A Scottish Crown Princess

Summer may be well upon us, although the weather may not, and with June, July and August, come the Cruise ships, calling in to various ports across Scotland. The National Study into Cruise Tourism Development in Scotland, commissioned by CruiseScotland last year forecast a steady growth in this field of tourism, and this projection seemed to be borne out on 22 June, when 40 coaches met The Crown Princess at Greenock Ocean Terminal. The bulk of the STGA Glasgow membership (60%) turned out to man tours up and down the west coast. Guided excursions included Glasgow city tours and Edinburgh city tours.

Built in 2006, the Crown Princess has a passenger capacity of 3,080 and a crew of 1,142. With numbers like that, its no surprise that professionally trained Scottish tourist guides are constantly in demand. The Princess’s itinerary takes her from London (Southampton), across the British Isles, and makes four Scottish stops in the ports of Greenock (for Glasgow), South Queensferry (for Edinburgh and Fife), Invergordon (for Aberdeen and the Highlands), and Kirkwall, Shetland. Blue Badge guides, Green Badge guides and Driver guides across the country throw themselves into action to help these many visitors make the most of their Scottish experience.