• Home
• News
• Cruise Ships
• New Ships
• Cruise Lines
• PSA

SeaView Review: All good things come in little parcels ...

SeaView editor David Simpson takes a look at one of the tiny wonders of luxury cruising

When I first met Sir Jeffrey Stirling, as he was then, in 1988, it was on the most beautiful of cruise ships Canberra of P&O Cruises, of which he was chairman before becoming life president.

My wife still remembers him as one of the most charming men she has ever met.

I caught up with Sir Jeffrey again - now elevated to Lord Sterling of Plaistow - on board Hebridean Princess, one of the current ships in his care as chairman of Hebridean Island Cruises and Swan Hellenic.

Hebridean Princess cruises around Scotland and the Western Isles

It was during a short stopover in London, ahead of a winter refit, that we had gathered on Hebridean Princess, and so it was fitting that this most charming of men was pouring forth his love for what is arguably the most charming of all ships.

They say all good things come in little parcels, and at just 2,112 tons they don’t come any smaller than Hebridean Princess.

She was acquired by Hebridean Island Cruises in 1989, and since that time has been setting the benchmark for luxury cruising with voyages around the dramatic coast of Scotland of the Western Isles and beyond to far-flung St Kilda, the Orkney and Shetland Isles.

Lord Stirling likened her to a luxurious country house. A short tour of this tiny vessel revealed a lifestyle more akin to a sumptuous stately home. It is hard to believe that this former Caledonian MacBrayne car ferry today single-handedly keeps alive the memory of the Golden Age of Cruising.

The 30 bedrooms, all with Victorian-style b athrooms, are named after West Coast Scottish islands, castles, sounds, lochs and bays, and bedecked in finery usually associated with life of the aristocracy. Small wonder that the Queen, stripped of her beloved Royal Yacht Britannia, chartered the Hebridean Princess in 2006 at a cost of £125,000 for a family-only 80th birthday celebration cruise around the Western Isles.

The real real brick-walled Inglenook fireplace that is the focal point of the Tiree lounge rekindled memories of the Shakespeare Hotel in Stratford on Avon. But don’t expect to find a swimming pool or slot machines.

The 49 guests, many of them repeaters, who are fortunate enough to sail on Hebridean Princess dseek more genteel pleasures and are pampered beyond belief by just 38 crew members. They are piped aboard at embarkation by a Scottish piper and greeted individually by Captain Michael Hepburn.

But all of this attention, and the finest of cuisine, comes at a price ... in fact some of the highest prices that can be found for cruising. Hebridean Princes managing director Mike Deegan confidently brushes off any accusation that the product could be deemed over-expensive.

‘We load the price at the front,’ he explains, ‘so that guests have no unpleasant surprises once they are on board. They don’t have to spend another penny. Even the wonderful excursions are included. That’s why people return time and again.’

Cruises of between four and nine nights depart from Oban, sailing the waters of the Western Isles and beyond to far-flung St Kilda, the Orkney and Shetland Isles. They concentrate on those destinations inaccessible to larger vessels. Somehave themes such as castles, gardens, walking or cycling, but the common denominator is spectacular scenery, abundant wildlife and remote locations.

Most nights, the ship anchors in sea lochs or bays far from habitation .. and well protected for any inclement weather. Which is just as well given that the stomping grounds of Hebridean Princess aren’t renowned for wall-to-wall sunshine.