Royal Connection

Hebridean Princess is HM The Queen’s favourite ship, and an enchanting base for exploring the Scottish Highlands.

- Gary Buchanan

A silvery light, pure enough to carry a hallmark, was beginning to darken as a rogue wind ploughed furrows across the Sound of Mull; an unmistakably Scottish backdrop for the small, sturdy ship before us. The muted lights beckoned to a cosy interior with well-polished silver and gleaming crystal as the smart platoon of passengers crossed the gangway to the strains of a bagpiper.

Purpose-built in 1964 as MV Columba to transport 600 passengers on regular sailings to Scotland’s Western Isles, Hebridean Princess was lovingly and extensively reconstructed then relaunched in 1989, but still seems to belong to another age, when travel was a more elegant affair.

As we sailed from the Victorian fishing town of Oban and headed into the burnished silver night, I began to find my way around this curious amalgamation of snug hotel and luxury cruise ship. Reminiscent of a well-appointed country lodge, the interiors boast evocative watercolours and polished brass clocks, with an Inglenook replace surmounted by a timber cross beam and varnished teak decks festooned with hanging baskets brimful with geraniums and petunias.

There are 20 richly decorated, boutique hotel-style twin and double cabins as well as 10 comfortable single cabins. A more contemporary palette of textures and colour is being slowly introduced, which is urbane and organic.