms and delights of the Hebridean Islands. We had been piped aboard the ship at Oban after a wonderfully scenic coach drive alongside legendary Loch Lomond from cosmopolitan Glasgow. Plied with champagne as we arrived, we were guided to the Isle of Staffa, one of 30 individually designed guest rooms named after west coast Scottish islands, castles, sounds, lochs and bays. The Hebridean Princess is quaint, but it is also seriously luxurious. Not a penny has been spared in converting what was once MV Columba, a former ferry, into one of the world's most highly-rated cruise ships, a luxurious floating country-house with a crew of 37 serving just 49 pampered passengers. The individually designed guest rooms are generous in size, equipped with every mod. con. including television (with satellite channels) and video players; iron and ironing board, trouser press; the fridge is stocked with fresh milk and soft drinks and replenished daily; and, a nice touch, tea and coffee making facilities. The bathrooms are huge by cruise ship standards. Eleven of the guest rooms are specifically designed for single occupancy. When dining, those travelling alone dine with other single guests at a table hosted by a senior officer and the ship’s guide. The public rooms are charming, from the The Tiree Lounge with its large picture windows on three sides, intimate bar and large Inglenook-style fireplace to The Look-Out Lounge, a comfortable sitting-room for smokers with large picture windows, The Conservatory filled with a mass of plants, and the Library with its leather club armchairs and sofa. Aft is The Skye Deck, a sheltered sun deck with a bar serving drinks, tea and coffee (and, weather permitting, barbecues and lunches) and the panoramic Boat Deck where we tried, with scant success, to try our hand at clay pigeon shooting, and The Waterfront Deck Gym (which saw us too infrequently). The Scottish isles cruise is unique in the sense that, while there is a general itinerary, there is no question of "This is Tuesday, so this must be Skye". It depends very much on the elements. Captain Michael Hepburn played it by ear and by eye backed by meteorological reports. The ship does not sail at night, so he chose sheltered overnight mooring spots with the comfort and interest of his guests in mind. This concern with passenger safety and comfort is foremost in the minds of those who sail the Hebridean Princess. Here is an instance: On the Shiant Isles a tiny causeway of shingles links the two main islands. We were taken there by ship's tender to stretch our legs. When we arrived some of the ship's crew were standing knee-deep in the sea, holding in place a platform to allow us to step ashore dry-foot. Sir Walter Raleigh could not have done it better. There is a fine attention to thoughtful detail on the Hebridean Princess. A million years of crashing waves has carved its legendary Fingal's Cave, 250 feet deep with a roof some 70ft. high, out of the Isle of Staffa's cliff-face. The sound of the booming sea in the cave inspired the composer Felix Mendelssohn to write The Hebrides Overture when he was there in 1829. As we approached Fingals' Cave the Hebridean Princess resounded to the music. The most comforting thought on the Hebridean Princess, once you are aboard, is its all-inclusiveness. The Scots are of course unfairly celebrated for their tightfistedness but on the Hebridean Princess you need never put your hand into your pocket. Everything, but everything, is included in your fare: all drinks – house wines, including champagne, spirits, beers, soft drinks and hot drink – on-board guides, shore visits, excursions and entrance fees to all attractions shown in the itineraries, and all port taxes. There is a firm "no-tipping" policy. Personal telephone calls, faxes and emails are of course to your account but believe us, once you're aboard the Hebridean Princess you will not be wanting to phone, fax or email ANYONE. As an example of the all-inclusiveness, on the second day when we touched on Eigg we were told we could drop in to The Eigg Tearoom for tea and scones and The Hebridean Princess would foot the bill. The same offer of tea and scones was available at The Boathouse on Ulva. Beware. The Hebridean Princess is a bewitchingly comfortable. You might be tempted not to leave her as she reaches each island. But you'll be missing much of what is good about the Scottish Western Isles, a 150 mile-long chain of beaches, culture, wildlife and adventure. We stopped off at one or two islands every day, and at each found something different to intrigue us: we sampled Islay's peaty malt whisky, produced at seven distilleries (visitors welcome); we trod carefully over the remains of the 48 Scottish kings reputedly buried at the 12th century abbey and ancient chapel on Iona; on Jura, perhaps the wildest and barest of the inhabited islands, we had no luck finding the farmhouse where George Orwell wrote "1984" but the Jura Single Malt Scotch Whisky in the pretty village of Craighouse and the many red deer made amends. On the tiny island of Barra we paid homage to Sir Compton McKenzie at his gravesite overlooking the shores of Eriskay, the setting for his book, Whiskey Galore. Traigh Mor, the superb shell sand beach, doubles here as the airstrip. We stretched our legs on the beaches and sand dunes of Kiloran Bay on Colonsay and spent a few hours among the spectacular rhododendrons, rare trees and shrubs of Colonsay House Gardens (we passed some of our fellow-passengers happily exploring Colonsay on bicycles provided by the Hebridean Princess). At Eigg, in the Bay of Laig, we walked across the Singing Sands beach, the pure quartz sand grains emitting a shrill squeak as we crushed them underfoot. As a bonus, there in the distance, acting as a spectacular backdrop, was Rum where, just a 20-minute walk from the slipway, we found Kinloch Castle, evoking colourful images of Edwardian elegance. At Ulva we enjoyed the mute company of Sheila at Sheila's Cottage, a replica of a traditional thatched crofters' cottage, portraying life as it was in days gone by. We strolled around tranquil Muck where early summer wildflowers carpeted the fields; on Harris, famed for the tweed, a coach took us on an island tour to the St. Clement's church at Rodel, probably the most impressive pre-Reformation Church in the Western Isles. If you go for nothing else – not for the sheer joy of the Hebridean Princess, not for the walks or hikes on the islands, not for the islands’ rich birdlife wildlife, not for the turbulent history of the Western Isles – then go for the cuisine. On our cruise five chefs, led by Chef de Cuisine Marc Calderbank, conjured up the most wonderful haute cuisine menus with locally sourced ingredients, served in the gracious wood-panelled Columba Restaurant. There are no multiple sittings and with the exception of single travellers, couples are seated at individual tables unless they request otherwise. Wines of the day are served at the table at lunch and dinner. (If you want to try your hand at one of Chef Marc's recipes, one that we enjoyed on our trip, check out the Captain's Table segment on Prow's Edge.) Over the week, we enjoyed superb meals. Here is one dinner menu: Warm Salad of Asparagus served with a maltaise sauce, Pan Seared Scallops with a Thai green curry sauce, Ham and Lentil Soup, Mango Sorbet, Roast Saddle of Grampian Venison carved onto a blackberry mash and savoy cabbage, West Coast Monkfish on fondant potatoes with a wild mushroom fricasse, Strawberry Pavlova, White Chocolate and Poppy Seed Mousse served with honey tuilles, a selection of Scottish cheeses, with coffee and petits-fours served in the Tiree Lounge. And no cruise around the Scottish Isles would be complete without a final night tasting o' Haggis wi' bashed neeps an champit tatties. It was with great reluctance that we packed our bags and said goodbye to our own "Isle of Staffa". But, like many of our travelling companions who had been on the Hebridean Princess several times, we'll be back. Photo : courtesy Hebridean International Cruises SCRIBBLES ETCETERAS Hebridean International Cruises, the Small cruise Ship Company, has two ships: The Hebridean Princess sails to many Scottish Isles other than those we visited and also to Northern Ireland, and Norway; her sister ship, the 80-guest Hebridean Spirit provides opportunities to visit more distant destinations with itineraries designed to follow the sun from the northernmost extremities of Norway, North and Baltic Seas, the Mediterranean, to the tropics of the Indian Ocean. For further information visit Hebridean International Cruises at www.hebridean.co.uk. For reservations email reservations@hebridean.co.uk.
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